Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Okay...holding off on the updates/reposts a bit more. It looks like the chance that the old posts will make it back again. Going to stop to make sure we don't get stuck with a bunch of double posts. 
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NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
Star Wars: Heroes of Another Kind
- Thread starter Ankh-Morpork Guard
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Angcuru
First Post
Indeed, I almost had an aneurism when I saw what happened. o.0Ankh-Morpork Guard said:Okay...holding off on the updates/reposts a bit more. It looks like the chance that the old posts will make it back again. Going to stop to make sure we don't get stuck with a bunch of double posts.
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Heh.Angcuru said:
Yeah, its a lot of lost posts...but honestly, doesn't bother me. If the saving of the lost posts actually works out(hopefully will know by this weekend), then all will be well and I'll just find a way to clear out these three re-posts. Otherwise, I'll just go on with it quickly and get us all caught up again in, hopefully, a week.
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Sorry this is taking so long...but it looks like the answer on whether we'll get things back or not is still up in the air thanks to some computer problems.
I am STILL going to hold out, as its just too damn many updates to go through with unless I absolutely have to. A good note, however, is that I AM working on new ones still, so when we get an answer...I'll be all caught up and we'll start flooring it again.
I am STILL going to hold out, as its just too damn many updates to go through with unless I absolutely have to. A good note, however, is that I AM working on new ones still, so when we get an answer...I'll be all caught up and we'll start flooring it again.
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Alright. Not waiting any longer. Reposting begins now...and will hopefully be done by the end of the week.
This would have happened sooner, but I've had to duck out of home and head to another state to take care of my mother after some surgery. And, while I've got some time to try to catch up now, next week I'll be taking a nice beach vacation...so no net access then. But...after that, should be ready to kick right back in and get this thing alive and moving again.
Sorry about the long delay, but its been hectic for me...now...reupdates!
EDIT: ...or not. Sigh. After having to reinstall windows thanks to the stupid thing not booting up, I've had to reinstall everything. Problem is, doesn't look like I got around to putting Wordperfect back on here. And, sadly, I don't have my Word disk either, so I can't convert things.
Guess this will have to wait another week and a half or so.
This would have happened sooner, but I've had to duck out of home and head to another state to take care of my mother after some surgery. And, while I've got some time to try to catch up now, next week I'll be taking a nice beach vacation...so no net access then. But...after that, should be ready to kick right back in and get this thing alive and moving again.
Sorry about the long delay, but its been hectic for me...now...reupdates!
EDIT: ...or not. Sigh. After having to reinstall windows thanks to the stupid thing not booting up, I've had to reinstall everything. Problem is, doesn't look like I got around to putting Wordperfect back on here. And, sadly, I don't have my Word disk either, so I can't convert things.
Guess this will have to wait another week and a half or so.
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Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Chapter 316
“Loki, there’s nothing here,” Shadow said flatly after the third sensor sweep of the sector they’d jumped to.
The ship didn’t respond to her this time, as a fairly heated argument had just ended and he was busy sulking and trying to find out what had gone wrong. After a few more minutes of silence and staring out at the empty space around them, Loki finally ‘spoke’ up. [It is um...possible they made a second jump...]
Shadow’s eyes narrowed but they stayed focused on the nothing beyond the viewport, “Its also possible they were never here in the first place.”
[They were here.] Loki snapped back.
“Fine. They were here...” she sighed and gave the small, orange-ish coloured sensor board another bored look, “But they aren’t here now. That’s the problem, Loki. If you know they were here, can’t you tell where they went?”
[Can’t you?! What about that link of yours?]
Shadow leaned back in her chair to look straight up at the ceiling, “Loki, you know as well as I do its practically useless at these distances.”
Loki could not shake his head, but he sure was able to present the feeling through the Force clearly. [But its better than me just guessing.]
Yes, the link she shared with Jyren never went away. If he got himself killed on one side of the galaxy with her on the other, she’d still be stuck with the same fate. It was the mental ‘verbal’ communication that became more and more difficult over greater distances. Not that it couldn’t be done, but the strain it caused on the mind could be quite dangerous. It was one of those things that Alraxian society taught against from a very, very early age...right up there with teaching the dangers of metal.
Which, truthfully, wasn’t dangerous to Shadow anymore. So...why not?
Shadow closed her eyes to push away the distractions around her and began to focus on the part of her mind where the link always was. She thought...thought at it. Or through it...or...or something. It wasn’t something she would ever have been able to put into words. It was just that she found where it was and could feel the distance between herself and her other half. He felt so far away...and it hurt. It was a strange pain. Physical but not. There was definitely a reason why it was encouraged that linked Alraxians always stayed relatively close to one another. Sure, short stints apart were fine, but the more time that passed the more the real hole could be felt...and despite the short amount of time Jyren had been gone, focusing straight on that brought the troubles about right away.
But of all of her people, Shadow was the one who could fight through it. She reached through all the pain and found him...light years away. She couldn’t feel his thoughts or his emotions or even anything beyond the fact that he was there...but that was all that mattered. The second that Shadow found him, she held onto it with all of her will and just pushed. There was no other word for it, and no tangible thoughts that she was actually sending through.
And then she lost her grip, and was thrown back to the moment in one jolting second. Her eyes opened and she let out a long sigh. For the first time in at least a year, her head hurt. After reaching up and rubbing her forehead gently, Shadow mumbled, “I found him.”
[And...?]
Her shoulders simply shrugged, “And I don’t know. I just found him.”
Loki waited a moment, not actually sure if they’d gotten any farther than they’d been a minute earlier. Finally, though, he decided the question was worth bringing up. [So...what do we do now?]
Leaning forward, Shadow looked out the viewport at the black, noticing that there were only a few small dots that were distant stars in view. So empty out here...an old thought snuck back into her mind. How had Max done this all alone? She had always been with someone...even if it was just Loki, that was still someone to talk to. But Max, and most of the other smugglers she’d known, spent long, long periods of time all on their own. Alone in the blackness with nothing but their own thoughts.
Maybe all those years ago, she could have done it, too. But now...now she wasn’t so sure. After getting used to always have someone around...she just didn’t know. It was the strangest thing to be afraid of, and not a thought that Shadow would have ever expected of herself, yet it was still there. But then something happened. Something that jolted her out of the odd, and depressing, thoughts and back into a more normal mind set.
[Miss me?]
Shadow couldn’t help a smile at hearing Jyren’s ‘voice’ in her mind. She had felt the link open up only a half second earlier, just before Loki spoke up to mention a ship had exited hyperspace not far from them. But instead of responding to Jyren right away, she spoke directly to Loki in her old business voice, “Dock with the freighter, Loki...its Jyren.”
As Loki acknowledged and started adjusting his heading to meet the newly arrived ship, Shadow said over the link. [Can you plot a jump to the gateway home on your own, or do you need help?]
[I’d like it a lot more if you were here to help.] there was more to the answer than just the words, and Shadow found herself nodding.
With the ship ahead growing slowly in the viewport, Shadow got to her feet and headed for the single airlock. [I know what you mean...I’ll be there in a minute.]
“Loki, there’s nothing here,” Shadow said flatly after the third sensor sweep of the sector they’d jumped to.
The ship didn’t respond to her this time, as a fairly heated argument had just ended and he was busy sulking and trying to find out what had gone wrong. After a few more minutes of silence and staring out at the empty space around them, Loki finally ‘spoke’ up. [It is um...possible they made a second jump...]
Shadow’s eyes narrowed but they stayed focused on the nothing beyond the viewport, “Its also possible they were never here in the first place.”
[They were here.] Loki snapped back.
“Fine. They were here...” she sighed and gave the small, orange-ish coloured sensor board another bored look, “But they aren’t here now. That’s the problem, Loki. If you know they were here, can’t you tell where they went?”
[Can’t you?! What about that link of yours?]
Shadow leaned back in her chair to look straight up at the ceiling, “Loki, you know as well as I do its practically useless at these distances.”
Loki could not shake his head, but he sure was able to present the feeling through the Force clearly. [But its better than me just guessing.]
Yes, the link she shared with Jyren never went away. If he got himself killed on one side of the galaxy with her on the other, she’d still be stuck with the same fate. It was the mental ‘verbal’ communication that became more and more difficult over greater distances. Not that it couldn’t be done, but the strain it caused on the mind could be quite dangerous. It was one of those things that Alraxian society taught against from a very, very early age...right up there with teaching the dangers of metal.
Which, truthfully, wasn’t dangerous to Shadow anymore. So...why not?
Shadow closed her eyes to push away the distractions around her and began to focus on the part of her mind where the link always was. She thought...thought at it. Or through it...or...or something. It wasn’t something she would ever have been able to put into words. It was just that she found where it was and could feel the distance between herself and her other half. He felt so far away...and it hurt. It was a strange pain. Physical but not. There was definitely a reason why it was encouraged that linked Alraxians always stayed relatively close to one another. Sure, short stints apart were fine, but the more time that passed the more the real hole could be felt...and despite the short amount of time Jyren had been gone, focusing straight on that brought the troubles about right away.
But of all of her people, Shadow was the one who could fight through it. She reached through all the pain and found him...light years away. She couldn’t feel his thoughts or his emotions or even anything beyond the fact that he was there...but that was all that mattered. The second that Shadow found him, she held onto it with all of her will and just pushed. There was no other word for it, and no tangible thoughts that she was actually sending through.
And then she lost her grip, and was thrown back to the moment in one jolting second. Her eyes opened and she let out a long sigh. For the first time in at least a year, her head hurt. After reaching up and rubbing her forehead gently, Shadow mumbled, “I found him.”
[And...?]
Her shoulders simply shrugged, “And I don’t know. I just found him.”
Loki waited a moment, not actually sure if they’d gotten any farther than they’d been a minute earlier. Finally, though, he decided the question was worth bringing up. [So...what do we do now?]
Leaning forward, Shadow looked out the viewport at the black, noticing that there were only a few small dots that were distant stars in view. So empty out here...an old thought snuck back into her mind. How had Max done this all alone? She had always been with someone...even if it was just Loki, that was still someone to talk to. But Max, and most of the other smugglers she’d known, spent long, long periods of time all on their own. Alone in the blackness with nothing but their own thoughts.
Maybe all those years ago, she could have done it, too. But now...now she wasn’t so sure. After getting used to always have someone around...she just didn’t know. It was the strangest thing to be afraid of, and not a thought that Shadow would have ever expected of herself, yet it was still there. But then something happened. Something that jolted her out of the odd, and depressing, thoughts and back into a more normal mind set.
[Miss me?]
Shadow couldn’t help a smile at hearing Jyren’s ‘voice’ in her mind. She had felt the link open up only a half second earlier, just before Loki spoke up to mention a ship had exited hyperspace not far from them. But instead of responding to Jyren right away, she spoke directly to Loki in her old business voice, “Dock with the freighter, Loki...its Jyren.”
As Loki acknowledged and started adjusting his heading to meet the newly arrived ship, Shadow said over the link. [Can you plot a jump to the gateway home on your own, or do you need help?]
[I’d like it a lot more if you were here to help.] there was more to the answer than just the words, and Shadow found herself nodding.
With the ship ahead growing slowly in the viewport, Shadow got to her feet and headed for the single airlock. [I know what you mean...I’ll be there in a minute.]
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Chapter 317
It took ten long minutes before Loki managed to dock with the bulk freighter and Shadow was able to find her way from the lower deck’s airlock to the bridge where Jyren was trying to fix the things he’d...broken. Broken being a bit of a light term. Completely destroyed fit much better, from the look of the burnt console, but neither were willing to say a word about it. It wasn’t worth it, really.
“There was a homing beacon that tried to activate mid-jump...” Jyren mumbled, not having actually looked up from the console he sat at near the center of the relatively large bridge. His right arm reached over to point to the far bulkhead, “That’s what’s left of it.”
Shadow slipped around a couple of the back rows of consoles and then stepped over behind him, idly leaning on his shoulders and looking at the sensor screen in front of him, “You know that there are other ways to fix things like that without using your lightsaber.”
Jyren leaned back in his chair and looked over his shoulder at her with a sheepish look on his face, “There wasn’t any time.”
“Check the cargo yet?” Shadow asked, quickly changing the subject reaching over him to press a small switch to bring up what she hoped was the manifest. It wasn’t, but it did happen to be the jump log, which she made a mental note to make a copy of just in case. One never knew when that kind of information could come in handy.
Reaching over and hitting another couple of switches, Jyren brought up the manifest, “Twenty eight orbital mines and twenty proton torpedoes.”
“...and a cargo skiff and some replacement coils for blasters,” she finished, reading the parts of the list he’d glossed over. For a moment, she just leaned back and thought about that, “Does this feel too easy to you?”
“N...no?” Jyren mumbled. It suddenly became apparent to Shadow that his voice sounded somewhat off from usual. That stutter didn’t exactly help. Neither did the actual answer to her question.
Shadow was still not anywhere near an expert on these kind of situations. It was part of the reason that, more and more, Marix was coming through and the child part of her that was Shadow was fading into the other. Not that Marix was all that great with it, either, but her personality was just a little bit softer...and she at least felt the need to try. Which was exactly why she grabbed a chair from behind her and slid it over next to him to have a seat before asking, “What is it?”
“It just got a little...close,” Jyren shrugged, obviously trying not to bring attention to himself for the first time she could remember. Usually, he seemed to try to go for the over dramatic panic attack, but now he was actually trying to compose himself. Inwardly, Shadow smiled. Took him long enough, but maybe he was finally listening to her after all this time.
“Its always close,” she said after a few moments, idly resting a hand on his arm...mostly because she felt stupid just resting them in her lap.
But Jyren shook his head and turned to face her again, “Not that close. I almost...didn’t make it. Twice.”
“But you did make it, Jyren,” Shadow squeezed his arm and tried to be helpful...despite feeling absolutely useless as she usually did when he got like this, “Don’t dwell on what almost happened. A lot of things almost happen all the time. The important thing is that they don’t.”
When Jyren didn’t say anything and just nodded, Shadow noticed that she hadn’t actually seen his left hand since she’d stepped into the bridge. Normally, that would have been a very odd thing to notice, but when something in the link told her to look, it was hard not to notice. Sighing to herself, and trying her best not to sound annoyed, Shadow reached over and took his hand, which was shaking very noticeably once it wasn’t hidden from view anymore, “That’s a new one...”
Alright, so it wasn’t the best thing to say, but it just slipped out. And, thankfully, Jyren didn’t take it the wrong way. He even half smiled and shrugged slightly, “It hasn’t done that in years.”
“You’re cold as all hell, too,” Shadow mumbled, not taking note of the fact that she was in her Alraxian form and he was still Human and wearing the glaringly bright orange jumpsuit. It meant that her hand fairly easily covered his, but it also meant that she was that much more sensitive to the temperature in the ship. Her morphsuit was combating that little difficulty without any trouble, but her hands and face were still slightly chilled and touching his hand sure didn’t help.
Jyren just shrugged again, suddenly forgetting about the close call he’d just made it through, “I guess it’s a bit colder in here than Loki...but we do need to make the jump from the freighter and not Loki. Can he hang on through hyperspace?”
“Loki will be fine,” Shadow said with a smile, starting to rub Jyren’s hand to try to get the damned thing warm so it didn’t freeze her to death, “He might not like being carried along, but he’ll live. If you can get things set up and ready here without breaking anything else, I’ll head back over to get the coordinates ready for you.”
“It won’t take long?”
Shadow shook head, “Not long at all if I don’t have to deal with Toby.”
Silence.
Jyren bit his lip and Shadow started to grin.
After a few minute, Jyren finally laughed and nodded, “Fine, fine, get the little fur ball over here and I’ll keep him busy.”
“Good,” Shadow smiled and patted his hand, getting up and starting to head back to Loki. Over her shoulder, she said, “I’ll also check out the cargo bay to make sure we can actually use all these explosives we stole. All this would be for nothing if we need access codes. But I won’t be long, we’ll need to get moving as soon as possible...”
The sentence just trailed off. Shadow’s smile faded mostly, but she managed to hold it as best she could until back in the turbolift. Through the link, one of them(neither was sure which), had finished the sentence. They had to do it as soon as possible because they had no idea how far behind they were...or even if it was too late.
And if it was...
Well, if it was too late, then it really wouldn’t matter at all anyway.
It took ten long minutes before Loki managed to dock with the bulk freighter and Shadow was able to find her way from the lower deck’s airlock to the bridge where Jyren was trying to fix the things he’d...broken. Broken being a bit of a light term. Completely destroyed fit much better, from the look of the burnt console, but neither were willing to say a word about it. It wasn’t worth it, really.
“There was a homing beacon that tried to activate mid-jump...” Jyren mumbled, not having actually looked up from the console he sat at near the center of the relatively large bridge. His right arm reached over to point to the far bulkhead, “That’s what’s left of it.”
Shadow slipped around a couple of the back rows of consoles and then stepped over behind him, idly leaning on his shoulders and looking at the sensor screen in front of him, “You know that there are other ways to fix things like that without using your lightsaber.”
Jyren leaned back in his chair and looked over his shoulder at her with a sheepish look on his face, “There wasn’t any time.”
“Check the cargo yet?” Shadow asked, quickly changing the subject reaching over him to press a small switch to bring up what she hoped was the manifest. It wasn’t, but it did happen to be the jump log, which she made a mental note to make a copy of just in case. One never knew when that kind of information could come in handy.
Reaching over and hitting another couple of switches, Jyren brought up the manifest, “Twenty eight orbital mines and twenty proton torpedoes.”
“...and a cargo skiff and some replacement coils for blasters,” she finished, reading the parts of the list he’d glossed over. For a moment, she just leaned back and thought about that, “Does this feel too easy to you?”
“N...no?” Jyren mumbled. It suddenly became apparent to Shadow that his voice sounded somewhat off from usual. That stutter didn’t exactly help. Neither did the actual answer to her question.
Shadow was still not anywhere near an expert on these kind of situations. It was part of the reason that, more and more, Marix was coming through and the child part of her that was Shadow was fading into the other. Not that Marix was all that great with it, either, but her personality was just a little bit softer...and she at least felt the need to try. Which was exactly why she grabbed a chair from behind her and slid it over next to him to have a seat before asking, “What is it?”
“It just got a little...close,” Jyren shrugged, obviously trying not to bring attention to himself for the first time she could remember. Usually, he seemed to try to go for the over dramatic panic attack, but now he was actually trying to compose himself. Inwardly, Shadow smiled. Took him long enough, but maybe he was finally listening to her after all this time.
“Its always close,” she said after a few moments, idly resting a hand on his arm...mostly because she felt stupid just resting them in her lap.
But Jyren shook his head and turned to face her again, “Not that close. I almost...didn’t make it. Twice.”
“But you did make it, Jyren,” Shadow squeezed his arm and tried to be helpful...despite feeling absolutely useless as she usually did when he got like this, “Don’t dwell on what almost happened. A lot of things almost happen all the time. The important thing is that they don’t.”
When Jyren didn’t say anything and just nodded, Shadow noticed that she hadn’t actually seen his left hand since she’d stepped into the bridge. Normally, that would have been a very odd thing to notice, but when something in the link told her to look, it was hard not to notice. Sighing to herself, and trying her best not to sound annoyed, Shadow reached over and took his hand, which was shaking very noticeably once it wasn’t hidden from view anymore, “That’s a new one...”
Alright, so it wasn’t the best thing to say, but it just slipped out. And, thankfully, Jyren didn’t take it the wrong way. He even half smiled and shrugged slightly, “It hasn’t done that in years.”
“You’re cold as all hell, too,” Shadow mumbled, not taking note of the fact that she was in her Alraxian form and he was still Human and wearing the glaringly bright orange jumpsuit. It meant that her hand fairly easily covered his, but it also meant that she was that much more sensitive to the temperature in the ship. Her morphsuit was combating that little difficulty without any trouble, but her hands and face were still slightly chilled and touching his hand sure didn’t help.
Jyren just shrugged again, suddenly forgetting about the close call he’d just made it through, “I guess it’s a bit colder in here than Loki...but we do need to make the jump from the freighter and not Loki. Can he hang on through hyperspace?”
“Loki will be fine,” Shadow said with a smile, starting to rub Jyren’s hand to try to get the damned thing warm so it didn’t freeze her to death, “He might not like being carried along, but he’ll live. If you can get things set up and ready here without breaking anything else, I’ll head back over to get the coordinates ready for you.”
“It won’t take long?”
Shadow shook head, “Not long at all if I don’t have to deal with Toby.”
Silence.
Jyren bit his lip and Shadow started to grin.
After a few minute, Jyren finally laughed and nodded, “Fine, fine, get the little fur ball over here and I’ll keep him busy.”
“Good,” Shadow smiled and patted his hand, getting up and starting to head back to Loki. Over her shoulder, she said, “I’ll also check out the cargo bay to make sure we can actually use all these explosives we stole. All this would be for nothing if we need access codes. But I won’t be long, we’ll need to get moving as soon as possible...”
The sentence just trailed off. Shadow’s smile faded mostly, but she managed to hold it as best she could until back in the turbolift. Through the link, one of them(neither was sure which), had finished the sentence. They had to do it as soon as possible because they had no idea how far behind they were...or even if it was too late.
And if it was...
Well, if it was too late, then it really wouldn’t matter at all anyway.
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Chapter 318
Jyren stared at the two rows of landspeeder sized, cylindrical orbital mines and sighed heavily. His eyes searched the cargo hold for a moment before they locked onto a patch of white with some black about halfway down the left row, “At least some of them work, right?”
The patch of hair raised up until Shadow’s eyes could be seen over one of the mines, “They all work...we just only have the activation codes for this row.”
Jyren rounded the corner to stand next to her, looking at the small panel that she was inspecting on the side of the mine. He was now taller than her again, having gotten rid of the orange flight suit so he could morph back to his Alraxian form without completely ruining the thing. It was still strange to feel comfortable in a body that he wasn’t born to, but Jyren had reached the point where he did his best to just not think about it too much.
He looked up again and counted the number of mines in the row before saying, “So we can detonate half of them.”
“We can detonate all of them,” Shadow corrected, closing the panel on the mine and shrugging, “Just going to have to put the others near these so they go, too.”
“Can we block off the whole entrance to the hyperspace route with just twenty eight mines?”
Shadow shook her head, but then motioned around them, “We’ve got this ship, too...and that cargo skiff. Together with the ring, we should be able to stop anything bigger than a starfighter from getting through.”
There was silence between them for a few long moments. The link even stayed relatively dormant, save for the usual surface thoughts that even Shadow couldn’t push away despite her control. But then, turning back to face her, Jyren asked, “If there’s enough ships, all she’ll have to do is throw enough before the path is clear.”
Nodding, Shadow stared down at the deck plates, “It can’t be a huge fleet, though. There hasn’t been enough time for that.”
Jyren sighed again and rested a hand on the mine next to them, being slightly cautious despite the fact that he knew it wouldn’t explode that easily, “She’s...she’s not stupid. She knows we’re going to try something.”
Again, Shadow nodded, but this time she looked up at him, “You’re starting to think too much, Jyren. Let it go for now. We’ll deal with it when we get there...” slowly, a smile crept onto her face, “At least let us get out of hyperspace before you crack.”
“Oh, shut it,” Jyren said, fighting back a grin and turning to leave the cargo hold.
Shadow fell into step next to him and they headed for the turbolift. When it was heading up to the bridge again, she decided it was time to ask a very important question, “Jyren...where exactly is Toby?”
“He was too wild so I told him to go run around the ship...” the sentence trailed off as Jyren thought about that, then he laughed slightly, “You know, I think he actually went off to try it.”
Shaking her head, Shadow stared at Jyren until the turbolift stopped and the door slid open. As they stepped out and looked out into the swirling blue hyperspace, she finally said, “He’s as bad as you are.”
“Ironic, isn’t it?” Jyren grinned over his shoulder, though he regretted the statement after he’d spoken it.
The whole situation with Tobias’ actual parents was still a bit...touchy. In all truthfulness, the two of them got stuck with Toby more than anything else...both through the pressures of all the Alraxians back in the Empire and from Tobias himself, who’d latched onto them almost right away after certain little details had been worked out.
There was still a slight...unease about the little Alraxian, though. This was the child of two very cruel, and very insane Alraxians who had tried to kill their own people...and even brainwashed their own child, turning him into a weapon. It was hard not to wonder if anything else was still there, hidden away. Yet, despite all of this, Tobias had latched onto the Shadow and Jyren almost right away...it was, of course, unsurprising when it came to Shadow, as being a clone(well, and the original) of his real mother, there was at least some resemblance, but Jyren still wondered how he fit into the whole equation exactly. And that didn’t even get into the fact that Tobias looked much more like Jyren did than Ket Halpak.
Though all of this could be felt through the link, Shadow was currently doing her best to focus on the moment and, because of this, was the first to have a seat and check the chrono. Glancing over to Jyren, she said simply, “Two more minutes and we’ll be there.”
“Want me to find Toby then head down an get the mines loaded onto the skiff and ready to be deployed?” Jyren asked, already turning back around to head back before he’d finished the sentence.
But he stopped in his tracks when Shadow said, “No. Wait here. I think we should...see how things look first.”
“...right,” and so he turned around yet again, but this time walked over and had a seat next to Shadow, watching both the viewport, the chrono, and glancing over to her every few moments.
The time passed fairly quickly, but it was still nice to have those few moments of quiet. But soon, the chrono reached zero, and Jyren pulled them out of hyperspace. The stars returned, and so did the giant, metallic ring that sat as a shield of sorts outside the only safe hyperspace route into the Alraxian Empire and its neighbors out in the Unknown Regions of space. There was the hazy glow in the center of the ring that indicated the shield(which was controlled from a small outpost a few star systems inside the hidden worlds) was still active.
That was a good sign.
Not that it couldn’t be destroyed, but it meant they were probably here before anything else...how much time they had, though...
“Now go find Toby,” Shadow said, quickly sliding out of her seat and up to head for the turbolift, “I’ll go get the mines ready. Take Tobias over to Loki and then come over and help me.”
She was talking as fast as she was moving, and Jyren knew exactly why. He could feel it, too. A strong sense of tension flowed through the Force towards them. They may have arrive first...but they didn’t have much time to get ready.
Jyren stared at the two rows of landspeeder sized, cylindrical orbital mines and sighed heavily. His eyes searched the cargo hold for a moment before they locked onto a patch of white with some black about halfway down the left row, “At least some of them work, right?”
The patch of hair raised up until Shadow’s eyes could be seen over one of the mines, “They all work...we just only have the activation codes for this row.”
Jyren rounded the corner to stand next to her, looking at the small panel that she was inspecting on the side of the mine. He was now taller than her again, having gotten rid of the orange flight suit so he could morph back to his Alraxian form without completely ruining the thing. It was still strange to feel comfortable in a body that he wasn’t born to, but Jyren had reached the point where he did his best to just not think about it too much.
He looked up again and counted the number of mines in the row before saying, “So we can detonate half of them.”
“We can detonate all of them,” Shadow corrected, closing the panel on the mine and shrugging, “Just going to have to put the others near these so they go, too.”
“Can we block off the whole entrance to the hyperspace route with just twenty eight mines?”
Shadow shook her head, but then motioned around them, “We’ve got this ship, too...and that cargo skiff. Together with the ring, we should be able to stop anything bigger than a starfighter from getting through.”
There was silence between them for a few long moments. The link even stayed relatively dormant, save for the usual surface thoughts that even Shadow couldn’t push away despite her control. But then, turning back to face her, Jyren asked, “If there’s enough ships, all she’ll have to do is throw enough before the path is clear.”
Nodding, Shadow stared down at the deck plates, “It can’t be a huge fleet, though. There hasn’t been enough time for that.”
Jyren sighed again and rested a hand on the mine next to them, being slightly cautious despite the fact that he knew it wouldn’t explode that easily, “She’s...she’s not stupid. She knows we’re going to try something.”
Again, Shadow nodded, but this time she looked up at him, “You’re starting to think too much, Jyren. Let it go for now. We’ll deal with it when we get there...” slowly, a smile crept onto her face, “At least let us get out of hyperspace before you crack.”
“Oh, shut it,” Jyren said, fighting back a grin and turning to leave the cargo hold.
Shadow fell into step next to him and they headed for the turbolift. When it was heading up to the bridge again, she decided it was time to ask a very important question, “Jyren...where exactly is Toby?”
“He was too wild so I told him to go run around the ship...” the sentence trailed off as Jyren thought about that, then he laughed slightly, “You know, I think he actually went off to try it.”
Shaking her head, Shadow stared at Jyren until the turbolift stopped and the door slid open. As they stepped out and looked out into the swirling blue hyperspace, she finally said, “He’s as bad as you are.”
“Ironic, isn’t it?” Jyren grinned over his shoulder, though he regretted the statement after he’d spoken it.
The whole situation with Tobias’ actual parents was still a bit...touchy. In all truthfulness, the two of them got stuck with Toby more than anything else...both through the pressures of all the Alraxians back in the Empire and from Tobias himself, who’d latched onto them almost right away after certain little details had been worked out.
There was still a slight...unease about the little Alraxian, though. This was the child of two very cruel, and very insane Alraxians who had tried to kill their own people...and even brainwashed their own child, turning him into a weapon. It was hard not to wonder if anything else was still there, hidden away. Yet, despite all of this, Tobias had latched onto the Shadow and Jyren almost right away...it was, of course, unsurprising when it came to Shadow, as being a clone(well, and the original) of his real mother, there was at least some resemblance, but Jyren still wondered how he fit into the whole equation exactly. And that didn’t even get into the fact that Tobias looked much more like Jyren did than Ket Halpak.
Though all of this could be felt through the link, Shadow was currently doing her best to focus on the moment and, because of this, was the first to have a seat and check the chrono. Glancing over to Jyren, she said simply, “Two more minutes and we’ll be there.”
“Want me to find Toby then head down an get the mines loaded onto the skiff and ready to be deployed?” Jyren asked, already turning back around to head back before he’d finished the sentence.
But he stopped in his tracks when Shadow said, “No. Wait here. I think we should...see how things look first.”
“...right,” and so he turned around yet again, but this time walked over and had a seat next to Shadow, watching both the viewport, the chrono, and glancing over to her every few moments.
The time passed fairly quickly, but it was still nice to have those few moments of quiet. But soon, the chrono reached zero, and Jyren pulled them out of hyperspace. The stars returned, and so did the giant, metallic ring that sat as a shield of sorts outside the only safe hyperspace route into the Alraxian Empire and its neighbors out in the Unknown Regions of space. There was the hazy glow in the center of the ring that indicated the shield(which was controlled from a small outpost a few star systems inside the hidden worlds) was still active.
That was a good sign.
Not that it couldn’t be destroyed, but it meant they were probably here before anything else...how much time they had, though...
“Now go find Toby,” Shadow said, quickly sliding out of her seat and up to head for the turbolift, “I’ll go get the mines ready. Take Tobias over to Loki and then come over and help me.”
She was talking as fast as she was moving, and Jyren knew exactly why. He could feel it, too. A strong sense of tension flowed through the Force towards them. They may have arrive first...but they didn’t have much time to get ready.
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Chapter 319
It was amazing how fast both Jyren and Shadow could work when they were pressed for time...or at least, when they felt like they were pressed for time. In barely fifteen standard minutes, they’d managed to situate the mines in pairs, one active, one not...and Shadow had even managed to rig the inactive ones so that they would explode when the other did. Once that had been done, and the shielded ring well protected from anything larger than a small sized transport, they had moved to slaving the small cargo skiff’s systems to the bulk freighter.
That was taking a lot of time thanks to Jyren’s lightsaber cutting straight through most of the slaving controls that had been installed. But despite that setback, Shadow was able to get the systems working again...though she made sure to let Jyren know just how little he actually needed to destroy to fix the problems he’d run into earlier. She wasn’t yelling at him, but instead using the calm, slow voice that was normally reserved for Toby.
And all the while, the uneasy feeling was growing in the Force.
It hasn’t taken long for Shadow to identify it. This wasn’t the Force warning them of impending danger...yes, that was something that happened often, but never this far in advance. Instead, it was the clones. That horrible, identical, dull feeling in the Force of all of the clones making their way closer with every second...the clones and...and the others. The Darkwings. The darkness coming towards them blotted out nearly everything else in the Force, so much so that even Tobias was whining about not only headaches, but seeing things that weren’t there.
And the feeling grew and grew, causing them to snap at each other more and nearly cut themselves off from the Force to work sanely until...
[Multiple ships exiting hyperspace.] Loki’s voice caused both Jyren and Shadow to jump, having gotten too used to the silence that had ensued.
Immediately, Jyren spun in his chair to bring up the sensor readings. Shadow didn’t turn to look, as she was just finishing up the slaving systems and knew he’d tell her anyway. And, of course, he did, “Six ships...eight. Nine of them...” Jyren paused a moment to make sure nothing else arrived, then sighed and looked more closely at the details, “Three cruisers, two mid-sized gunships, three large transports and a cruiser about the size of an old Star Destroyer.”
“It could be worse...” Shadow said under her breath before closing the panel on the console and pulling Jyren up to his feet by his shoulder, “Get over here and set this thing and the skiff on a course for those transports. See if you can hit two.”
Jyren just nodded, shifting over and dropping into the seat she’d been in. As Shadow stared out the viewport to the shielded ring ahead, she saw the view begin to shift slightly. The freighter began to readjust its course, and in a matter of moments they could see the incoming ships through the viewport.
“They’re targeting this freighter,” Jyren announced over his shoulder, “Probably another minute before they’re in range...unless those gunships are well equipped.”
“Are the coordinates set?” Shadow asked sharply, her eyes watching the largest of the ships carefully. It did look like a Star Destroyer...just a little flatter and without any command tower. Somehow, though, it looked just as dangerous.
Jyren nodded after another second, “Done.”
Shadow didn’t say anything else. Instead, she grabbed his shoulder again and yanked him to his feet a second time. Before he had a chance to get his balance, Shadow was dragging him to the turbolift to get back to Loki. Jyren didn’t argue, though, he just did his best to keep up, knowing why she was being so urgent in this situation. Besides, she always had a habit of getting straight to business like this and not leaving any time for short pauses.
The turbolift had barely opened on the level with the airlock by the time the ship was taking turbolaser hits. There were slight rocking feelings, but overall the shields were holding well. The shots began to increase in both intensity and number as Shadow and Jyren ran through the airlock and back into Loki.
“Get us back so we can get a good view of this, Loki!” Shadow yelled at the ceiling as the airlock closed behind them.
[On it —]
“And make sure to keep us out of sight!” Jyren cut the ship off, “She’ll target us right away if she gets the chance to!”
Loki’s ‘voice’ waited a moment, but came back a bit sharper. [...already on it.]
The two Alraxians exchanged careful looks, but neither of them commented on it. Instead, as they headed as quickly to the cockpit as possible, Jyren asked, “Where’s Tobias?”
[In your quarters.] Loki answered, sounding somewhat distracted, before adding. [I sealed the hatch so that he wouldn’t...get in the way.]
Jyren was nodding as he followed her into the cockpit and quickly dropped into the seat next to her. As they looked out the viewport, it was quickly apparent that Loki hadn’t gotten them to a good spot yet...as they were still looking at the ring.
“Bring up the sensor readings, Loki,” Shadow said, obviously as anxious as Jyren was to figure out exactly what was going on.
A small orange-ish image appeared on the console near the center of the cockpit that looked vaguely similar to the image on the freighter’s sensor board. The only difference was that both the freighter and the very small cargo skiff were heading very quickly towards the transport ships, with the two gunships moving to block the way and, from what Jyren could figure, firing the entire time. As far as they could tell, Loki was being ignored for the moment.
And then Loki began to spin around, having found a good spot not very far from the active mines. As the scene came into view, both green and red flashes could be seen impacting the freighter. Not only were the gunships spewing turbolaser fire into the freighter’s forward shields, but the wedge-shaped capital ship was also firing its forward batteries. And there were pockets of fire visible on the bulk freighter...
“Its not going to make it,” Jyren said, watching as some of the turbolaser blasts made it through the shields, “Didn’t have time to strengthen the shields and its just not fast enough.”
Neither of them tore their eyes from the scene, so when Jyren felt Shadow’s hand grip his arm, he nearly jumped in surprise. Firmly, though, she said, “Don’t give up on it yet.”
Two more bright flashes erupted from the front of the freighter, and two large chunks of the hull could be seen flying off in different directions...but still, the ship plowed forward, straight for its target. Below it, hidden beneath the hull and small enough to go relatively unnoticed, the cargo skiff continued its own charge. But then something else happened.
“The gunships are breaking off!” Jyren yelped, watching the small, cylindrical ships turning away from the freighter and beginning to head straight for Loki.
Shadow glanced down at the sensor reading for a moment before looking back up and saying, “Loki, when they’re in range, pull them through the first set of mines.”
[I’m not sure I can fit...] Loki protested in more of a mumble than any normal voice, yet at the same time, Jyren saw the shields coming online and Loki obviously getting ready.
“Its going to be tight,” Shadow said softly, and Jyren could feel she was resisting the urge to grab the control and do it herself...somehow, though, she fought it, “You can do it.”
As their focus on the distant freighter shifted, red blasts of turbolaser began to erupt from the incoming gunships’ forward cannons. Immediately, Loki’s engines kicked in and he headed straight for the two ships, weaving an interesting course while charging head first for the nearest.
While the charged forward into the attack, Shadow gripped Jyren’s arm tightly. She was doing something he knew he never could do...letting Loki do his job. Taking over now would do nothing but harm the ship’s confidence in his own abilities. Loki was as much one of them as Jen and Voort had been all that while ago...and he deserved his moment at much as anyone.
And this was it.
At point blank range with the nearest of the two gunships, Loki dove straight down.
It was amazing how fast both Jyren and Shadow could work when they were pressed for time...or at least, when they felt like they were pressed for time. In barely fifteen standard minutes, they’d managed to situate the mines in pairs, one active, one not...and Shadow had even managed to rig the inactive ones so that they would explode when the other did. Once that had been done, and the shielded ring well protected from anything larger than a small sized transport, they had moved to slaving the small cargo skiff’s systems to the bulk freighter.
That was taking a lot of time thanks to Jyren’s lightsaber cutting straight through most of the slaving controls that had been installed. But despite that setback, Shadow was able to get the systems working again...though she made sure to let Jyren know just how little he actually needed to destroy to fix the problems he’d run into earlier. She wasn’t yelling at him, but instead using the calm, slow voice that was normally reserved for Toby.
And all the while, the uneasy feeling was growing in the Force.
It hasn’t taken long for Shadow to identify it. This wasn’t the Force warning them of impending danger...yes, that was something that happened often, but never this far in advance. Instead, it was the clones. That horrible, identical, dull feeling in the Force of all of the clones making their way closer with every second...the clones and...and the others. The Darkwings. The darkness coming towards them blotted out nearly everything else in the Force, so much so that even Tobias was whining about not only headaches, but seeing things that weren’t there.
And the feeling grew and grew, causing them to snap at each other more and nearly cut themselves off from the Force to work sanely until...
[Multiple ships exiting hyperspace.] Loki’s voice caused both Jyren and Shadow to jump, having gotten too used to the silence that had ensued.
Immediately, Jyren spun in his chair to bring up the sensor readings. Shadow didn’t turn to look, as she was just finishing up the slaving systems and knew he’d tell her anyway. And, of course, he did, “Six ships...eight. Nine of them...” Jyren paused a moment to make sure nothing else arrived, then sighed and looked more closely at the details, “Three cruisers, two mid-sized gunships, three large transports and a cruiser about the size of an old Star Destroyer.”
“It could be worse...” Shadow said under her breath before closing the panel on the console and pulling Jyren up to his feet by his shoulder, “Get over here and set this thing and the skiff on a course for those transports. See if you can hit two.”
Jyren just nodded, shifting over and dropping into the seat she’d been in. As Shadow stared out the viewport to the shielded ring ahead, she saw the view begin to shift slightly. The freighter began to readjust its course, and in a matter of moments they could see the incoming ships through the viewport.
“They’re targeting this freighter,” Jyren announced over his shoulder, “Probably another minute before they’re in range...unless those gunships are well equipped.”
“Are the coordinates set?” Shadow asked sharply, her eyes watching the largest of the ships carefully. It did look like a Star Destroyer...just a little flatter and without any command tower. Somehow, though, it looked just as dangerous.
Jyren nodded after another second, “Done.”
Shadow didn’t say anything else. Instead, she grabbed his shoulder again and yanked him to his feet a second time. Before he had a chance to get his balance, Shadow was dragging him to the turbolift to get back to Loki. Jyren didn’t argue, though, he just did his best to keep up, knowing why she was being so urgent in this situation. Besides, she always had a habit of getting straight to business like this and not leaving any time for short pauses.
The turbolift had barely opened on the level with the airlock by the time the ship was taking turbolaser hits. There were slight rocking feelings, but overall the shields were holding well. The shots began to increase in both intensity and number as Shadow and Jyren ran through the airlock and back into Loki.
“Get us back so we can get a good view of this, Loki!” Shadow yelled at the ceiling as the airlock closed behind them.
[On it —]
“And make sure to keep us out of sight!” Jyren cut the ship off, “She’ll target us right away if she gets the chance to!”
Loki’s ‘voice’ waited a moment, but came back a bit sharper. [...already on it.]
The two Alraxians exchanged careful looks, but neither of them commented on it. Instead, as they headed as quickly to the cockpit as possible, Jyren asked, “Where’s Tobias?”
[In your quarters.] Loki answered, sounding somewhat distracted, before adding. [I sealed the hatch so that he wouldn’t...get in the way.]
Jyren was nodding as he followed her into the cockpit and quickly dropped into the seat next to her. As they looked out the viewport, it was quickly apparent that Loki hadn’t gotten them to a good spot yet...as they were still looking at the ring.
“Bring up the sensor readings, Loki,” Shadow said, obviously as anxious as Jyren was to figure out exactly what was going on.
A small orange-ish image appeared on the console near the center of the cockpit that looked vaguely similar to the image on the freighter’s sensor board. The only difference was that both the freighter and the very small cargo skiff were heading very quickly towards the transport ships, with the two gunships moving to block the way and, from what Jyren could figure, firing the entire time. As far as they could tell, Loki was being ignored for the moment.
And then Loki began to spin around, having found a good spot not very far from the active mines. As the scene came into view, both green and red flashes could be seen impacting the freighter. Not only were the gunships spewing turbolaser fire into the freighter’s forward shields, but the wedge-shaped capital ship was also firing its forward batteries. And there were pockets of fire visible on the bulk freighter...
“Its not going to make it,” Jyren said, watching as some of the turbolaser blasts made it through the shields, “Didn’t have time to strengthen the shields and its just not fast enough.”
Neither of them tore their eyes from the scene, so when Jyren felt Shadow’s hand grip his arm, he nearly jumped in surprise. Firmly, though, she said, “Don’t give up on it yet.”
Two more bright flashes erupted from the front of the freighter, and two large chunks of the hull could be seen flying off in different directions...but still, the ship plowed forward, straight for its target. Below it, hidden beneath the hull and small enough to go relatively unnoticed, the cargo skiff continued its own charge. But then something else happened.
“The gunships are breaking off!” Jyren yelped, watching the small, cylindrical ships turning away from the freighter and beginning to head straight for Loki.
Shadow glanced down at the sensor reading for a moment before looking back up and saying, “Loki, when they’re in range, pull them through the first set of mines.”
[I’m not sure I can fit...] Loki protested in more of a mumble than any normal voice, yet at the same time, Jyren saw the shields coming online and Loki obviously getting ready.
“Its going to be tight,” Shadow said softly, and Jyren could feel she was resisting the urge to grab the control and do it herself...somehow, though, she fought it, “You can do it.”
As their focus on the distant freighter shifted, red blasts of turbolaser began to erupt from the incoming gunships’ forward cannons. Immediately, Loki’s engines kicked in and he headed straight for the two ships, weaving an interesting course while charging head first for the nearest.
While the charged forward into the attack, Shadow gripped Jyren’s arm tightly. She was doing something he knew he never could do...letting Loki do his job. Taking over now would do nothing but harm the ship’s confidence in his own abilities. Loki was as much one of them as Jen and Voort had been all that while ago...and he deserved his moment at much as anyone.
And this was it.
At point blank range with the nearest of the two gunships, Loki dove straight down.
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Chapter 320
“Since when could Loki maneuver like a starfighter?!” Jyren yelled, his arms gripping the seat tightly as he watched the spinning out of the viewport. There were flashes of red that appeared here and there to indicate that the two gunships were still on their tail, but having some serious trouble targeting the extremely fast Kanyak.
“Always!” Shadow said through gritted teeth.
[She just never lets me!] Loki cut in, the sound of a laugh in his ‘voice’.
Jyren managed to tear his eyes away from the spinning ahead of him to Shadow, “Never let him?!”
“He shows off too much!” Shadow said, still staring forward with a very wide-eyed look on her face, “He’s worse than you!”
“Better than me, actually,” Jyren corrected as they came out of the spin to loop up and around the gunships. While Loki pulled back down, Jyren looked up and asked, “Are you planning to fly in circles or actually lead them into the mines?”
[I’m getting there!] Loki sounded almost exactly like Tobias being told ‘no’.
And then he came out of the loop, and both Jyren and Shadow felt the drives kick into full. The small ship jolted forward and headed straight for the first set of four mines that were set up in a box like pattern relatively close to the shielded ring that guarded the single hyperspace route into the Hidden Worlds. Jyren glanced down at the sensor reading to see that Loki was going fast, but not so fast that he was losing the two gunships.
Turning back to the viewport, Jyren watched as they neared the mines, “You know they don’t have to actually hit the things...”
[If I avoid them, so will they.] Loki growled, using a tone that Jyren had never heard from the ship before. [Have to make them look like space junk!]
There was no more time to argue. The two nearest of the cylindrical shaped mines came close enough that Jyren thought Loki’s swept back ‘wing’ would clip the proximity detectors, but suddenly Loki rolled around, bringing his sides up to skirt right between the grid of four mines and dive through without setting any of them off. Just as he pulled away from the first small grid, Loki looped up and around, and both Shadow and Jyren were able to see the rest of the ships...or at least, what was left of them.
Chunks of durasteel and hull floated in all directions, and it took a moment before Jyren realized why. It was Shadow, though, that spoke up first, “The freighter’s gone...”
“...but so are two of those medium transports,” Jyren said with a smile as he checked the sensor board. Somehow, in the intense moment of dodging mines, they’d both missed the eruption in the Force of the deaths on those ships...no, not the deaths. It felt more like a...release. There was just that less of a weight on the space around them, as the Darkwings that had been on board perished and the potent Dark Side energy faded with them.
“The cruisers, the last transport, and that Star Destroyer looking thing are coming straight for us,” Shadow said, eyes on the viewport as she watched the other shapes growing rapidly.
Before Jyren could respond, the viewport went a bright, blinding white. When it faded, Loki was spinning away to the side, and a large piece of hull flew past them before he dove under it and avoided another. Sounding somewhat tired, but also more excited than Jyren had ever heard him, Loki chimed in. [The gunships hit the mines!]
Shadow’s eyes immediately looked down at the sensor board, but couldn’t make anything out of the screen, “Can you get us a visual?”
[Just a second...] Loki said off-hand as a red blast suddenly flashed in front of them, and the ship jerked to the side again. It pulled down again so that they could see the two gunships...or rather, what was left of them.
The first looked like it had gone straight into the mines, as the nosecone and bridge were completely destroyed, and the remainder of the ship was simply floating along its original course without any of the turbolasers firing on them. The second, though, hadn’t taken such strong hits. From the look of it, the gunship had managed to maneuver out of the way of the brunt of the blast, taking stronger hits to the port side. Yes, they could see some of the interior of the ship, but the starboard turbolasers were still firing on them, and it was still managing to maneuver, albeit clumsily.
“The dead one’s going to fly straight into the second set of mines,” Jyren said under his breath, more to himself than either Shadow or Loki.
Shadow looked closely and nodded, “Loki, you need to keep this up as long as you can. Force them into the mines anyway you can think of.”
Jyren immediately knew where that was going. She was, in fact, already getting to her feet as she spoke. He stood up, too, but grabbed her shoulder to spin her around and ask, “We’re not staying?”
For just a moment, Shadow stood there staring at him, but it passed and she tapped his forehead, “Feel that?”
Not stupid enough to say ‘yes’ and know exactly what she was referring to, Jyren remembered that he’d pulled himself as much inward as possible...hiding from the heavy, almost painful presence in the Force that was surrounding them. Carefully, he tried to open himself up more, and was immediately bombarded with the same powerful presences...and something else. A pull. A very, very strong pull...almost on his very being in the Force.
Shadow locked eyes with him and nodded, “This isn’t going to stop everything.”
“You know I can’t fight her,” Jyren said flatly, trying to hide in the Force again but finding that, somehow, Shadow wasn’t letting him anymore. Sometimes, the link between them was far more trouble than it was worth.
But again, Shadow nodded, “I know that...but so does she. That’s why we’re both going,” she then grabbed his arm tightly, turned, and started out of the cockpit, saying upward, “Loki, keep yourself and Toby out of trouble and do what you can. We’ll be back.”
[Be careful.] the ship replied as they headed for the hangar.
When they reached the hangar, Shadow went straight for the X-Wing and said over her shoulder to him, “All you have to do is get me onto that ship. If you can’t handle it...come back here.”
“I’m staying with you,” Jyren said up to her as she climbed up the ladder and plopped into the rear seat of the X-Wing carefully...carefully because she wasn’t bothering to morph human and was having to make sure she both didn’t crush her tail or hit her head when the canopy dropped down.
Shadow’s eyes locked with his again as he also climbed up, and a serious, icy look that he hadn’t seen in a long time held strongly on her features, “This has to be done.”
“I know,” he said slowly, managing to pull away from her piercing stare to get into his own seat and start warming up the starfighter’s systems, “I just don’t like it.”
There was the slightest of noises from behind Jyren that could have almost been a sigh...then, Shadow said quietly, “Sometimes, we have to do things we don’t like to.”
“Since when could Loki maneuver like a starfighter?!” Jyren yelled, his arms gripping the seat tightly as he watched the spinning out of the viewport. There were flashes of red that appeared here and there to indicate that the two gunships were still on their tail, but having some serious trouble targeting the extremely fast Kanyak.
“Always!” Shadow said through gritted teeth.
[She just never lets me!] Loki cut in, the sound of a laugh in his ‘voice’.
Jyren managed to tear his eyes away from the spinning ahead of him to Shadow, “Never let him?!”
“He shows off too much!” Shadow said, still staring forward with a very wide-eyed look on her face, “He’s worse than you!”
“Better than me, actually,” Jyren corrected as they came out of the spin to loop up and around the gunships. While Loki pulled back down, Jyren looked up and asked, “Are you planning to fly in circles or actually lead them into the mines?”
[I’m getting there!] Loki sounded almost exactly like Tobias being told ‘no’.
And then he came out of the loop, and both Jyren and Shadow felt the drives kick into full. The small ship jolted forward and headed straight for the first set of four mines that were set up in a box like pattern relatively close to the shielded ring that guarded the single hyperspace route into the Hidden Worlds. Jyren glanced down at the sensor reading to see that Loki was going fast, but not so fast that he was losing the two gunships.
Turning back to the viewport, Jyren watched as they neared the mines, “You know they don’t have to actually hit the things...”
[If I avoid them, so will they.] Loki growled, using a tone that Jyren had never heard from the ship before. [Have to make them look like space junk!]
There was no more time to argue. The two nearest of the cylindrical shaped mines came close enough that Jyren thought Loki’s swept back ‘wing’ would clip the proximity detectors, but suddenly Loki rolled around, bringing his sides up to skirt right between the grid of four mines and dive through without setting any of them off. Just as he pulled away from the first small grid, Loki looped up and around, and both Shadow and Jyren were able to see the rest of the ships...or at least, what was left of them.
Chunks of durasteel and hull floated in all directions, and it took a moment before Jyren realized why. It was Shadow, though, that spoke up first, “The freighter’s gone...”
“...but so are two of those medium transports,” Jyren said with a smile as he checked the sensor board. Somehow, in the intense moment of dodging mines, they’d both missed the eruption in the Force of the deaths on those ships...no, not the deaths. It felt more like a...release. There was just that less of a weight on the space around them, as the Darkwings that had been on board perished and the potent Dark Side energy faded with them.
“The cruisers, the last transport, and that Star Destroyer looking thing are coming straight for us,” Shadow said, eyes on the viewport as she watched the other shapes growing rapidly.
Before Jyren could respond, the viewport went a bright, blinding white. When it faded, Loki was spinning away to the side, and a large piece of hull flew past them before he dove under it and avoided another. Sounding somewhat tired, but also more excited than Jyren had ever heard him, Loki chimed in. [The gunships hit the mines!]
Shadow’s eyes immediately looked down at the sensor board, but couldn’t make anything out of the screen, “Can you get us a visual?”
[Just a second...] Loki said off-hand as a red blast suddenly flashed in front of them, and the ship jerked to the side again. It pulled down again so that they could see the two gunships...or rather, what was left of them.
The first looked like it had gone straight into the mines, as the nosecone and bridge were completely destroyed, and the remainder of the ship was simply floating along its original course without any of the turbolasers firing on them. The second, though, hadn’t taken such strong hits. From the look of it, the gunship had managed to maneuver out of the way of the brunt of the blast, taking stronger hits to the port side. Yes, they could see some of the interior of the ship, but the starboard turbolasers were still firing on them, and it was still managing to maneuver, albeit clumsily.
“The dead one’s going to fly straight into the second set of mines,” Jyren said under his breath, more to himself than either Shadow or Loki.
Shadow looked closely and nodded, “Loki, you need to keep this up as long as you can. Force them into the mines anyway you can think of.”
Jyren immediately knew where that was going. She was, in fact, already getting to her feet as she spoke. He stood up, too, but grabbed her shoulder to spin her around and ask, “We’re not staying?”
For just a moment, Shadow stood there staring at him, but it passed and she tapped his forehead, “Feel that?”
Not stupid enough to say ‘yes’ and know exactly what she was referring to, Jyren remembered that he’d pulled himself as much inward as possible...hiding from the heavy, almost painful presence in the Force that was surrounding them. Carefully, he tried to open himself up more, and was immediately bombarded with the same powerful presences...and something else. A pull. A very, very strong pull...almost on his very being in the Force.
Shadow locked eyes with him and nodded, “This isn’t going to stop everything.”
“You know I can’t fight her,” Jyren said flatly, trying to hide in the Force again but finding that, somehow, Shadow wasn’t letting him anymore. Sometimes, the link between them was far more trouble than it was worth.
But again, Shadow nodded, “I know that...but so does she. That’s why we’re both going,” she then grabbed his arm tightly, turned, and started out of the cockpit, saying upward, “Loki, keep yourself and Toby out of trouble and do what you can. We’ll be back.”
[Be careful.] the ship replied as they headed for the hangar.
When they reached the hangar, Shadow went straight for the X-Wing and said over her shoulder to him, “All you have to do is get me onto that ship. If you can’t handle it...come back here.”
“I’m staying with you,” Jyren said up to her as she climbed up the ladder and plopped into the rear seat of the X-Wing carefully...carefully because she wasn’t bothering to morph human and was having to make sure she both didn’t crush her tail or hit her head when the canopy dropped down.
Shadow’s eyes locked with his again as he also climbed up, and a serious, icy look that he hadn’t seen in a long time held strongly on her features, “This has to be done.”
“I know,” he said slowly, managing to pull away from her piercing stare to get into his own seat and start warming up the starfighter’s systems, “I just don’t like it.”
There was the slightest of noises from behind Jyren that could have almost been a sigh...then, Shadow said quietly, “Sometimes, we have to do things we don’t like to.”