Star Wars: Heroes of Another Kind

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 432: Redirecting Our Course

The interior of the Jendari ships was much like the rest of their construction: large, open, bright, and circular. Panels and consoles lined the circular area that was the bridge, though there were no actual walls that cut it off from the rest of the ship. To one end, almost as a way to orient those who were aboard, was a large viewscreen wall that showed the small fleet that the humans had put together.

Marix stood next to Arelin, a Jendari she was finding herself dealing with more and more over the past months. The bird-like humanoid stood a full head shorter than her, but had the same strong presence that all Jendari had that made them seem monumental in size. For a moment, his red-green feathers along the back of his head ruffled before speaking, “They are following your command...though very slowly.”

“Salvaging what they can,” Marix grumbled under her breath, shaking her head and trying to stay calm, “I had hoped you wouldn’t have to come out here.”

“But you knew as well as we did that it was necessary,” Arelin said, turning to look at her, “War has a way of causing people to lose their sense of the rational. They take extreme measures that are not at all required. Because of this, extreme measures must be taken to prevent a situation from developing further.”

Marix nodded, but found herself unable to find any other words. She was still too...angry. Angry that these damned humans had come so close to bringing all of the Empire into a war they couldn’t survive.

“My lady,” Arelin cut into her thoughts, “We will leave one ship here to make sure that this does not happen again. As for the others...as we stated in our message to you, we will place them in the border systems with your Knights. Hopefully it will be enough to keep the Mrrakesh out of our space.”

“And if it isn’t?” that was something Marix would not have said to anyone but this Jendari.

Arelin looked back towards the viewscreen, “If it is not enough, then we will be forced to fight.”

That got Marix’s eyebrow to shoot up, “You seem almost determined to.”

What could have been a smile formed on Arelin’s avian features, “Hating wars and fighting does not stop them from occuring, my lady. After thousands of years, we are able to see what is coming and deal with it as best as we can.”

There was so much truth in that. So much and then something else...the Jendari did have a way of seeing things. Sometimes, Marix couldn’t help but wonder how much these allies of her people truly knew about where the galaxy was going. They had proven time and time again that they were strong enough in the Force to see events thousands of years in the future. And yet, despite all of that, they were more interested in helping the Alraxians grow as a species rather than ruling them as they so easily could if they wanted to.

“Alyx is going to speak with the leader of that group of humans,” Marix said in an offhand tone, “Hopefully he can talk some sense into them.”

Arelin nodded, “Your brother has proven to be a good diplomat.”

Returning the nod, Marix realized it was time for her to leave. It was up to the Jendari and the Knights to deal with this situation personally, not her...even if she wanted to. If she was needed, they could get in contact with her. Sadly, there were other matters back on Alraxia that needed dealing with, not to mention the twins. She had found it hard to just leave them this last time, which was never easy but now...now there was no Jyren to leave to keep them company.

Shaking those thoughts off, Marix turned to Arelin and bowed her head, “Thank you for this. I know how long is has been since you have come this close to a war.”

“We are not safe yet, my lady,” Arelin said, still looking away. He then turned to face her and presented another of those interesting smiles, “And you do not need to thank us. We do our duty to our Empress and to our Empire.”

For some reason, that put a smile on her face, even if it was slightly forced. She felt like it was necessary, “I believe it is time for me to leave. If anything happens...”

“You will know before anyone else,” Arelin tilted his head, “You forget, you are the Empress. Of course we will tell you immediately.”

Marix nodded to him and then turned to leave. Thankfully, she had a good memory, because the corridors and bright blue-glowing walls all looked the same to her now. But before she could step out of the bridge area, a taloned hand took her arm gently, “My lady,” the voice of Arelin caused her to turn around to look at him curiously. He was holding an object in his other hand, extending it to her, “We wish for you to have this. It is our hope that it will bring you light in these dark times.”

Not understanding, but not one to refuse a gift from the Jendari, Marix took the small box and nodded in thanks. Her arm released, she knew it was time to leave. As she walked back to the hangar where Loki sat waiting, Marix opened the box and looked inside. Inside was a small, transparent datacard that the rest of the galaxy used to store information from datapads on. Yet...to Marix’s eyes, it looked to be very old. Thankfully, there was a datapad sitting in Loki’s cockpit, as it was impossible to go most places in the rest of the galaxy without one, and she could figure out what this was then.

But when she stepped into Loki and he started to take them away from the fleet as she walked to the cockpit, the object slipped from her mind. Instead, she found herself caught up in relaying to Loki all that had gone on aboard the ship, which truthfully hadn’t been much. But by the time she was in her usual seat, the viewport showed the blue, swirling tunnel of hyperspace. She set the box down in the empty seat to her left and closed her eyes to rest while they headed home.

Her eyes had been closed barely five minutes when something happened.

Out of no where, a sudden, white-hot pain erupted in her stomach. Marix’s eyes shot open in shock, but she could see nothing beyond the haze of pure, burning white. All of her senses lost their touch with anything but the pain, which seemed to burn through her insides slowly and violently, taking their time to singe everything that they came into contact with.

But then, as suddenly as it had come, it slipped away and Marix was able to see again. Loki was panicked and asking a thousand questions, as apparently she’d clawed two long gashes into the seat and let out a cry like he’d never heard from her before, but Marix was ignoring him. She immediately looked down to her stomach, seeing nothing out of the ordinary at all, save for the memory of that sudden flash of intense pain. Just to make sure, she checked herself over with the Force and then found nothing wrong at all...

As she was retreating from the Force, though, Marix caught...something. She grabbed onto the thread of whatever it was and held tight, following it to its source. In another moment, she found herself in a familiar place. Familiar and yet...so very unfamiliar...

Deep breaths had finished calming her still tense body, but there was still no evidence of anything actually wrong with her. She could only manage to speak in a whisper, but said softly to Loki, “Take us out of hyperspace at the safest moment you can. Change our course for the Gateway,” she paused, and Loki started to protest, but that was quickly ended before he even got a single word out, “I don’t know! I don’t know what that was. But...I...” she shook her head, “I have an idea, though...and we need to go to the Gateway right now.”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 433: Jumping Away

[I don’t see a thing.]

That wasn’t entirely true. Loki could, in fact, see quite a bit. All around him the wreckage of starships of various types hung in space. They were outside the Gateway near the center of where some of the fiercest fighting had occurred. Loki was currently busy navigating through the pieces of debris, trying to avoid getting hit again as a great deal of the pieces were large enough to leave marks. Through all of this, he was also doing his best to, as Marix had told him ‘keep an eye out for anything odd’.

Since then, she had said nothing, and Loki was left to try to search for whatever it was they were searching for. Something had happened to her. He had felt the sudden panic that faded suddenly, but nothing else. Beyond that, all that Loki could tell was that she had felt...well...something. She had said nothing else about it, and was doing what Loki had seen her do many times when something was bothering her: trying to figure out the source of the problem as soon as possible. It seemed that, to Marix, explanation had a way of slowing down her process of finding out what was going on.

Loki tipped himself slightly to the side, letting a rather large chunk of an X-Wing float over without actually hitting him at all. Making sure there was nothing else close to hitting him, Loki turned the brunt of his attention back to Marix. [If you could at least give me an idea of what I’m looking for this would be a lot easier...] he trailed off then changed his orientation again to avoid what looked like a piece of floating asteroid that was likely the remains of a Yuuzhan Vong ship. [...and I wouldn’t be coming so close to getting bombarded with wreckage...]

For the first time since they had passed through the Gateway to reach this location, Marix’s expression changed. The glossed-over, ‘I’m not in right now’ look faded and her eyes seemed to gain a bit more life. She blinked twice then reached up to run a hand through the black stripe in her hair before finally saying quietly, “Take us out of this...move to the rest of the wreckage.”

If Loki could have sighed, he would have. Instead he simply found a safe course out of the thick wreckage and started, slowly, towards the other group that was closer to the Gateway. As he did, he managed to divert enough of his attention to keeping an eye on her so he could see any other changes and said. [What are you looking for?]

“I don’t know,” Marix answered in the same voice as before.

[But you have an idea.] Loki managed to push it more mainly due to the fact that he had gotten out of the thickest area and wasn’t fearing for...well, not his life, but his comfort, at least.

This time, she sat back and, as he noticed she had a habit of doing, glanced upwards, “Loki...what happened before I told you to change course?”

That was an...odd question ,to say the least. But, at this point, he decided it was not the time to question and just the time to, well...answer. [I felt a surge of panic from you. Then you...cried out and then you told me to come here.]

Marix seemed to think about this for a few moments, then asked, “That was it? You didn’t feel anything else?”

[Not a thing...] he paused to maneuver around a very large chunk of durasteel that was likely the remains of a very large ship’s hull. [...should I have?]

Sitting forward again, Marix’s eyes scanned the view in front of them, “I felt a surge of pain like I haven’t felt since...since...” she closed her eyes, shaking off a memory as far as he could tell, then went on, “...since before I left home the first time...”

Loki understood that. He remember what she had been like then...very clearly. While he didn’t know all of the details, Marix had told him a great deal of what had happened in her time as a Tam’Day’U before her exile. He directed his attention to not hitting another object before responding. [What does that mean?]

“That it wasn’t the Force,” she answered right away, though it was obvious her attention wasn’t completely there. Her eyes followed an object for a moment before returning to the previous state of simply scanning things idly, “And there is nothing physically wrong with me. That leaves two other options, and if it had been the Network, all of the Empire would have felt it and I would have known...”

Loki was able to follow that line of thought, but didn’t exactly feel comfortable finishing that sentence for her. There was something unsettling to him about that subject, and even in his mind he was avoiding any specifics about it just to be safe. Perhaps he simply was trying his best to help to protect Marix in his own way, which was something that, if she found out he was doing, she would yell at him for. Despite that, though, Loki still did it. In a way, he really was a lot like Jyren.

Out of no where, Loki felt a strange sensation from Marix in the Force. He ‘looked’ to her and saw a curious expression on her face. Before he could ask, though, she spoke up, “Did you feel that?”

It was obvious she wasn’t referring to what he had felt from her, but something else. Because of that, Loki had only one answer as he tried to find a safe place to sit still in the middle of all of the floating starship wreckage. [Feel what?]

Marix bit her lower lip a moment as she was working through how to explain, then finally seemed to find a way, “Something...familiar but...”

Realization must have struck her right then, as she suddenly went quiet. It was that sudden silence that altered Loki to what she might have felt. He knew where they were sitting. He knew what kind of ship that piece of durasteel floating past was from....and he knew why there were chunks of asteroid-like Vong starship pieces floating around through it all at the same time.

[Is this what brought you out here?] he asked, still hedging around the subject and hoping she knew what he meant.

“I’m not sure...” she said quietly, shaking her head, “It feels...felt like an echo of sorts. Strong enough to be felt but...I don’t think anyone else could notice it,” sighing, Marix rested a hand on her stomach, “Maybe that was an echo, too...I think I’m losing my mind again.”

Loki was about to say something to that, but he caught a sudden movement off in the distance. Any movement like that out here was completely unheard of, and he immediately shifted his attention to it. In the distance, he could faintly make out an object shooting out of the wreckage they had first been in. [Marix! There’s a ship trying to leave!]

“What?!” the previous somber mood was gone as she dove forward and tried to see it on the sensor screen.

Spinning around, Loki started to move as fast as he could towards where the ship was flying towards while avoiding the larger pieces of starship around him. As he wove through them, he detected a buildup of energy. [Its going to jump to hyperspace! I can’t catch them!]

A growl escaped Marix, as the idea of a ship being out here was as angering to her as it was worrying to Loki, “Get a lock on their vector and plot every possible jump from there!”

That was asking a lot. However, Loki had done that before, and so was on it in a second. The second after, though, the ship disappeared. Trying to ignore this, Loki finished what he was doing. Thankfully, there weren’t many places to jump straight to from this close to the Unknown Regions that had safe routes. [There’s only one straight shot from here from their vector.]

“Plot a course,” Marix said as she was sending a message back to the Gateway, telling them what was happening. Loki was busy doing his best to plot the course and get them to a safe spot to jump to hyperspace from while she sent it, so he didn’t really have a chance to pay attention to anything that she said to them.

A few minutes later, they were in hyperspace.

A few minutes after that, Marix finally asked, “Where are we going?”

Taking a short break from making sure everything was going fine with himself, Loki answered simply. [Mygeeto.]

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

No update tonight...but, I've attached the Timeline I babbled about earlier. This is rough, and some things may be off slightly but I tried to hit things as best I could. I earlier thought about listing more than just the Part Numbers for when HoAK action kicks in, but left it as is for now. May go back later. And yes, that's the one, half-started part of my other SH that didn't live too long(and is technically on hold) inserted near the end.

Got another related little project for this going on, but won't babble about that until more is done with it.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 434: Visions

Tobias opened his eyes and sighed, looking up to where Master Ral stood against a tree. It was four local days after Anakin had left and Toby was stuck with the strict training of his Omwati Jedi Master. Currently, they were near a lake a good kilometer from the Great Temple, with Toby sitting in the dirt with his back to the water and the blue-skinned Master carefully watching him from a few meters away near the treeline.

“You must focus, Tobias,” Master Ral said in his soft, almost hard-to-hear voice.

Sighing again, Toby looked to the two rocks that he was supposed to be levitating while holding up himself and, at the same time as all of this, attempting to reach into Master Ral’s mind. After grumbling something to himself, Tobias just shook his head, “How am I supposed to focus when you want me doing so many things at once?”

That question hung in the air as Master Ral’s pale blue eyes stared serenely down towards Tobias. After a few moments, the answer came, “Do not focus on each individual task. Through the Force, they are all the same. Let it flow through and around you and you will find the focus.”

For a moment, Tobias just stared at the Omwati. Then, shaking his head again, he closed his eyes to blank out the world and allow him some kind of focus despite being told he was going to have to actually find it. Okay. Calm. Starting was easy, and considering that he’d attempted this at lest six times now, Tobias knew how to get that far. First he had to clear his mind. This was accomplished through a few deep breaths in a repeating series that he learned from Marix. Two, then three, then two, then four, then two, then three, and so on.

It wasn’t long before the two medium sized rocks were up a good half meter off the ground, and, though they were shaking slightly, sat in a somewhat comfortable hover. After a few moments when Tobias made sure he had it down right, he, too lifted off the ground, though not nearly as high up. This, too, lasted a short while as Tobias did his best to maintain his focus as if it was all one task, rather than three.

But then came the part he’d yet to manage. Keeping his focus as best he could, Tobias stretched out with the Force even farther, trying to ‘aim’ his attention towards Master Ral while still keeping himself and the rocks in the air. Eyes still closed, he reached towards the Omwati Jedi, trying to find the surface thoughts that were his target...

“NO!” Jyren cried out in a voice filled with everything from rage to painful sadness. His eyes were wide open and staring at Marix who stood next to him. She had a look of shock and pain on her own face, but it was impossible to tell what was really going on.

“Jyren...” it was the voice that Tobias recognized as his grandfather, but he could not see the older Alraxian, “...it is true.”

Jyren’s head snapped around to glare at something out of view, which Tobias assumed was his father. He stared that way for a few moments before looking back to Marix, his hand gripping her shoulders tightly as if he couldn’t support himself. This time, his voice was a bit lower, “...how could they do this...?”

Marix opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. It was then that Tobias noticed that Jyren’s claws were digging deep into her shoulders, a definite sign of him trying to hold on for...whatever reason. She shook her head and reached forward, carefully placing her hands on Jyren’s shoulders and obviously doing her best to calm him down, “Remember all of the times the Mrrakesh tried to kill us?”

A slow nod came from Jyren, and something else must have been said that Tobias could not hear, as Jyren slowly let go of Marix with his claws and practically fell onto her shoulder. Barely, he was able to hear, “...this was our son...not us...”

In a sudden moment of pain, Tobias hit the ground hard below him. The rocks landed with a thud next to him, but he was too busy trying to catch his breath to notice.

“Tobias?!” there was a sudden movement and Master Ral was kneeling next to him, reaching an arm under Tobias’ head to lift him up off the ground slightly, “What happened?”

He did not ask if Tobias was alright. There was a good reason for that...as the young man was covered in sweat, breathing as if he’d run ten miles without stopping, and his eyes were wide with an obvious terror in them. But despite the panic going through his mind as he tried to understand what had just happened, Tobias felt slow waves of calm overcoming him...likely from Master Ral.

Thanks to that, he was able to speak through his heavy breaths, “I saw...saw something...”

“What did you see?” by now, the frail-looking Omwati was helping Tobias to sit up, an arm still on his shoulder and a look of concern over his features.

Tobias just shook his head at first, but then looked up to Master Ral, “I saw...my parents...they were both alive and...and something was wrong...something had happened...my father he...” Tobias shook his head again, trying to get the image to go away but still needing to explain, “...he said his son had been killed...”

Master Ral knew enough of Tobias to know the important parts of his family situation. Most importantly, that Jyren had sacrificed himself not long before Tobias had come to the Academy. This had been something that had been a focus early on, as it could easily develop into a dangerous pull towards the Dark Side. So the Omwati knew the significance of what was being told to him.

“Calm yourself, Tobias,” the Jedi Master said, finally sitting down completely next to him and leaving it to Tobias to take control of himself. As Toby started through the calming techniques, Master Ral said, “Though our goal here was for you to read my surface thoughts while also focusing on other tasks, I believe you have succeeded in your own way. The vision you had...I cannot say its meaning. The Force can grant us many things...including visions of the past, the present, and the future...and possible futures. I have seen things that will never come to be, Toby. Your attachment to your father is very strong, and it drives much of what you do here...”

He trailed off a moment, reaching down to pick up one of the rocks that had fallen and holding it up in his hand, “You have no difficulty in lifting this rock. It is a simple task. You put your mind to it, you focus, and it rises as you wish. But your mind, Toby...your thoughts run wild. Before you can go any farther with your training, you have to learn to control your thoughts. What you saw could have been from the Force...it could be reality. But it could also have been a tangible vision brought up from your own thoughts. Until you can learn to control that, to truly find peace in your mind, neither of us will know what you saw.”

Staring down at the ground, Tobias found he couldn’t argue with Master Ral. He was right. The way he let his thoughts run wild made it impossible to know what he’d seen...which meant...

“How...” Tobias paused a moment to actually find his voice rather than the whisper that had escaped instead, then tried again, “How can I learn to control my thoughts?”

The face of his Master kept the same serene look that was usually there, “It is not an easy task for anyone. You are going to have to confront yourself...your hopes, dreams, fears...everything.”

“How do I do that?” Tobias asked, truly wanting to know so that he could know if what he’d seen was real or not.

Slowly, the Omwati got to his feet and extended a hand to help Tobias up, “Come with me.”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 435: Downward and Forward

Marix sighed and tightened the heavy coat that was wrapped around her. Doing her best to ignore the white puff of frigid air that escaped with the sigh, she decided to kill Loki when she got back. If she got back.

No...no, she’d kill him anyway.

Mygeeto had just been a name to her a few hours earlier. She knew of the general direction where it supposedly was, but nothing else save for a faint remembrance of battles that were fought there years ago...the last had to be during the Galactic Civil War that she had mostly blanked out of her memory mainly due to the fact that, during the time, well..thoughts of the clones the Empire created of her surfaced and, thankfully, froze with the rest of her to die quickly.

The planet, she quickly learned, was colder than Hoth on a bad day. Since Loki had entered the atmosphere, all Marix could see were giant crystals jutting out in all directions from the surface down there...somewhere. Everyone so often, pockets of smoke from cities could be seen, but the Vong were dealing with the metal buildings that were constructed into the giant ice-crystals. They had set down about ten kilometers north of what Loki identified as a settlement that wasn’t burning. Considering the amount that he had identified that were burning, both of them deduced it was the one to inspect first.

On the trip through hyperspace, Loki had managed to figure out what kind of ship they had been chasing. It wasn’t Vong. It was an old model transport about half Loki’s size and twice his age that Marix had already forgotten the name of. They had, at a distance, followed it into the Mygeetan system and then hung back upon seeing a Vong fleet orbiting the planet. Thankfully, Loki didn’t have much trouble sneaking down to the surface without them getting noticed, and that had simply left them to figure out where the ship had gone to. It said a lot that the Vong hadn’t fired on it...

But, upon reaching the surface, other problems had come up. Most of them centered around the cold. For a while, Marix convinced herself that it wasn’t, in fact, snowing, but it was just ash. It was when Loki set down in a relatively slat spot between two huge crystal spikes that went hundreds of meters into the air that Marix was forced to accept the truth...and forced to morph to a body that wouldn’t die a quick death in the cold.

The smaller human woman that she now was stood a against one of the impossible cold crystal spires as she looked down into a huge valley where she could see unique looking structures. It would have been hard to identify her as human, though, as Marix was in three layers of clothes...four if the morphsuit underneath it all counted and five if the second jacket, which was Jyren’s old one, also counted. Her face was wrapped up so only two violet eyes shown through, and they were doing their best to ignore the sight of both the snowflakes falling around her and her own breath. She was also currently a master of thinking warm thoughts.

From what she could tell, there were a good six starships of various makes and sizes lined up on the far side of the encampment below. Despite the great distance between herself and what might have been the ground below, she could identify a good thirty small buildings that looked nothing like she’d seen before. Between them, various dots and other shapes moved around, with a larger clump of them between the ships and the encampment. The large group contained at least fifty individuals, but probably more.

The cold was bad enough...as were the giant crystals that made moving anywhere on the planet near-impossible...but the idea of that many down there was not a good thing. It didn’t help that they were probably Yuuzhan Vong.

Her black-gloved hands moved from hugging herself to keep warm to the next task. Another of Jyren’s old pieces of clothing, the gloves didn’t fit perfectly, and were probably a size too big, but they were from his old flightsuit and strong enough to help with the next task without freezing Marix’s hands. Eyes shifting to the other edge of the cliff she was on, Marix decided that it was definitely out of sight of the encampment below. It also looked to be climbable...at least, more so than most of the crystals that covered the planet. And so, focusing her mind and trying to ignore her body, Marix put herself to the task of the long climb down. She shifted over the edge, found a good foothold, and started the descent.

* * * *​

Tobias looked across the shimmering blue lake that was to his right. The forest of Yavin IV surrounded it, and directly in front of Tobias, at the edge of the water, was a smaller version of the Great Temple that was used as the Academy’s main building. It had taken two hours to walk this far, and while he was fairly sure it was an eastward trip, Tobias had gotten lost in the navigating of the jungle that Master Ral had lead.

“Thousands of years ago, this was one of the temples that the Sith, Exar Kun, had his Massassi slaves craft for him,” Master Ral said in a voice that was as haunting as the temple that was sitting at the lake’s edge, “He sealed himself in there when the ancient Jedi came with the Republic army to end the war he had started...about ten years ago, he returned, his spirit coming out of hiding to attempt to retake this place. The first group of Master Skywalker’s new apprentices defeated Kun, ending the threat he presented. Despite that, though...” the Jedi Master extended a blue arm to the Temple, “...a dark presence remains within this place. It is an echo of the powerful Sith Master that was sealed here for so long.”

Tobias was a bit taken aback by all of this information. He knew very little about the Sith beyond the stories of their involvement with the early Alraxians. Seeing that such a place existed so close to the Jedi Temple was a bit...unnerving. Vague knowledge of Yavin IV’s history was one thing, but knowing it in more detail just had a way of getting him more worried than he probably should have been.

“I want you to go inside the Temple,” the Omwati Jedi said calmly, “Follow the main corridor straight until you reach a large, octagonal room. There should be seven pedestals within it. Bring me the object that rests on the fourth.”

A few moments passed as Tobias tried to put all this together. He wasn’t sure what to say, as he’d pretty much asked for this...turning back now wasn’t really an option anymore. So, instead, he just managed a slight nod before taking the first steps towards what was probably the entrance to the Temple.

“Wait,” the voice of Master Ral stopped him only a few steps later. Tobias turned around to see the Jedi Master’s hand extended and his palm open, “Give me your lightsaber.”

That caused a few different reactions within Tobias, none of them any more comfortable than what had been evoked from the story of that Temple. He reached for the weapon, Jyren’s weapon, at his belt, but hesitated and said quietly, “You said to be careful in the deep jungle...to keep a blaster or something with me at all times...isn’t it going to be dangerous in there?”

The Omwati Master’s pale coloured eyes looked down to Tobias in a hauntingly piercing way, “The only danger that is in there is the danger you take with you. You will not need your lightsaber.”

“But its not mine...” he mumbled in a whisper towards the ground, trying to find some excuse now and clinging to the one at the forefront of his mind.

As Master Ral knew enough of the occurrences prior to Tobias’ arrival on Yavin IV, it was not a mystery to him who’s weapon it was. Despite this, his hand remained outstretched, waiting, “I understand that your father entrusted you with that weapon, Tobias. However, you will not need it within those walls.”

“But...”

“The only reason you would require that weapon is to fend yourself off,” this time, the Jedi Master’s voice was much more forceful, “You wish to be a Jedi, Tobias. A Jedi is still a Jedi without his lightsaber. If you cannot leave your weapon behind, then you will never understand what it is to be a Jedi and to serve the Force.”

For a moment, Tobias simply stared at his Master, almost shocked at what was being implied. He’d yet to hear Master Ral speak in anything beyond a calm, serene voice...and now he sounded angry. There was something terrifying there, and he wasn’t sure why. Perhaps it was because Tobias knew he was right, he just didn’t like it.

And so, slowly, Tobias removed the lightsaber from his belt and placed the metal hilt in his Master’s hand. It took a few seconds for him to let go of it, but when he did, Tobias turned and started towards the Temple in front of him.

To his credit, he didn’t look back.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 436: Icy Infiltration

It was a long, slow climb down the crystal of ice. Marix kept a steady pace, but made sure to stay slow enough to make sure the footholds she was kicking in would remain strong and not break. Because she started a good hundred meters, at least, above the ground(well, no, above the next layer of crystals), it was well over an hour before she finally found a solid surface to stand on, again. This, however, did not give her trouble. Marix had climbed down far more dangerous slopes in much worse conditions.

When she was down, Marix took a moment to look up again, taking in the features of the wall of ice above her to remember where she had to come to climb back up. Once the location was committed to memory, she turned and headed around the huge crystal spire towards where the encampment should have been. It was a short trudge through the lightly-snow-covered ground beneath her feet before Marix saw the ships from before.

The six bulky, metal starships sat in a line of sorts on the ground right where they had been...but now Marix could see something else. A good few meters in front of them was a line of very large, armoured figures. It didn’t take a genius to identify them as Yuuzhan Vong warriors. Of course, the fact that Marix had seen them more than once helped.

Keeping herself behind the large crystal she had climbed down, Marix leaned her head around to get a better view of things. She was still a good distance out, but was keeping her eyes and ears open just in case she was spotted. Not being able to detect the Vong through the Force was not terribly annoying for her, but it did mean she had to be extra careful and alert with her other senses. Not far from the line of warriors that were guarding the ships was a various collection of other humanoids. From this distance she was at, Marix wasn’t able to identify them, but they looked to be dressed in more...well...normal clothes. Not only that, but she could sense the being in the Force, meaning they definitely weren’t Vong.

So Marix put two and two together and, unlike Jyren, managed to come up with four without too much effort. Most likely, they were the occupants of the ships that they were now cut off from. Marix cursed human ears, noticing that there was a pair of smaller figures walked in front of the group of non-Yuuzhan Vong. Those two, though, were definitely Vong. Not only could she not sense them, but they were wearing elaborate robes that looked to be clinging to the figures’ shoulders with huge talons and spikes. Even at the twenty odd meter distance she was at, Marix could see that much clearly...and that the figures were saying something.

If she was Alraxian, she would have been able to hear it. Of course, if she was Alraxian, she would also be frozen to death. Part of her considered the not-so-often used Wookie morph that she had hidden away in her mind, but reminded herself why she wasn’t here like that. Yes, Wookies would be fine in the cold, and climbing was a natural skill...but they weren’t exactly the best creatures for sneaking around. The point was to stay out of sight, and so she was human...and still cursing it despite the fact that she’d managed to get so close.

Another moment later, Marix shook the distracting thoughts off. If she stood around like this she was going to get caught. This needed to be quick, and she needed to figure out whatever it was she came here for. For now, Marix turned back from the view and stood completely behind the cover of the giant crystal spire. Her eyes and ears were not going to do anything to help on that end...they would only be able to keep her alert of anything approaching.

Which left the Force...and which left out of the Vong. Thankfully, that eliminated nearly all of the options, leaving one clear course of action. Keeping her eyes closed and her ears open, Marix reached out with the Force to the group of humanoids that were between the Vong warriors and the two others. Immediately upon finding them in the force, Marix knew something was wrong. There were...holes in them. She could feel the humanoids and most all that she normally could for a first glance at other beings, but a close inspection showed literal empty spots in the Force littered throughout.

It reminded her of the Vong.

And it was inside these humanoids.

What that meant, Marix wasn’t sure...but she didn’t like it.

Marix withdrew back into herself, glad for the fact that none of the Vong were patrolling anywhere near where she was. If they had any patrols...the fact that she hadn’t noticed any had been unnerving enough. But she’d watched the area for a good amount of time before heading down, so Marix was fairly certain there simply wasn’t one. Why would there be, anyway? They had no enemies here, and were obviously in control of the planet.

Certain of the lack of any patrol, and now feeling a need to dig deeper to see what was really going on here, Marix looked around from her cover again. Carefully, she eyed the ships. They weren’t far from the Vong line, but the warriors were facing inward, away from the ships...watching the backs of the humanoids. Which meant that the only ones she could see looking to the ships were the two Vong that were apparently speaking to the humanoid group. Her eyes scanning the area one more time, she then looked ahead of her. There was another group of two or three of the giant crystal spires a good sixty meters ahead of her, and if her eyes weren’t lying to her, then it would be about another ten meters past the second spire to the closest of the grounded starships.

However, there was a definite flaw in the plan that was forming...there was no cover at all. The edge of this giant crystal that was serving as the ground didn’t end for a great distance off to the side, making it look like a giant plateau rather than the crystal that it really was. That meant she couldn’t duck down and climb across, out of sight. Dropping to the ground would be difficult, as the layer of snow was barely enough to reach the top of her boot and that meant she would look like a brown thing sliding across the ground of white. Part of her was starting to regret adding Jyren’s old jacket as her last layer...despite the fact that it was nice and warm...

Morphing was out of the question, too, as she would have to morph back and it wasn’t going to work very well with all of the layers she was wearing. So that left out the sneaky way and the slow way. Marix had two options left...the direct way and the fast way. Technically, they were both about the same thing, though the direct route meant going through the Vong warriors, while the fast way meant heading for the cover.

Deciding that this was not the time to get into a fight with an army by herself, Marix decided her best option was going to be the fast route. She looked to the crystal spires in front of her...sixty meters was necessarily that far, but it was such an open area that she was going to have to be absolutely she they didn’t spot her.

Marix took a moment to take in a sharp, freezing cold breath, then looked straight to her goal. Drawing the Force to herself, she took off as fast as she could, releasing the Force into her body and using it to push herself as fast as she could go. The hope was that they wouldn’t see anything at all, but if they did...it would be a passing something that couldn’t be identified and would hopefully be brushed off. And in a matter of seconds, she stopped, grabbing onto the crystal with her gloved hands to steady her rapid deceleration.

Immediately turning around, Marix could see a soft line of white that was already dissipating. Good. She started a careful walk towards the other end of the two giant crystals while keeping a great deal of her attention behind her...just in case she had been noticed. When she reached the other end of the two spires, nothing had come to follow her. She carefully looked around to see a generic looking Bulk Cruiser that was about the size of Loki a good ten meters off...she could see that the boarding ramp was down, but it was, annoyingly enough, facing the other direction. At least there was enough room under the ship that she wouldn’t have to run around it.

Before starting a much shorter sprint, Marix reached up to tighten the hood of the first jacket she was wearing. She also made sure the piece of cloth over her nose and mouth was secured tighter...the run had sent a sharp cold into her face like daggers and she was going to make absolutely sure that didn’t happen again. This was bad enough without the cold getting in the way.

Sure that she was as warm as she was going to get again, with only her eyes and half of her eyebrows visible. Marix took another glance towards the Vong line, making sure none of the warriors were facing her. She attempted to look past, but couldn’t see the two other Vong through the group of humanoids...which she decided was a good sign. So, she turned back to the ship in front of her and sprinted towards it without the aid of the Force.

Marix ducked to not hit her head on the underside of the freighter before wrapping around the other side and not-so-quietly heading up the boarding ramp. Three loud footsteps clanged under her before she heard, “Kee chu---?!”

A moment later she barreled into a Rodian that was about her size. The green-skinned Rodian hit the deck first, with Marix falling on top of him. She didn’t take a moment to even think about what to do next, knowing that any more time could mean she was caught. Her hands were moving even as she fell, and though hitting the Rodian threw her aim off, it was only another second before she grabbed his neck and his head and twisted hard.

The basic human female, which currently was what Marix was, did not have nearly the kind of strength that a female Alraxian did. However, Marix knew this, and had adapted her attack accordingly. The fact that Rodian’s weren’t very strong creatures meant it was that much easier to snap his neck before he could say another word. It had been all of a few seconds and now this Rodian was dead, likely before he knew what had happened.

Marix did not waste time thinking about that. Instead, she got to her feet and looked around. The corridor went two directions, and she saw a door close by. After reaching down and grabbing the Rodian’s arm to drag him behind, she headed for it. Marix let go of the Rodian’s arm before reaching out with the Force into the room...it was empty...or should be empty. There could have been Vong. Because of this, when she hit the switch to open it, Marix spun in ready to take down anything there.

Thankfully, she found nothing at all beyond a small storage room filled with various crates. It was exactly what she needed. It took another moment, but Marix dragged the body in and closed the door after finding how to activate the light. That was another thing about humans...horrible eyes. But when the door was shut again, she looked down to the Rodian to see something that didn’t take sharp, Alraxian vision to notice. Protruding from the side of the Rodian’s face was a piece of...coral. Or something like coral. Marix would have touched it, but knew that she wouldn’t get a good feel of it through the gloves and wasn’t about to remove them. Instead, she reached out with the Force and found...nothing...

She found a hole in the Rodian’s face.

A hole in the Force.

Marix bit her lower lip. This was not what she’d come to this planet for...she’d been tracking a ship that had come close to the Gate. Now, however, she found something that might have been more disturbing. Despite that, though, Marix was still unsure of exactly what this meant. As she stuffed the body behind a pile of crates that looked to carry rations of some kind, Marix decided to dig a little deeper.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 437: Another Kind of Ice

Very little on Yavin IV was ever cold. Even the food that was supposed to be chilled had a way of becoming room temperature, at best, within seconds. Some said it was the humidity...but Tobias figured it was just the Force having fun with people. It seemed appropriate enough to him.

However, the moment he set foot inside the dark, empty opening chamber of the ancient temple the air felt as cold as ice. This was a shock to Tobias, who was, like most Alraxians, accustomed to a tropical climate and not at all used to anything near a cold temperature. Because he was attending the Academy as a human, the cold didn’t kill him, but it stopped him in his tracks and forced him to lean against the ancient stone wall nearest to him.

As he began to slowly work through the cold, which took some time as he was also trying to figure out what, exactly, was causing it, Tobias also noted that the corridor, or room, or whatever it was in front of him was completely pitch black. After a few moments of shivering, Tobias knew he couldn’t turn back and so instead reached to the object left on his belt...a small glowrod. An Alraxian wouldn’t need it, but, currently, he wasn’t Alraxian and so, couldn’t see a thing.

When the light was switched on, Tobias couldn’t help a sigh that it gave off no heat. What he wouldn’t have given for a simple flame on a stick right now...

But now he could see a good distance ahead. The light from the entrance behind seemed to be sucked into the cold, disappearing into it...but the glowrod provided enough light to see that he was in an ancient, crumbling corridor that looked much like the ones in the Great Temple. The only difference he could really see, however, was a great deal of inscriptions that lined the walls that were in a language that meant absolutely nothing to him. Because of this, Tobias didn’t stare at them long, simply getting a general idea and then starting in the only direction he could go...forward.

He needed to find the room described to him by Master Ral, which was apparently straight at the end of the corridor he entered from. At least that meant he didn’t have to navigate this place. But as he started to walk forward to what he hoped was the chamber, Tobias’ eyes caught a shift of dark movement at the very edge of the glowrod’s light. It went left to right, wall to wall, then disappeared into the darkness of the cold again.

“Who’s there?!” was Tobias’ first reaction...and not the smartest one, either. But it had been too late and he’d said it. His second reaction, moments later, was much more thought out...he reached out with the Force. This provided him with a result he hadn’t been expecting, though. Instead of seeing something...he saw...something that he couldn’t even describe to himself. It was as if cold, itself, was manifested into the Force. He looked at it from a distance, but the second he did, it froze him in place and looked right back.

Somehow, Tobias managed to wrench himself away from the icy presence, stumbling back a few steps in the process. He nearly fell over, but reached out with his free hand to grab onto the wall as he tried to catch his breath. What had just happened?! What had he seen?! What had...seen him?! There wasn’t supposed to be anything dangerous in here, but...

“The only danger is the danger you bring with you...”

The voice echoed through the corridor, coming out of the cold itself and sending a shiver of fear down Tobias’ spine. It wasn’t Master Ral. It wasn’t...anyone he knew...and yet...he felt a familiarity with the voice and it terrified him to his core.

“Who are you?!” Tobias yelled out again, trying to keep himself up and waving his glowrod defensively in front of him.

“You know who I am, Tobias,” the voice, this time, came from behind him. There was a twisted sound to the voice that made it sound like the speaker was on the edge of sanity.

Immediately upon hearing this behind him, Tobias spun around with his glowrod as if it was a lightsaber, swinging it in a long arc in front of him and revealing...nothing but the corridor he’d been walking down. Even though he saw nothing at all, Tobias yelled towards the entrance to the temple, “Tell me who you are!!”

This time, there was a cold brush across the back of his shoulder, but no words to come with them. The touch was enough, though, and Tobias spun around again, swinging his light source. This time, though, he did hit something...the ancient, stone wall. The glowrod hit it hard and fell from his grip, its casing shattering upon hitting the ground at his feet and the entire corridor collapsing into blackness. The shock of hitting something, even if it was just the wall, send Tobias stumbling back again, but this time he couldn’t keep his balance and fell flat on his back.

He only heard the thud of his impact echo once, and was thankful for half-catching himself so that his head hadn’t snapped back and sent him into unconsciousness.

It was then that the voice returned, this time laughing, “Look what you have become, Tobias! Soft! Terrified! You’re more a child now than ever!”

Still feeling panicked, Tobias’ hand found the wall and used it to help him scramble up to his feet, “Stop taunting me and tell me who you are!”

The faintest of glows returned to the shattered glowrod at Tobias’ feet. It pulsed slightly, a dim light compared to what it had been before, and fading slightly before returning again every few seconds, but it was a light again. And in the light, dim though it was, Tobias could see a figure. Standing in front of him was an adult Alraxian, as tall as Jyren and built just as strongly. He wore the same armour that Marix wore...Tam’Day’U armour. His face was hard to see in the light, but Tobias could make out hardened features and a maniacal smile as two red-orange eyes watched him with that piercing gaze. The Alraxian’s hair looked a mess, but was cut fairly short and the colour was hard to see in the darkness...but one feature, of all of the ones that Tobias could see, stood out in his mind...the Alraxian only had half of a tail.

“You know who I am, Tobias Halpak,” the Alraxian said in that same voice, sending another chill through Tobias.

“That’s not my name!” Tobias screamed at the figure, taking a few steps back while doing his best not to fall over again.


The Alraxian in front of him did not seem phased at all, and simply took two calm steps forward, “You cannot deny your lineage, and you know who I am. You can feel it. You can even remember it, too...from before they made you so soft and weak...you remember when I made you strong,” the smile on the Alraxian’s face grew and somehow, in that, became more terrifying, “You cannot hide behind your illusions any longer, Tobias...you know your true father is Ket Halpak...and you know that I am him.”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 438: Information

Marix knew, immediately, that the rest of the occupants of the freighter she had boarded were either Rodians or similar creatures that didn’t seem to notice horrible smells. The entire ship reeked of...of...things Marix didn’t really want to think about. Not to mention the fact that half of the bulkhead in the corridors she was navigating to reach the bridge were patched up with random plates of durasteel.

Thankfully, it wasn’t a big ship, and it also wasn’t very occupied at the moment. She managed to find the bridge without running into anyone else, literally or figuratively. Like the bridges of most freighters this size, it had four seats and just enough room to maneuver between them. The rest of the walls were covered in controls and switches, half of which probably didn’t do anything, and then there was the slit of a viewport in front of it all.

With a quick glance behind her to make sure she hadn’t been followed, Marix stepped forward and slipped into the pilot’s chair. While her hands skimmed across the control panels, her mind was bringing up the old memories about these things. Years ago, with Max, she had flown ships like this. Well...more pointed and pressed ‘go’, but it was close enough. She just needed to remember where the flight logs were stored...

A small, rectangular protrusion near what Marix was fairly sure was the general alarm(why a ship this small needed one was beyond her) caught her attention. It was greyish, and looked to be set into the panel itself. Carefully, she reached over and attempted to pull the object up. Slowly, and with a bit of resistance, the rectangular shaped object relented and allowed her to pull it out of the slot. A moment later, she held a small datacard that could be read by, hopefully, any working datapad. It took a moment, but Marix managed to find a pocket to stuff the object in before getting back to her feet.

Flight logs were one thing, and would be helpful to a point, but she needed more information. If this ship had been the one they had chased from the Gate, it didn’t really matter. At this point, the specific ship was not important to Marix at all. Currently, Marix was trying to work out the ‘why’, which wasn’t terribly hard...the Vong were likely going to come back. Scouts were inevitable. The real ‘why’, was why they were using smugglers. She had a feeling it had something to do with the Peace Brigade, but wasn’t liking how far this whole connection between the two might just go. Implants in that Rodian definitely did not seem like there was a partnership going on.

Very carefully, before she left the cockpit, Marix reached out with the Force. It didn’t take long at all before she found a glint of light in it...another nearby being. It felt to be close, too. Still keeping her layers on tight, as the ship was open to the freezing air and definitely no warmer than outside, Marix left the cockpit and looked down the short corridor to see where this other being might be. There weren’t many doors at all, likely due to the fact that there wasn’t much space in the ship at all.

This made it easy for Marix to pick a target, heading for the first door she could find. After leaning against it to listen, but hearing nothing, she sighed to herself and decided to just head right through. Standing back and ready, Marix hit the switch to open the door.

It clicked, then hissed as it slid up to reveal a small quarters. As soon as the door opened, another Rodian, this one with pale-blue skin, got to his feet. Upon seeing Marix, the Rodian started to literally dive across the room to where Marix could see a blaster sat on a table. Ready for this, Marix also dove forward, but instead of going for the blaster went straight for the Rodian. She hit him hard, forcing him to the ground with her on top of him. When the Rodian attempted to swing a punch at her face, she caught his fist and, with the help of the Force to strengthen her arm, broke his wrist.

The loud crack of the bone snapping was accompanied by a nasal yelp of pain from the snout of the Rodian, though he still struggled under her to reach the blaster. Marix dug her knee hard into his chest...even by human standards, Rodians were frail, “Stop struggling and I won’t break anything else.”

It was likely hard to understand what she was saying, as Marix was still talking through the cloth that was across her face. Despite this, though, the Rodian seemed to get the point, “Kee uata!”

Huttese.

Marix rewired her thought process and responded in Huttese, “You will answer all of my questions. Each time you hesitate, I break something else. Do you understand?”

The large, glossy eyes of the Rodian somehow managed to look worried. He said nothing, but instead just nodded hastily. Certain, now, that this was going to work out well enough, Marix asked, “Why are you working with the Vong and what are you doing here?”

If it was possible to almost hesitate, the Rodian managed it. However, he obviously took to heart Marix’s threat, and answered quickly enough, “Hutts exploit my people! Me! Get revenge! We help them take Mygeeto, they help us with Hutts!”

Thankfully, Marix was strong-willed enough not to react outwardly to this. Instead, she just asked another question as she followed this train of thought, “The Vong are going to attack the Hutts?”

“Hutts ally with Vong...” the Rodian made a sideways glance to the blaster, which caused Marix to dig her knee in harder and his voice to come out with much more effort, “Vong in charge here...he gloat! Hates the Hutts...Vong know the Hutts only try to use them...Hutts no get away with that. They will see.”

So he could understand the Yuuzhan Vong...that was an insight, all by itself. And it prompted Marix to ask another question, “Why don’t you have an implant like your friend?”

“Friend...?” he paused, then seemed to realize what Marix was saying, “Neetar...you kill him! I...” he paused again, realizing the situation, then seemingly realizing, again, that it was not possible to fight back right now, “Slave seeds...they not put in all...not trust us. Think we betray them. Like Hutts...try to use us. Think we weak...but we know galaxy...they don’t. We stronger and they see that soon...so will you!”

It was then that the Rodian used what strength he could manage to throw her off. This didn’t take much, as Marix was human and, therefore, fairly light. She fell backwards, hitting the bulkhead and immediately flipping up to her feet. The Rodian, however, was smart enough to not just have kicked her off. He had used his momentum to also get up, reaching for the blaster once more. This time, he got to it.

When Marix was up on her feet, the Rodian fired a quick pair of shots without really aiming. The first went high over her left shoulder, but the other was aimed dead center for her stomach. In the close quarters of the small room, Marix had only the blink of an eye to react...but it was more than enough for her. By the first shot, she was moving, and so the second simply singed the outermost layer of her clothes. After the shift to the side, she charged forward again, hands reaching for the blaster and wrenching it from the Rodian’s hand.

A fairly strong knee came up and caught her in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her and sending her back a half step. The Rodian used this time to dart for the floor, once again going for his beloved blaster pistol. Marix recovered quickly, though, and dropped a two-fisted slam to the back of the Rodian’s slim frame. It sent the Rodian’s body straight down hitting face first with a loud thud. But Marix knew it wasn’t over, and wasn’t going to let it continue, either.

The second the Rodian’s body hit the ground, she dropped over him, reaching down and snapping his weak neck as she had done with the first.

Now it was over.

Marix got up to her feet again, wishing she’d had a chance to learn more. But that was it. She’d pushed her luck far enough, and now it was definitely time to leave before things started to go pear shaped.

“Bos sos si?!” the words echoed through the corridors twice. Marix had no idea what they meant, but she recognized the harsh, violent tone of voice that spoke them...which meant that, most likely, the language was that of the Yuuzhan Vong.

...apparently, the Force had decided that this had all been far too easy for her.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 439: Father and Son

Tobias stared at the Ket Halpak, a fear gripping him in a way that froze him in place. He knew about his real parents; that had never been hidden from him. But they had...used him. Turned him into a weapon when he was barely able to speak. To Halpak, he had been nothing more than a means to an end...not a child. Not his child.

And yet...here he was, standing in front of Tobias a good eleven standard years since he was supposed to have been killed. Standing in the way...despite getting turned around a couple of times, Tobias knew that beyond Ket Halpak was the chamber he was sent in to find. And now this damned Alraxian was taunting him, keeping him here in the middle distance and it was getting him no where.

“You used me!” Tobias growled, finally, “You are not my father!”

With that, he reached down and picked up the glowrod. Tobias steeled himself then charged forward, straight for Halpak. But he hit nothing...instead, he ran right through where the Alraxian had stood. Tobias didn’t stop, though, and continued at a sprint down the corridor, still able to feel that cold presence around him everywhere...following...watching...

Suddenly, the flickering light of the glowrod expanded as the walls of the corridor gave way to a large, open chamber. Despite the constant changes in the light from the damage glowrod, Tobias was able to see a series of seven, waist-high pillars in a circle in the center of the room. Carefully, now starting to feel like this was too easy and waiting for some kind of trap...or worse...Tobias stepped in to the center and looked to the pillars.

On each there was an object. He ignored the objects, themselves, simply trying to figure out a point of reference for the ‘fourth’ pillar. That was the one he was looking for. But they were in a circle, without any real break to mark a starting or ending point. And, as far as he could tell, there were no markings of any kind of the pillars, themselves. Just the objects on them and ancient scratches caused by time.

“Running simply delays the inevitable, Tobias,” Ket Halpak’s voice echoed through the chamber in such a way that Tobias couldn’t tell where it was coming from.

He spun around, but saw nothing at all in the limited light. This evoked a laugh from...somewhere, “So jittery...just like when you were a boy. You could never sit still. It seems that very little has changed.”

“Shut up!” Tobias cried out, listening to his own voice bounce around the chamber in the same way Halpak’s was. When it echoed back to him, he couldn’t help but feel a bit...disturbed at how angry he sounded.

“See?” Halpak laughed as he spoke, and somehow, Tobias felt like the voice was closer to him, “As quick to anger as always. You were perfect, Tobias. The first child of two Tam’Day’U...stronger than you can imagine.”

“I don’t care about that!” he yelled out in protest.

Another laugh echoed, this time even closer, “But you do...why do you lie to yourself? You want to be a Jedi...a pathetic ambition, considering what you are capable of...but you want to be a Jedi to be powerful. Strong.”

“No!” when Tobias turned around this time, he saw Halpak again. The Alraxian stood just a couple steps behind him, and the shock of how close he was caused Tobias to stumble backwards. He caught himself on one of the pillars and glared at Halpak, “I don’t care about power! I want to be like my father!”

Halpak took two long strides to come into view again, the same terrifying look on his face as before as he shook his head, “You are like your father, Tobias. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Look inside...feel it. I am dead...you know that. Yet, I live in you...my son.”

“You’re lying!”

A grin formed on Halpak’s features, and it only served to cause a more unnerving feeling in the way he showed his fangs in the process, “I would not be here, otherwise.”

By now, Tobias was gritting his teeth and trying to figure out what to do. Halpak was dead! Dead! But...he was here! And he wasn’t at all like a projection of the Force or...or his mind or...no, Halpak was standing right there! Solid as any living being and more terrifying than anything Tobias had encountered. No longer did he care about what he had been sent in to do. All that Tobias wanted was to leave, and yet despite the knowledge that Ket Halpak was long dead, the Alraxian was standing there in his way. Again. But now...

Now he was stepping closer.

Tobias shifted back another step, around the pillar before stopping himself. His hand brushed across something. Risking looking away from Halpak, Tobias looked down to what he’d felt. There, on the pillar, was a good sized, ancient looking, metal sword. Quickly, he shifted the glowrod to his right hand and picked up the sword in his left. Without really thinking, and in one quick motion, he turned around to face Ket Halpak, swinging the ancient weapon at the long-dead Alraxian.

Clang!

The sound of two metal blades hitting one another echoed through the chamber. Tobias’ eyes went wide with shock as his arm shook with the same shock from the impact of his sword against one that Ket Halpak was holding. Halpak held a rather boring looking metal blade in his right hand, easily parrying Tobias’ random strike, and laughed, “You would attack a dead man, then?”

“You aren’t real!” his voice was more pleading at this point, now lost completely. He had expected to slice through air, the image of Halpak...not meet resistance at all. Halpak was dead! But...not.

“I am very real,” Halpak grinned again, then pulled back his sword and took a single step forward as he thrust his blade towards Tobias’ stomach.

Uncomfortable with the metal weapon and having only picked it up out of reflect, Tobias wasn’t really sure how to parry. It felt so much different than a lightsaber. Because of this, he sidestepped the thrust, stepped between the pillars and forward as he hastily attempted another swing at Halpak’s midsection.

This was easy for Halpak to defend against, as he was able to quickly pull his blade in and parry Tobias’ strike for a second time. This time, however, Halpak did not simply hold the blade there. After pushing Tobias’ weapon back and forcing him against one of the other pillars, Halpak quickly swung down to cleave the currently-human Tobias in two.

Tobias simply dove for the hard, stone floor and rolled to the side and out of the way. He could see Halpak moving to come at him again, and Tobias only had time to get to his knees before reaching up to parry another downward strike.

His one-handed hold on the sword was not nearly enough to parry a strike from an adult Alraxian, though. When the blades met, Tobias felt his wrist give way and a sharp pain from it before he lost his grip on the sword and it clattered to the ground loudly. The force of the strike also sent him down onto his back again, but Tobias managed to keep his head up a second time. It seemed to be the only thing he was managing to get right.

Immediately, his hand reached out to grab the sword again, but when his fingers wrapped around the hilt to grip it, another sharp pain shot through his hand. He released the grip in time to dive to the side again, away from another strike from Halpak.

“Get on you feet!” the Alraxian growled, obviously enraged at this point, “My son is better than this!”

“I am not your son!” Tobias yelled back, this time throwing the glowrod up to where Halpak stood.

Ket Halpak brought his arms in and shielded himself, the half-broken object hitting his closed arms instead of his face before clattering off a good distance away...illuminating the exit corridor. That quick glance towards where the light had fallen triggered something in Tobias’ mind.

With his right hand, he reached over himself and grabbed the sword again, darting up to his feet as best he could when he had a grip on it. By this point, Halpak was coming at him again. Tobias ducked a swipe at his neck, then immediately used the time given to him not to strike back at his opponent, but to make a run for the corridor.

As fast as he could, Tobias bolted towards the tiny light at the end of the corridor. By the time it had grown to the size that told him he was nearly there, Tobias risked a glance behind him into the black...and saw nothing. Not even the dim flickering of the glowrod he’d left behind. When he turned back, though, he didn’t just see the light of the exit to the Temple...blocking it was the form of Ket Halpak.

“A Halpak does not run from a fight!” he snapped at the young Tobias before swinging his sword at Tobias once again.

Tobias managed to shift to the side, pressing against the wall in the small corridor, to avoid the strike, “My name is Tobias BlueIce!”

With the opening given to him, he thrust the sword towards Halpak. While the Alraxian size gave an advantage in most situations against a human, currently it meant that Halpak had no room to move...and his sword was off to the side as he was pulling it back from its previous strike. This time, the resistance that Tobias’ blade met with was not metal, but flesh.

A cough and a choking sound escaped Halpak, but that damned smile remained, “You can lie...to me...but not...to yourself...son...”

And then Halpak fell to the ground, hitting the stone floor hard and not moving again. Tobias was shaking now, but still somehow holding the sword in his hand. He looked down at the unmoving form for a long few moments, trying to push the thoughts out of his head that maybe, just maybe, Halpak was right...

Quickly, Tobias shook that away, then stepped out of the Temple and back into the light of the jungle.

 

[Angcuru]

Nice father vs. son fight there.