Star Wars: Heroes of Another Kind

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 389: Problems at Home

Marix looked at the small image provided to her on the console and attempted to study the Alraxian being shown. It was hard to make out any details, as it seemed like whoever had actually constructed the Gate between the Alraxian Empire and the rest of the galaxy had used a mix of technologies to put the thing together...meaning that there were probably six or seven different kinds of holo devices recording at once with different power sources. This mix of construction was also why the giant ring was made of metal...something that made all of the Alraxians that were stationed there very uncomfortable.

She did not ask the name of the Alraxian she was watching. He was a Knight that had been assigned to one of the many scouting missions and had just returned a few hours before Marix had...and while the technician that had brought up the image for her had started to ramble on with a name, Marix had cut him off and instead directed her attention to simply watching the image.

A pair of guards stood next to the door behind her, keeping their distance but doing their job. The only other person in the room with them was the single technician, a young Alraxian male with a rather scruffy complection and a few too many colours mixed in between his clothes and his hair. Currently, he was trying to busy himself on the other side of the room, despite the fact that he continually glanced over at Marix wondering why she was so silent.

Why she had locked onto this Alraxian, Marix wasn’t sure. There were a dozen scouts being held currently, none of which were particularly irritated by this sudden action. But the second she had seen this image, she couldn’t look away. There was nothing particularly remarkable about this Knight, and perhaps that was the problem. He was...average in about every way.

There was only one way to figure this out.

With a quick turn, Marix headed out of the small room, with the poor technician left speechless and wondering what he’d done wrong. The guards glanced at one another, but fell into step a good distance behind her. She had taken note where that particular Knight was being held, and headed straight for that chamber.

Once there, she punched in a quick key sequence on the panel next to the door, which was actually in Jendari script as all the panels seemed to be, and the door slid upwards to show a much cleared view of the moderately sized quarters.

Immediately, the Knight stood up from where he sat on his bed and bowed before speaking in Alraxian, “My Lady.”

Marix simply nodded to him, noting that the guards were now much closer despite the fact that she’d not even stepped into the room. Perhaps they felt it, too...unlike her mother, all of the guards that Marix kept were former Tam’Day’U, and were well trained in the Force. Pushing the distracting thoughts aside, she focused and reached out with the Force. It took a moment, but she was able to pick up on her two guards and much of the others in the nearby areas...but the room felt empty to her.

But, while this was turning her towards a very worrying possibility, Marix did not let that one thing damn the Knight. There were other reasons for the odd emptiness to that room...and so, she attempted something else. In a calm, very simple voice, she asked in Trade, “What is your name?”

The Knight simply stared at her with the same expression. It was clearly obvious he did not understand her. And that was a problem. Every single scout that they sent to the rest of the galaxy was well versed enough in Trade to get by without any problem...except maybe an odd accent. Through the Force, she felt a sudden tension behind her and knew exactly why. The Tam’Day’U guards could speak Trade, and were starting to understand that something was very wrong here.

Slowly and deliberately, Marix reached down to her belt and withdrew the long-bladed, metal knife that rarely left her side. When it was drawn and in her hand, the expression on the Knight’s face changed. There was a slightly wide eyed look that was to be expected from most Alraxians when confronted with a metallic weapon...but that was something else that shouldn’t have been so obvious. They went through a great deal of work to teach the Alraxian scouts not to fear metal, simply to be careful of it. But this Knight was attempting to show fear.

This was not one of their scouts, and she was now very confident that it wasn’t an Alraxian, either. And so she was left with a quick decision. A very quick one, that she made without any hesitation. Still speaking in Trade, Marix said over her shoulder to the guards, “Hold here and do not let him run.”

And then she stepped into the room.

The moment she did this, the so-called Knight seemed to pick up on what was going on. And suddenly an image like she saw on Ithor returned. In a quick motion, the Knight lifted his left arm just slightly, and a snake-like thing slid out of the loose-fitted sleeve and coiled around his arm as he took a tight grip on it.

An amphistaff.

Marix did not even think about the lapse in their own security to allow this weapon in. Instead, her focus was on the moment, and the second she saw the snake-like head of the Yuzzhan Vong weapon, she was moving. Her simply step became a lunge, bent down low to use the ‘Knight’s’ average build against him. Before the amphistaff even had time to form its rigid, bladed end after being revealed, Marix was on him, toppling the infiltrator to the ground and driving her weapon deep into his throat.

The struggling only last a few heartbeats, and in another moment Marix was on her feet and cleaning her blade...cleaning it of black coloured blood. Neither Alraxian nor any other species she knew of bled that colour. Returning the knife to her belt, she turned to the two guards and said, still speaking Trade out of habit, “Check the back of the neck for a small bump. And have all of the other scouts checked...make sure they can speak Trade.”

There was a fire in the eyes of her guards as they nodded and headed two different directions. On to the dead body, the other to get more assistance in checking all of the other scouts as soon as possible. It was that Tam’Day’U determination...that icy cold way they all got when following orders, especially after a deception such as this was revealed.

Marix did not wait for the first guard to check on the body. She already knew what he would find. Alone, she left and headed back to Loki. For now, the Gate would be safe. There were enough Alraxians to protect it from more infiltrators. Her current focus was on how many there really might be...because if there was one, there was probably another. And if all of the remaining scouts checked out as Alraxian, then it could only mean others got through the Gate.

To the Empire.

To Alraxia.

Home.

 

[tmaaas]

Just popping in to once again say how much I'm enjoying the story.

Thanks for sharing it with us.

 

[Angcuru]

*nudges* Then what happened?

Glad you've kept this up, I really enjoy this story.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 390: Another Hour

After convincing Tobias that he needed to get some rest and not wander off, Jyren left the young ‘Alraxian’ in their quarters and made sure the two guards that were stationed outside knew not to let the kid go anywhere. He stepped into the briefing in the middle of information he already knew about, and Rulae was the only one to give him a flat look when everyone turned and smiled.

It still amazed Jyren how much the kids seemed to like him. Not that it was a bad thing. Still, it was nothing he had expected to ever need to deal with. And knowing that it was bad form to interrupt them getting to know what was going on, he waved them silent and quickly had a seat near the back so he didn’t have to be in the spotlight, as it were, for any longer than he had to.

And soon Jyren was very glad he had decided to head to the briefing. There were some things that came up that had not been on the datapad. Items that Jyren figured were very recently received information. And when Rulae spoke up about them, it was obvious that they were very important.

The Vong were, of course, still on the move, slowly pressing into the galaxy from the Outer Rim. With Ithor out of the way, the Mid Rim was open and they were taking advantage of this...taking smaller worlds or completely obliterating ones that held no value to them. What held value to the Vong was another matter, as some planets they destroyed were rich with resources...but that was another matter.

The important matter was where the Vong were moving. Their direct path towards the Core was becoming an arc with multiple points. While one still headed straight through towards the Core from Ithor and, probably, through Obroa-Skai, another was heading through the Outer Rim territories still. And it was obvious why...

Hutt Space.

They were headed for Hutt Space. While the Imperial Remnant had been passed over from the looks of things, the Vong seemed to be heading straight for one of the other major powers in the galaxy. Not that the Hutts were an ally of any kind to the New Republic, but seeing what happened there was yet another way to gather much needed intelligence on the Vong. And, as always, agents were reporting back from Hutt Space on the goings on...but it was not looking like there would be a direct attack on the Hutts.

Unlike anything anyone had ever seen from the Vong before, there were reports of actual talks happening. Almost as if the Hutts were trying to buy their way out of the fight. Which, of course, would not be surprising when it came to the Hutts, but it was not at all like the Yuuzhan Vong conquering planet after planet in the galaxy.

To Jyren, this meant something was up.

To the New Republic, it meant an interesting turn of events that were worth watching if only to see if diplomacy was the answer.

...and to the men and women fighting the Vong and those who had lost their homeworlds, it was just another reason to despise the invaders. Dealing with the Hutts couldn’t mean anything good, even if there was something else hidden going on.

“Part of me wishes you had kept the information on the Hutts to yourself,” Jyren said after the briefing had ended and only he and Rulae were left in the room.

Sliding a datapad into his pocket, the Duros gave his old friend an uninterested expression, “Its good to know every part of you has an opinion. I am a bit afraid to ask exactly which part you’re speaking of, however.”

Jyren just glared at Rulae as he walked past before sighing and following, “When did you develop a sense of humour?”

“I didn’t,” the same flat, analytical voice responded. He headed up the steps, and then stopped to look over his shoulder to Jyren, adopting a more serious tone, “There is something else I kept out of the report and didn’t let out here...something I expect a new part of you won’t like, either.”

Before responding to that, Jyren at least made sure to head up a few steps so that he was on equal footing, literally, with Rulae, “I don’t think any of me is going to like it...but lets hear it.”

“We dropped out of hyperspace about twenty standard minutes ago to adjust course and got a few extra reports...” Rulae was an expert when it came to setting something up, which was horribly annoying, “The local garrison on Obroa-Skai just came into contact with a group of Vong sympathizers.”

If that didn’t cement that Obroa-Skai was a target to the New Republic government, it was unlikely that anything ever would.

“When you say ‘came into contact with’, I assume you mean ‘shot at’?”

Rulae nodded. Jyren just sighed and shook his head, trying to ignore the fringe of his hair getting in the way again, “This Peace Brigade is popping up everywhere...”

“Two Yuzzhan Vong warriors were killed, also.”

Okay, Jyren had been wrong. That was what should have solidified the danger to the library world.

And for some reason, that only brought one question up, “When do we arrive in system?”

“An hour,” Rulae raised a long-fingered hand to quiet anything Jyren was about to say and then added, “You, Officer Lor, and Lieutenant Loro will be going to the ground when we arrive.”

Knowing what that hinted at, Jyren nodded but then couldn’t help yet another question, “Aren’t there SpecForce troops or Fleet Marines in the fleet to do that?”

With another nod, Rulae said simply, “Yes, there are. But you haven’t been ordered to go...understand?”

“Ah...” Jyren returned that with a nod of his own, “I understand.”

Saluting, the Duros officer turned and left Jyren alone in the briefing room. It was rare for Rulae to act like that...but obviously he felt this was important. It also meant he wanted people he could trust on the ground. So this wouldn’t be boring at all...

...and that wasn’t even thinking about putting Tobias into the equation...

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 391: Escalation

On the surface, very little had changed on Alraxia. The planet looked exactly as it had for thousands of years, as did the many cities and communities that pocketed the planet here and there. The Palace and the city that had grown around it were still the same, and it would have been just as easy for an Alraxian that had lived when it was created to identify it as the ones that were currently occupying it.

And, perhaps, much was still the same beneath the surface, too. At least, to most people living in the Empire it was. But they were the ones that had always seen the Tam’Day’U as stories told to scare children, nothing that was actually true. The silver-eyed children that could have given evidence to this had always been slipped away too quickly for anyone to notice.

To those that actually knew the truth about that, and many other things, too much had changed. The Tam’Day’U were now a part of the Knights, protecting the borders of the Empire and, still to the horror of many, the Empress herself. Of course, this was ignoring the fact that the Empress was one of the Tam’Day’U...a fact that many simply put aside and decided to pretend was not the truth for as long as possible. And now the Empress had come home again, and many noted that the Knights stationed at the Palace seemed to be much more numerous and much more...paranoid.

It was likely a good thing that many did not know why. Tam’Day’U were one thing, but the very idea that invaders were living anywhere on the planet could very easily cause a panic not unlike when Ket Halpak had returned a decade before. And so only those that needed to know did. That meant, primarily, the Knights.

But as Marix looked out over the Palace from the balcony that extended out of her unnecessarily large room, none of that really seemed to phase her. To her, none of those were even very dramatic changes...except that the Vong had her slightly on edge. But even that felt slightly distant compared to the changes that were closest to home. In fact, there wasn’t much out there to compete with the one right in front of her.

...well, no.

Marix idly glanced down to the little ball of fur in her arms. She couldn’t help but feel a bit strange, as if she was quite literally holding a younger version of herself. The black stripe that traveled down the center of the young Alraxian’s predominately white coloured fur did nothing but make it even more confusing. Probably not to Marix as much as to the nannies that were still around the Palace doing their best to meddle no matter what anyone said to the contrary.

“I would expect that I’m not supposed to tell my son you’re actually holding her, hm?” Navik Keros spoke up from inside the room.

Rolling her eyes, Marix turned and stepped into the section of the room that was currently occupied by far too many toys and a simple off-white desk that the older Alraxian was standing next to while eyeing a few things that were laid out on it. She had heard him come in a few minutes earlier, but simply hadn’t said a thing, and decided to continue the silence by not responding to his sarcasm.

When it became apparent to Navik, he stood up straight and adopted his usual formal tone, “The Knights have sealed off the Palace area but they haven’t found anything yet.”

Marix only nodded. She may have said something, but there was a small yawn at her shoulder that caught her attention. In another moment, a pair of big, silvery eyes up at Marix from her shoulder. The little girl gave her a sleepy look, and Marix allowed herself a smile while she reached over to gently scratch the child’s ear.

As a soft purring sound started, Marix felt the weight return to her shoulder, and so she looked back over to Navik, “They won’t find anything until they’ve had time to look. It has only been a few hours.”

Jyren’s father nodded, and then she caught a hesitation through the Force. Marix’s eyes narrowed and she glared at him, “What is it?”

Somehow, he was never as surprised as most people seemed to be when she picked up on things like that. She’d asked him why more than once, but never gotten a straight answer from him. She probably never would.

“The Mrrakesh have taken two of the border systems.”

Narrowed eyes suddenly went wide, and it took a great deal of effort to keep her shock out of the Network...keep it hidden from the rest of the Alraxians in the Empire. After a few deep breaths, she still couldn’t find any words worth saying, and when Navik seemed to catch onto this, he elaborated, “Unoccupied systems, and none of our Knights were killed...but they are now very close to the Jendari homeworld,” he paused a moment and shook his head, “We cannot fight their ships out of our territory. All of the other border systems are well defended, but if the Mrrakesh push them, you know what will happen.”

Marix was currently doing her best to calm the torrent of thoughts circling her mind. The border had been held, somewhat nervously, for well over a thousand cycles. And while it had always been tense, the Mrrakesh had never truly pushed into Alraxian space, despite their obvious advantage due to the fact that their starships were quite well armed.

But why now?

It made no sense.

It made even less sense that they would take empty systems.

If the Mrrakesh really were making a push into Alraxian space, reigniting the war from so very long ago, then they would surely take a planet that had some value...some...symbol, at least. They weren’t foolish people, and they knew how to fight a war. Countless power grabs and internal wars proved that much.

Biting her lip as she tried to figure out what was going on, a thought came to mind suddenly, “Alyx is on Jendari.”

After a moment of thinking, Navik nodded, “I believe he is.”

For a long moment, Marix looked at the child in her arms. A war with the Mrrakesh, especially now, meant this little girl wouldn’t have a home. The Knights were stronger now, yes, but too few in number to truly fight back an army. And that was ignoring the fact that Kanyaks had no weapons. There was a reason they were attempting to stay out of the war consuming the rest of the galaxy...

“Send a message to Alyx to stay where he is,” she said finally, in a very stern voice that sounded disturbingly like her mother’s, “Keep me informed on the state of things here.”

Navik simply nodded, also sparing a glance to his granddaughter, then said in a quiet voice, “I am sorry that you had to be told of this now...you don’t get to see the twins enough, as it is.”

Marix’s eyes locked with the older Alraxian’s for a long moment, “Don’t apologize to me.”

 

[tmaaas]

Ankh,

Has this storyhour received the .pdf compilation treatment yet? It definitely deserves it, and I'd be happy to do so.

-- tmaaas

 

[Angcuru]

I'm pretty sure that this hasn't been tucked into PDF form yet.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 392: Signs

“Explain to me, again, what we’re doing down here?” Rea asked as she walked the large streets of the library world with Jyren, Tobias, and the Mon Calamari, Loro.

It was Loro that spoke up, in a somewhat quieter voice than he usually spoke in. Probably because of all the people around them on the streets, “I believe the correct term is gathering intelligence.”

“Also called spying,” Jyren said with a smile, not at all meaning that but feeling like someone had to lighten the mood. The conversations on the way down to the planet had been bad enough. Rumours spread across the fleet quickly, and none of them seemed to be good, anymore.

“On the Fleet Marines, though?” Rea’s face showed her confusion and the Force easily gave way to the uncomfortable feelings that was also brought up by those thoughts.

Sighing, Jyren shook his head. Sometimes, he decided, it was probably best to listen to Marix and not attempt sarcastic comments, “We’re here to be the eyes for the Commander.”

It was the Mon Calamari who seemed to understand this when he added, “First hand information is more accurate than reports that have gone through multiple departments.”

“Exactly,” Jyren nodded with a smile, glancing over to Tobias, who seemed oblivious to the conversation going on behind him. The young, and currently, human was a few paces ahead of the other three, all of whom were out of uniform and somehow managing to look like normal people. But Tobias, on the other hand, seemed to wander from side to side on the street, nearly running into any and everyone that got near him.

A few minutes earlier, Jyren had reeled Toby in, but that meant that he was now just barely managing a straight path. The streets of the library world were wide, but surprisingly populated...likely due to refugees that were flooding towards the Core Worlds from the Outer Rim. Far ahead of them, and barely visible over the other buildings, was the massive library building that housed thousands and thousands of years of knowledge from all over the galaxy.

But that was not where they were currently headed. Reaching forward, Jyren rested a hand on Tobias’ shoulder to turn him down another street towards their destination. It was a rather small apartment complex near the market district of the main city where the Vong had been found. Next to it was a small, supposedly unoccupied building that had housed the Peace Brigaders.

And, when they arrived at the pair of stone-carved structures lined with a rather bland looking duracrete, it was obvious that something had definitely happened there. A group of ten New Republic soldiers was holding the two buildings, though none of them were openly holding weapons...they were there in holsters at the belts of each soldier. The street was still populated, but it was decidedly lighter than most others, likely due to the soldiers, as most on Obroa-Skai weren’t used to any kind of military presence.

Two of the nearest troopers seemed to notice something off about the group as they were heading to the buildings rather than just down the street, and stepped forward while raising his hand, “I’m sorry, but this area is sealed off for now.”

Jyren, his hand still on Tobias’ shoulder, pulled back the young man to stand behind him, then reached into his jacket pocket to produce a datapad. He allowed himself a very short glance to the others, then handed the datapad to the trooper. As the human’s eyes checked over the completely blank screen on the datapad, Jyren calmed himself and did his best to use a technique that Marix had taught him, pulling the Force into his voice, “My name is Nara Lutaine. We are with New Republic Intelligence. Everything should be in order here.”

To their credit, the two young pilots kept their mouths shut. Jyren knew Toby would, but he was unsure of the others and didn’t exactly want to tell them ahead of time for fear that they wouldn’t go along with it. Not that Rulae was going to find out about this, either. Sometimes, though, it was just best to get things done and not worry about how, even if one had to reduce to somewhat unsavory tactics.

A few moments passed, as they always seemed to do in situations like the current one, and the soldier handed Jyren the datapad back with a nod, “I apologize, sir.”

Jyren allowed himself a smile, then glanced to the others one more time and headed in. They went for the large building first, which was where the Peace Brigade had supposedly set up. The door slid open to reveal a rather boring looking entrance way that was scarred with black marks across the walls. So there had been fighting all the way through...

They got down the hallway and to the first turn before Rea’s silence finally broke, “You lied to him.”

“Yes,” Jyren nodded, turning left and following the area where the blaster scoring got tighter and dried blood could be see on the walls and the floor, “I did.”

“I saw the datapad, Captain,” Loro said in a still-quiet, but watery voice, “There was nothing on it.”

“No,” he was doing his best to get a feel through the Force, too, a trick he’d picked up back when he actually was working with New Republic Intelligence, “There wasn’t.”

Before another comment could be made, however, Tobias cut in, “Dad...”

It was the way he said it that caused Jyren to stop. Slow and...he sounded worried. Both of which were not at all normal coming from Toby. Jyren stood up straight and turned to see a half-dented door that Tobias was looking at. Toby gave him a look, and Jyren did his best to calm him with the Force while at the same time he realized just what had gotten the kid on edge.

“What is that?” Rea asked, leaning in but not being able to make out just what the scoring was. And it smelled, too...not like the ozone smell that followed a blaster bolt...but something else. Something that she couldn’t identify at all.

But just as Tobias knew what it was, and the smell, Jyren did, too.

Through the center of the door, in a long, half-curved arc, was the burn mark from a lightsaber blade.

But it was the only mark like it amongst all of the blaster scoring. And there was nothing near the door to hint at any other details...not even from the Force.

Quietly, with a sigh as he knew that they were going to have to force that door open the hard way to get through it, Jyren said, “Its not a good sign.”


((And nope, the only copy of this that exists beyond what's here on the boards is my extremely messy Wordperfect file. I definitely wouldn't be opposed to seeing it PDFed, but as you guys can probably tell, life's been really busy for me lately again.))

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 393: Trapped

The systems that were hidden away in Alraxian space were very different from the rest of the galaxy. Isolation had that effect on things. But Jendari was as alien to the rest of the Empire as Alraxia was to the majority of the galaxy. The avian species that called the planet home had watched both the Alraxians and the Mrrakesh develop and grow over time, having been there from the beginning. When the Sith came and began their experiments with the life forms they found, the Jendari were millennia old.

And yet, they sat happily on their planet, with no ambitions of power of any kind...quite happy to be a part of the Alraxian Empire, and giving advice and assistance wherever it was needed. Longer lived than even the Alraxian people, many of the older Jendari had been there when Marix’s grandmother had been Empress. Perhaps that was why they were always able to catch her off guard.

Be it a simple comment or a gift, the Jendari always had a way of surprising Marix with their knowledge of her life. While she couldn’t prove it, she was fairly sure they had scouts in the rest of the galaxy for thousands of years. It was the only way to explain how they knew certain...details...about her. No one but Jyren knew about her old smuggler friend, Max, and yet they had once given her a small crystal with the name inscribed on it but in Alraxian letters. And that was only one of many, many things they had done to surprise her. There were so many others that she had lost count years ago...or at least, given up on counting anything more.

Unlike Alraxia, the planet itself was covered in very little water. There were no oceans on Jendari, but there were very large lakes. The cities that were scattered across the planet reminded Marix of the floating cities of Ithor...or at least, that had once been on Ithor. But it made sense for an avian species to put their homes in the sky. There were walkways and other things for species that could not fly, but the Jendari rarely ever used them.

Loki set down on a small, hexagonal pad near the outskirts of one of the large cities, with blue-white buildings rising all around...both upwards and towards the ground, which was still a good distance below. Without a word to the ship, Marix stood and headed for the hatch. A brisk pace meant she was outside and on the surprisingly soft ‘ground’ in a matter of moments.

The pathway leading to the platform was not empty, despite her speed in exiting the ship. Walking towards her was a small group, five Jendari and one Alraxian. Even as an adult, Alyx was as short as his sister. He was also built the same as she always remember, a little too thin for his own good and with hair that made one wonder if he actually remembered it was there when he woke up in the mornings.

There was also a smile on his face that made Marix wonder if he had lost his mind. But she ignored it as best she could, and also did her best not to cringe when he embraced her.

“Its good to see you,” he said in a voice that was much happier sounding than she was used to from her ever-quiet twin.

Reluctantly, Marix returned the hug before, gently, pushing him back to arms length. One thing, at least, it was nice to be able to look directly at someone than up their nose, “You got my message.”

“I wasn’t leaving anyway,” Alyx shrugged, “But yes.”

Marix then turned her attention to the Jendari she recognized, put on her best smile, and bowed her head, “It has been too long, Arelin.”

The Jendari who had been appointed to the short-lived council bowed his bird-like head and put on what was best interpreted as a smile of his own, “You look more like your mother every time I see you, my lady.”

Of course, Marix froze...sure, it was only a half second, but it was enough to drive her crazy. It had been something so simple this time...not a comment about something he shouldn’t know, but something plainly obvious that threw her off. She couldn’t help but wonder if they enjoyed that or were simply oblivious to how it always effected her.

“T-thank you,” she managed to put herself back together quickly, “I am sorry, but I believe we should get to business as soon as we can.”

“Of course,” Arelin bowed his head before turning and leading the way.

In a few minutes, they were near the center of one of the large spires, with open windows all around the very large, circular room that allowed a calm breeze to flow through. The room was an interesting mix of technology...with metal consoles fused with grown, Alraxian technology and then things that Marix only knew as Jendari. What they were, exactly, was still beyond her, and she never felt it was important enough to actually ask.

The center of the room was taken up by a large, square holoprojector. It was currently displaying a green-tinted image of the Alraxian Empire, with a reddish section showing the Mrrakesh space. Not far from the bright blue dot that represented Jendari, was a small intrusion of red covering two planets.

“The Mrrakesh have shown no aggression beyond breaking through the border and taking the planets,” Arelin said simply, motioning with a taloned hand towards the protrusion of red which was eerily close to Jendari.

Marix’s eyes were on another console to the side of the image where Alyx had brought up the reports from the Knights that had been attempting to guard the border, “Five warships but they didn’t fire a shot. At least twenty transports...” she shook her head, “And all to two unoccupied worlds within the Empire.”

“They are guarding the planets fiercely,” Alyx cut in, glancing down at his own display of the last information they had received from the two planets. He sighed and looked over towards his sister, “With the size of those transports, could they have been bringing people to actually live?”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Marix said under her breath, “There are hundreds of empty planets within their own space...and even more outside of it. Even with their warships, they don’t war anymore than we do...but crossing the border and taking two of our planets? When word of this gets out, there will be panic, and it is going to be difficult to hold any kind of peace anymore.”

It was a sad truth. The Alraxians were not, in any way, a warlike people. Even the Knights defending the border had no weapons on their ships. The Knights weren’t even an army, simply a peacekeeping force...and a tiny one compared to the number of people living in the Empire. And yet, all of the Empire, even the many non-Alraxians, were terrified of the Mrrakesh. A push like this would be seen as an invasion...the start of another war. Some would even go as far to bring up the Darkwing Wars. The Alraxians had been forced to fight then, and it would happen again if they had to.

“They are afraid,” a soft, almost quiet voice said from off to the side.

Marix looked over to see an older Jendari female...one of the group that had been on Alraxia when she and Jyren had first arrived all those years ago. She was the one who had given Jyren the crystal for his lightsaber...and the one that had told Marix that...that she...

“What do you mean?” Alyx asked.

The Jendari woman pointed to the red of the map much like Arelin had, “They are afraid. Fear drives them to the closest escape.”

Finally turning completely away from the console she was looking at, Marix stepped over to the older Jendari, “That doesn’t sound like the Mrrakesh.”

Her two foggy eyes looked up at Marix in an almost blank way, “Neither does the Mrrakesh bringing five warships across the border without firing a shot...” she paused a moment, then pointed to the other edge of the display, on the far end of Mrrakesh space and the edge of the galaxy, “For thousands of years, the Mrrakesh have only had our Empire and themselves to fight. They do not run because they know how to fight those fights...but something else has found them that they do not know how to fight.”

Marix’s eyes turned to look at the display again, taking in what she knew to be the section of ‘Known Space’ that was not far at all from the Mrrakesh. Seeing the image like that brought up a dangerous realization, and she quickly turned back to the older Jendari, “The Vong.”

That recieved a slow nod, and then the Jendari woman pointed to a section far away from the green of the map to where Marix knew the Gateway rested, “They know no other place to run...but they do not know that we are both being pushed.”

“We’re trapped...” Alyx mumbled a little too loudly.

Marix shot him an icy glare, but quickly turned back to the map and bit her lip. In a way, he was right. With Vong coming through the Gateway in disguise, there was no where to run for Mrrakesh or Alraxians. And the more that the rest of the galaxy was pushed by the Vong, the more that the Gateway itself was becoming cut off.

The thought that came to mind was one that she despised.

They needed weapons.

It was coming to the point where it was going to be impossible to keep the Empire safe without it.

“Arelin,” Marix broke the uneasy silence and looked over to the other Jendari, “Send a message to the other council members. Have them brought here as soon as possible...and I need to use the long range communication system.”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 394: Storage Closests

“Just go check down the hall,” Jyren was doing his best to keep his voice level and calm, but that was always difficult when he was forced to repeat himself, “Let me worry about the door here. Go make sure there’s not anything else we need to know about.”

The Mon Calamari and Twi’lek exchanged glances, and Rea started to open her mouth to argue once again...but Loro’s fin-shaped hand grabbed her arm as she reached to point at Jyren. She shot him a surprised look, but his voice remained surprisingly calm, “Come on.”

There was a sigh from her, but she relented and followed the Mon Calamari down the corridor to check the rest of the building’s ground level. When they were out of sight, Jyren turned to the door that had a long lightsaber mark across it...and was also dented inwards a great deal. And yet, attempting to force it open had done them no good.

“What happened here?” Tobias asked in a quiet voice, knowing it would carry and actually being cautious for the first time in his life.

Jyren spared the young man a glance before shrugging and focusing his attention on the door. There was one way to open it, and it required the other two to leave. Now that they were gone, Jyren didn’t have to worry about it...

Half-closing his eyes and drawing himself inwards, Jyren did his best to silence his mind and focus. It took a few moments, and then Jyren opened his eyes and drew on the Force. There was a series of creaks followed by a sudden, unnecessarily loud crack before the door broke off of its seals and shot inwards, hitting the back wall of the room a good ten meters away...that also made a loud bang that, if they had been Alraxian, would have got his and Tobias’ ears ringing.

Immediately upon the silence that followed, Jyren cringed. He hadn’t meant to use so much...well...force, but the damn thing was jammed well and so he’s just put more into it until it broke. Of course, this meant that another second later both Loro and Rea scrambled back around the corner with blasters drawn and ready to shoot.

Jyren, face in hand, called over to them with a sigh, “I got it open.”

By the time the two were next to them again, the blasters were holstered, thankfully, but there was still a definite look of surprise on both of their faces. Or at least, what passed as surprise for a Mon Calamari. It was Rea who stepped over in front of Jyren to look straight at him, “How the hell did you do that?”

“I just pushed...” he shrugged, stepping around her to finally look in the room and put aside the fact that ‘just pushing’ wouldn’t have put the door on the opposite wall.

If any other questions were asked, Jyren pretended not to hear them and turned his attention to the room. It was, from what he could tell, a storage room of sorts...boxes and crates, some of which had been smashed by the door, were stacked across the large room, leaving it generally unremarkable. But as he looked around, his eyes caught something that was definitely not a box.

Near the back, thankfully off to the side, was a body. More specifically, the body of a Yuuzhan Vong.

But it wasn’t like any Vong Jyren had ever seen. This was not an Alraxian sized and powerfully built warrior. In fact, the only weapon he could see was a small, dagger-like object sitting on a cloth loop at the hip of the corpse...it wasn’t even drawn. This Vong was tall, yes, and still looked to have had strong muscles beneath the mutilations, scars, and tattoos across his flesh, but he wore robes. And not only did he wear robes, but his right hand was...odd...Jyren was forced to kneel down to look at it more carefuly, seeing a six fingered hand that had strange devices grafted onto them.

As he sat back and the others came to look, Jyren noted a few black marks across the Vong’s already dark skin, indicating he was killed by a volley of blaster fire. But certainly not in the raid that had killed and captured the others. This Vong was the only body left, the rest had been cleared out...and it was inside a room that Jyren had used the Force to break into it. The sweep of the first New Republic troops through here hadn’t even gotten into this room.

So how had this Vong been killed?

Jyren just shook his head as he got to his feet. There was, as usual, something odd going on that was far enough beneath the surface to be out of reach.

“Get the soldiers outside,” he said finally, “Tell them we found something new and get them in here.”

“Yes, sir,” Loro saluted and squeezed past the others to head back outside.

As he did so, Jyren looked to Rea, “Stay here with Toby.”

“Where are you going?” it was, of course, Tobias that asked that.

“Going to find a console and see if anything else important was missed,” Jyren started to head out of the room, and he didn’t need the Force to tell him to stop and wave a hand, “Stay here, Toby.”

He didn’t turn around to make sure that Tobias listened. Jyren simply turned a corner to head down where Loro and Rea had first gone towards before he’d managed to open the door. No, he didn’t know if there even was a console anywhere near...but he had to try to find something. More importantly, though, he needed time to think. From the moment he’d seen that door, there had been a very bad feeling rising in him.

And, sadly, Jyren knew that his bad feelings were rarely wrong.