Star Wars: Heroes of Another Kind

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 510: Investigation

It took ten minutes for both Adria and Rulae to get to their respective positions, the entire time Rea was carefully watching the landed shuttle through her electrobinoculars and keeping them both updated via comlink. There had been no movement at all at the shuttle, and by the time the other two were in position, it was very dark out. The moon’s of Thyferra reflected very little of the sun’s light. In fact, about the only real light beyond the stars and the faint amount reflected from the moons was from the floodlights on the shuttle ahead.

“Time to move,” Commodore Nok’s voice was concealed by static and the general horrible signal their weak comlinks were using.

Rea responded as she had become accustomed to while piloting, but simply clicking her comlink on and off twice. She then got to her feet, stowed the electrobinoculars in the small pack she carried and drew the blaster pistol from its holster at her side. Rea checked the weapon, held it low, and began the careful approach towards the shuttle. She carried no lights on her, and nothing that would give away her position. The other two were in the same position, with glowrods kept off and stowed, so she couldn’t see them though Rea knew where they were coming from.

The ground was soft under her boots, and Rea did her best to not be distracted by it. She was so used to either solid deckplates or the rocky, cave terrain of Ryloth that soft dirt was...something she just wasn’t used to. It was just one of those little things that most people simply put out of their minds but Rea found herself unable to ignore completely.

“Hold it,” immediately upon hearing Commodore Nok’s voice again, Rea froze in position. She waited, then he went on through the static, “A few meters out of the floodlights...towards Harken. Movement.”

Two clicks came over the comm. Adria understood.

Rea turned to her left, looking over the lekku resting on her shoulder and into the blackness where Adria would be. Twi’leks could see well in the dark, but she still couldn’t make the human out at this distance. Normally, Rea could just use her sensors to fix any visual trouble, but normally she was in a starfighter.

Then the comm channel opened, coming through only as light static before Adria’s voice could be heard, “Just a small animal.”

“Copy,” Rulae’s voice returned, then added, “Lets keep moving.”

And so Rea started to move again, assuming the other two were, too. In about five minutes of this slow, careful stalking towards the shuttle, they encountered no other animals...or at least none to cause them to pause. And then they were all together, within the bright lights of the two floodlights and underneath the shuttle. If anyone had been in the cockpit, they would have seen all of them approaching, but still, the boarding ramp was down under the beak-shaped cockpit and nothing had come out of it.

They were also no longer using their comlinks to communicate.

Rulae, raised a long-fingered blue hand up to motion to the underside of the shuttle, then pointed to the boarding ramp. Rea nodded, then looked to Adria who was directly under the nose and had a clear view up into the main cargo compartment. The red-haired human woman looked to Commodore Nok and shook her head, her blaster pistol raised and aiming right up the ramp.

Nodding, Rulae then looked to Rea, and motioned to his left with his blaster pistol. Time to move in. Rea nodded and took a few careful steps forward, kneeling down to get a view inside before she moved around to the ramp itself. She could see the seats on the side of the ramp, and the small section of the deck that allowed for access to the cockpit while the ramp, built into the neck-section of the transport, was down. The seats were empty.

After she looked to Rulae and nodded again, he did the same from his end, moving close and getting a view into the interior side that was currently above her. He nodded to Rea, then very carefully climbed up onto the boarding ramp. He didn’t actually walk around to move up it, but instead climbed directly onto the section of it in front of him, immediately coming up to a kneeling position in such a way that his head would still be out of view for anyone inside. Adria would still have a clear shot to anyone...

Rulae then looked to Rea again and raised a single finger. Wait. Just a moment. He then pointed up the ramp. Wait...then follow. She nodded.

Very, very slowly, Rulae rose from a complete kneeling position to a crouch where he could walk, and disappeared up the ramp. Rea was soon behind him, following suit and staying to the right side of the boarding ramp to still give Adria a clear shot down the center.

Once she was up, Rea saw the large cargo area was completely empty, save for a couple of open crates that weren’t even labeled. Directly across from her, Rulae was pointing his weapon into the cockpit. She looked over her shoulder to see that it was empty, with only a couple of the command consoles lit up. Rulae turned and motioned to the main hold. There would be various cargo sections on either side of the main hold.

So they’d check them.

Together, they both swiftly moved into the main hold, blasters sweeping across and finding nothing at all. Then, one by one, they each checked the small compartments lining the bulkheads. Though Rea did find a bed in one, it was empty and there was no sign of recent use. The other three compartments were all empty save for what looked to be various random parts and supplies.

“Its clear,” Rulae finally said, his voice echoing in the cargo hold. He’d spoken into the comm, and so a moment later, Adria came strolling casually up into the hold, her blaster lowered and a somewhat annoyed look on her face.

Rea felt the same way. It didn’t make sense.

“What is this?” Adria asked, and both Rulae and Rea turned to see that the human woman was gently touching a section of the bulkhead with a long black scorch mark on it.

His own weapon down, Rulae stepped over to look at it more closely, “Almost looks like blaster scoring.”

“Blasters don’t leave long marks unless they barely graze a target...”Adria observed, then motioned at the one they were looking at, “And this one’s vertical up the bulkhead. What the hell would they be shooting straight up against the bulkhead for?”

“There are more,” Rea was back in the section of the ship farthest to the rear, where the ‘fresher and small cooking station was located, plus a single, open, gunnery station for the rear cannon. Near that area, there were at least five more similar looks marks along the bulkheads, some vertical, but most diagonal. There wasn’t even a pattern to it. One of them was also over the panel that would normally close and lock the door to the gunnery station, but the panel was completely destroyed and a mark simply went right over it.

Adria had moved over to look at the marks where Rea was. Shaking her head, the Coruscanti woman said quietly, “I do not like this.”

“This was the support ship for a starfighter squadron,” Commodore Nok said, looking around and now only loosely holding his blaster pistol in one hand, “There should be more supplies here. More equipment. And whatever the origin of these marks, it looks like there was a fight that caused them.”

Rea then had a very odd idea. She leaned in close to one of the marks and then sniffed it. Unlike blaster fire, there was no distinct odor of ozone there. Instead, it smelled like...like charred metal. Sure, blaster scoring would do that to metal but it would also have that ozone smell to it, too. She then looked at the marks more carefully.

“Sir,” she spoke up, standing back from the wall and knowing that Adria was looking at her as if she’d lost her mind...or one of her lekku, “It just smells like the bulkheads were burnt. And...and they look like cuts. These are indentations in the bulkheads. Some of them go pretty deep.”

Stepping closer, Adria looked along the bulkhead for herself, “Blasters wouldn’t leave a deep mark in the wall like this.”

Rulae reached up and placed a hand on one of the marks, feeling the slight difference. He then nodded, “A lightsaber might do something like this.”

“Jedi?” Rea’s lekku twitched slightly as she looked to the Commodore.

There was a noticeable sigh from Adria, though, “Bloody Jedi are everywhere these days. Wouldn’t surprise me in the least.”


On a slightly different note. Yes, my friends, AKM is Voort. Its been around 5 or so years since I've seen the bastard around anywhere and he seems to have found us by pure chance. How's that for crazy?

Oh, and as you can clearly see, he is crazy. Hasn't changed a bit in all these years.

 

[AKM]

Finally through all 17 pages.

Yes, I'm crazy. I found it because Bob Lawson (not sure if you remember him from the Combine) was googling old character names (found some really odd stuff). Though, I actually have changed. I've gotten... crazier!

Now Jyren and Voort can bap each other in afterlife

I'd like to note one or two things:

I'd say that the "I have a son" from Jyren in the fight with Jen was quite enough to make her at least hesitate. Jen's family was killed on Alderaan and, if my memory serves me right, she had a younger sister, who (again if I'm not mistaken, though, it's possible I'm mixing this up with the Combine character of Jen, it's been a while since then) could have been around the age of Jyren, if she would have lived. Additionally, the four of them went through a lot of strange adventures, so they grew together. There was a bond between them, especially between Jyren and Jen, just like the "animal-imperial" thing between Shadow and Voort (in fact, I think I remember that we pulled that line more often).

The Hapan fleet pretty much annihilated? Whoa... That would so cause problems inside the Consortium. Oh I can see the family I created for use in Hapes eventually moving against the outsider abomination on the throne (if Hapes followed canon developments). Civil war in the Consortium, woohoo, though, I think it would be more of a coup d'etat.

I can also see my favorite Sith character pop up with a fleet she'd gathered, not because of the shared threat by the Vong. No, certainly not. Her motivation would be simple. This galaxy is her playground, her sandbox and this little Sith never belonged to the people who appreciated outsiders messing up her sandbox.

I really like that one Hutt, who negotiated a deal with the Vong. Nori 1.0 would so be sent by Nerba (who's one of Zorba's) to deal with him... I wonder what Marix would do with someone who preferably uses disruptors and slugthrowers, not to mention rather nasty explosives (and who is also FS, but not really giving a crap about either philosophy, Jedi or Sith, a load of BS in Nori's opinion). Nori 2.0, not sure how she'd get into this, after all I began building her for one specific board (actually, I don't think she'd fit into it).

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Finally through all 17 pages.

Dear god, you read fast.

I'd say that the "I have a son" from Jyren in the fight with Jen was quite enough to make her at least hesitate. Jen's family was killed on Alderaan and, if my memory serves me right, she had a younger sister, who (again if I'm not mistaken, though, it's possible I'm mixing this up with the Combine character of Jen, it's been a while since then) could have been around the age of Jyren, if she would have lived. Additionally, the four of them went through a lot of strange adventures, so they grew together. There was a bond between them, especially between Jyren and Jen, just like the "animal-imperial" thing between Shadow and Voort (in fact, I think I remember that we pulled that line more often).

All the stuff I've still got says your info on Jen is right. Younger sister and all that fun stuff that didn't really come into play here. And she did always seem to treat Jyren like a younger brother, of sorts.

If I remember right, and it has been a few years, all you two ever SAID were "Animal!" and "Imperial!". Makes me wonder if either of you had any other words in your respective vocabularies.

The Hapan fleet pretty much annihilated? Whoa... That would so cause problems inside the Consortium. Oh I can see the family I created for use in Hapes eventually moving against the outsider abomination on the throne (if Hapes followed canon developments). Civil war in the Consortium, woohoo, though, I think it would be more of a coup d'etat.

With the Vong stuff I've done my damndest to get the timeline right and wedge it into the events within the New Jedi Order books well enough. Though its gotten fudged here and there (such as the leadup to the Battle of Fondor. It went just SLIGHTLY differently with the whole attempted trap at Corellia), the battle itself was in Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse.

The details of the battle, too, were a bit twisted to fit with the action. Its also why you have the Zephyrs off on their own, so they can avoid the mass of the battle that's described within the book itself. Also, that Vong ship that Toby and Master Ral went aboard was the Creche, which just before the battle, Kyp Durron(famous Jedi guy) was aboard with his squadron trying to rescue those slaves.

More info on the actual battle here: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/First_Battle_of_Fondor_(Yuuzhan_Vong_War)

I really like that one Hutt, who negotiated a deal with the Vong.

That was another thing slightly altered, as it was the entire Hutt Council that decided to attempt to stay neutral in the war. Course, there's also a few little tidbits about Fondor that didn't rub too well with them, and those'll pop up here soon enough.

Can probably track them down on Wookiepedia if you're curious.

 

[AKM]

Indeed. And, for defense, I've read a total of 6 SW books in my life (three were the Thrawn trilogy, the others weren't).

17 pages aren't much when there's nothing to do at work.

Oh and... I think we also had "bastard" in our vocabulary

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 511: One Way Out

Tobias got to his feet and spun around, barely remembering to bring his lightsaber up in front of him. But, thankfully, Tokarr was having to deal with Venda, who was much better at this lightsaber thing. Her green blade easily parried a strike from Tokarr’s blue weapon, and Tobias couldn’t help but be impressed. Of course, there was the fact that Venda was a fully trained Jedi Knight and Tokarr had barely more training that Tobias...but that wasn’t something crossing his mind.

A leg sweep from Tokarr dropped Venda to the ground hard, but she rolled to the side to avoid the downward strike of the Miraluka’s lightsaber. Having hesitated long enough, Tobias charged in again, not at all feeling ready to fight but also not wanting to just stand around watching. But before he could reach Tokarr, the Miraluka spun around, swinging his blue blade in a long, horizontal arc that was exactly the kind of thing Tobias remembered Jyren calling an amateur mistake.

Doing exactly what he remembered Jyren teaching him, as it was something Toby had done when he’d first picked up a lightsaber, Tobias spun inverted his blade and gritted his teeth as he used all his strength to parry the swing. And then Tokarr pulled his weapon back to attempt an attack from another angle. Tobias then did what Jyren had done to him years ago, and when Tokarr left himself open, Tobias reached his free hand out towards the Miraluka and did one of the few things he was good at with the Force...he hit Tokarr hard with it, sending the surprised former-Jedi flying a few meters before landing on the ground on his back.

“Well done,” Venda said, as she was now back on her feet and right next to Toby. As Tokarr was getting up, she motioned towards the boarding ramp, “Get in there and find whatever you can. I will hold him out here.”

“But-“ Tobias didn’t have a chance to argue, as she had stepped in front of him and the loud clashing of lightsabers was overwhelming anything else he would have said.

For a short few seconds, Tobias watched the blur, and even to his untrained eye, he could see that Venda had an easy advantage. She could definitely hold Tokarr off better than he could. So, blue-green lightsaber lowered to his side, Tobias turned and ran to the ramp and up into the shuttle.

The sounds of the lightsabers below, Tobias did his best to focus. The shuttle’s interior was...sparse. He walked up into a large, open cargo area with large dark spots near the center that might have once been the location of seats. There were various doors on either side that likely housed small compartments, and one directly at the back of the shuttle for...well, Tobias assumed it was access for maintenance on the engines. He turned to see the cockpit, and ran around the ramp and into the small, four-seat-holding section of the ship.

He deactivated his lightsaber but kept it in hand, as he looked across all of the various consoles that covered all of the cockpit. What was he looking for? Nav...no...communication...no...flight logs...no...wait. There was a datapad sitting in the co-pilot’s chair.

Navigating through the other chairs to reach it, Tobias grabbed the small object and, after a moment to find how to activate it, did his best to figure out what was on it. There were diagrams, information written in an alphabet he’d seen all over but couldn’t read, and a few images that he recognized as some kind of chemical structure. It seemed like what they were looking for, though everything on one little datapad seemed a little too convenient. Inheriting a little extra suspicion from Marix hadn’t been a bad thing.

So Tobias pocketed the datapad and looked around the cockpit for something more...there had to be more...

A series of loud clanking sounds drew his attention, and Tobias turned to see Tokarr coming up the boarding ramp. A quick glance outside the viewport showed that Venda was...on the ground near the trees. Oh Gods...

“Get away from there!” Tokarr’s voice was filled with rage, so much so that it felt like the air around Tobias was tightening.

He turned and reactivated his lightsaber, blue-green blade coming to life in the confines of the small cockpit. Tokarr’s blue blade was still active, and the Miraluka was charging straight in, weapon raised and not looking like he noticed at all that there was barely enough room within the cockpit to move, let alone swing a lightsaber.

Sparks flew as the blade cut through consoles and durasteel bulkheads and Tobias barely managed to raise his weapon in time to catch Tokarr’s wild swing. The two blades held against one another as both pushed hard to gain an advantage, a bright white spot where the two lightsabers held together. And through the crossing of blue and blue-green, Tobias could see Tokarr...his face a portrait of rage and the cloth that covered empty eye sockets half burnt in more than one place.

It was then that Tobias knew there was only one way this was going to end.

But Tobias wasn’t sure he could kill again.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 512: Still Running

Most people in the galaxy took metal for granted. It was so commonplace that its inherit advantages and disadvantages were lost on even the brightest of individuals. The galaxy was a place where hand to hand combat, true hand to hand combat, was something people learned for sport and entertainment. Most so-called real fights involves metal of one form or another...a blaster or a vibroweapon. It was so normal to them all that thinking about it being metal was completely out of the question.

But for Marix it was different. She was well trained in unarmed combat, the best in the Empire. At the same time, she had a multitude of weapon’s training. She could exchange fist for claw for dagger and fight just as well with each. And yet, Marix understood the advantages each held. From killing power to extra reach to something as simple as feeling the enemy with your own bare hand, she understood it perfectly.

And that understanding transcended simple knowledge and even the experience of most. Because Marix could be metal. A skill that was, truthfully, a genetic anomaly bred into her clone Delta Three, Shadow, by the Galactic Empire and something she had gained in the merging with this young clone. To be the one thing that was the most dangerous item in the galaxy to an Alraxian. To make their greatest weakness her greatest strength. In a way, it made Marix invincible.

But despite the metal, she still could feel pain.

Marix could also feel her metal arm drive straight through armour, then flesh, then bone, then armour again as she impaled the nearest of the Mrrakesh with her fist alone. She was all metal now, a silvery blur that had dropped from the ceiling of the lift directly in front of two of the approaching Mrrakesh. As she removed her hand from one, which dropped to the ground in agony as it slowly died, the other swung its sword to take off Marix’s head.

That’s when she felt the pain.

A loud clang of metal striking metal echoed through the corridor, and her head went dizzy for some reason that didn’t make sense. She was metal. She was, essentially, a droid...droid’s shouldn’t get dizzy! Her head tilted down slightly to see the injury, but couldn’t tell beyond feeling that there was likely at least a dent in her neck. That hadn’t been the Mrrakesh’s full strength. But the next strike would be and it could likely cut through...

Marix brought her right arm up and slammed against the Mrrakesh’s forearm as it swung the sword in again. Stopping the strike before it got to her, Marix followed up the parry with a strike from her other arm, which still held a Mrrakesh blade. Her left arm shot beneath the right, driving the blade straight into the Mrrakesh’s lower torso. It easily cut through the thin layer of armour and Marix cut down before removing the weapon and charging straight into the other five.

She didn’t have time for this. From the fact that the ship wasn’t shaking, Marix knew they weren’t taking many hits...which likely meant the Jendari reinforcements hadn’t arrived yet. And the longer that took, the more Alraxians died. She had to stop this ship right now...get to the bridge immediately. Mrrakesh be damned.

Perhaps it was the outright insanity of her actions that made it so successful. No Alraxian, even an insane one, would charge five well armed Mrrakesh soldiers. No Alraxian would survive that. Hell, a Mrrakesh would be hard pressed to live through that kind of attack, especially when the five others were ready to attack and prepared. Of course, no other Alraxian was metal...or Marix.

She literally pounced onto one of the two Mrrakesh who were kneeling with rifles aimed. The force of her jump brought him onto her back, and Marix made sure to dig the blade she carried into his neck as she landed, but didn’t bother to make sure he was dead. There wasn’t time. The other four were firing now, one just next to her and the three others not a meter away, blocking the corridor completely.

Marix leapt off of the Mrrakesh she’d pounced and went straight for the next, a metallic missile flying straight for a surprised Mrrakesh trying to aim his rifle while holding down the trigger and squeezing a constant stream of green laser fire out. But he didn’t even have a chance to raise the weapon to her, as Marix came at him at eye level. But despite the fact that he could not bring his rifle up, the Mrrakesh soldier did swing his free arm up to strike her.

The Mrrakesh’s fist caught Marix’s metal skull the same moment that she slammed into him. Her entire vision went dark for at least two seconds, but she could still feel through the Force very clearly...well, it was chaos, but she could feel it all. And though Marix knew the Mrrakesh she’d charged hit the deck on his back, a good concussion resulting from the two impacts, she didn’t follow him.

The force of his swing sent her to the side, and Marix’s back slammed into another Mrrakesh, who was then forced into the third who slammed into the wall. It was all a very good mess, with only one Mrrakesh still not bruised, at least. But he was the other kneeling, and was just not spinning around and drawing a sword to strike at her.

And then Marix’s vision returned. First in a blur, and then more clearly. But when the blur came, and she saw the other Mrrakesh around her recovering, Marix started to move. She drove an elbow back into the gut of the Mrrakesh she’d been thrown into, dropping him down again, then jumped up to her feet and ran, morphing her body back to her natural, Alraxian form to take advantage of its speed...and pushing the Force into her legs to drive her even faster down the corridor.

“Korta Che! Korta Sak!”

Follow it. Follow her.

She’d only killed two of the seven, and the other five would likely already be following that...

A violent, fiery sensation suddenly erupted from Marix’s lower back and she knew that one of the Mrrakesh had finally taken the time to aim. The pain was blinding, and she stumbled due to the shock of it, cursing herself for losing focus so much that she was not alerted to the incoming attack from the Force. She was getting distracted!

Marix went into the deck face first, her momentum still carrying her forward and causing her to slide painfully across the metal. But pain was just pain. And pain meant she was still alive...and that wouldn’t last much longer if she stayed face first on the deck plates like this. Kicking the ground, Marix flipped up and was on her feet in a second as more green blasts of lasers shot past her. As she ran, she began to zig zag to throw off their aim, then, when she reached a junction, cut to the left so fast that she nearly slammed into the corner of the bulkhead.

Behind her, Marix heard angry cries of Mrrakesh, and more footsteps. At least three more Mrrakesh behind her, but she wasn’t going to take the time to look. Ahead of her was a door. A shut door. Likely a locked door. Still running at full speed, her eyes darted all direction to get out of this dead end. Doors on all sides. More crew quarters probably...or something similar. Still not to the bridge. That was another few decks up...

A ventilation shaft.

Marix jumped up the full two meters and grabbed onto the grating without the use of the Force. Her weight was pulling on the metal, but it wasn’t enough. She yanked on it hard, and still it didn’t give. Marix cursed, but the sound of it was drowned out by a volley of laser fire, most of which was so close that she knew the next volley would hit...especially with her just hanging like she was.

So Marix let go and dropped to the bulkhead, landing in a crouching position and with the second volley flying over her head. She spun around and took in the situation as quickly as she could. Marix could see seven Mrrakesh again, all aiming rifles. They weren’t taking any chances and were firing another volley...

Without really taking aim, Marix threw the blade she was still carrying with all the strength she could manage. Whether it hit one of the Mrrakesh or not, she would never know. Because just as it left her hand, she jumped up again, the Force propelling her faster than the laser fire coming her direction, and Marix was morphing her body to metal again mid-jump.

She went straight through the grate, simply breaking it with the force of her jump and then immediately digging in with her metal claws to latch herself into the very cramped ventilation shaft. To allow herself more mobility, Marix was already morphing back to her organic body, shifting to allow the pieces of the grate to fall down. And then she climbed up as fast as she could, knowing she had to reach a junction before the Mrrakesh got under her...they’d just have to fire straight up. But no, she could see one. She could reach it fast enough. And then it was just a tight, claustrophobic crawl up another few decks to the bridge.

Sometimes it was good to be small.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Sorry about the lack of updates the last few days...wanted to pop my head in and say I'm still alive.

Just finished an ever-so-fun move and my semester starts tomorrow. Should be back into a regular schedule now, though, and hopefully updates will be back and moving tomorrow, too.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 513: Just Late...

“Wouldn’t it be dangerous to fight in a place like this?” Adria asked anyone that was willing to answer as she looked around the scorch-marked cargo bay of the Lambda shuttle. She sighed when she noticed that Commodore Nok was looking in one of the smaller compartments against the wall and Rea was moving towards the cockpit.

“Its worse in here,” Rea called back, her voice as quiet as it usually was. Standing in the doorway to the cockpit of the shuttle, the Twi’lek pilot turned around to face Adria and shrugged, her arms raising and her head tails both twitching slightly, “There’s no way this thing’s going to fly anymore.”

Deciding to have a look for herself, the Coruscanti pilot walked over to Rea and the cockpit to see just how bad it was. As she went past, the sound of Commodore Nok stepping out of the compartment was easy to hear, and his calm, cool, but slightly accented voice followed her, “There is still a distinct smell in the air reminiscent of blaster fire...that wouldn’t linger long.”

Adria stopped just as she was beginning to walk around the boarding ramp to head to the cockpit. She then turned around to see the Duros Commodore standing behind her, his two large, red eyes looking at her curiously. Reminding herself that they were military and had a job to do, Adria nodded to him instead of pointing and started it off formally, “Sir...may I ask you something?”

“Of course,” Commodore Nok nodded his large, blue, and bald head.

First, she bit her lip, unsure of how to say it without offending him. Then, deciding that offending people was something she was good at anyway, Adria just let out a breath and pointed to his face, “You don’t have a nose, sir. How the hell do you smell things?”

There was an odd silence after she spoke, with only the soft humming that told them all the ship still had power. Then, from behind Adria, Rea started to laugh. She was obviously fighting it, but a moment later Rulae’s small mouth formed into a smile and he simply shrugged, “I do it very carefully, Cadet Harken.”

And then he stepped around her, heading over to the cockpit and past the giggling Twi’lek who was finally composing herself. Of course, that answer had done Adria no good. She couldn’t smell anything out of the ordinary in the air...anymore than things could be out of the ordinary with the boarding ramp open and letting the natural air of Thyferra flow in to mix with the filtered air of the shuttle. Why was it that, of the three of them, it was the one without a nose that noticed a damned smell?!

But she was doing her thinking while walking to come up to the other two and look into the cockpit. The four chairs were there...mostly. Two of the back ones were on the deck, sliced into multiple pieces, while the co-pilot’s chair was missing a large portion of its side. Most all of the consoles and controls were destroyed, some still smoking slightly. Long cut marks arced up from control panel to the ceiling plating in multiple spots. The few sections of the cockpit that had functioning consoles didn’t look like they’d be functioning for long...sparks and even tiny little fires pocketed most all of it.

“Is it inappropriate to ask, again, why someone would fight in a place like this?” Adria asked quickly, looking between the two others.

Both of them glanced back at her, but it was Rulae who said, after he’d stepped into the cockpit to get a closer look, “I doubt it was planned.”

“More of the same,” Rea said quietly as she moved in, looking at what once would have been the sensor station...but now was a series of cuts, burns, and destroyed hunks of durasteel, “What did we miss?”

“One hell of a fight,” Adria mumbled. She slipped in behind Rea, stepping over one of the destroyed chairs to look at the flight controls. Most of them were intact...as was most of the center consoles and controls. Though there was a dark red...looking over her shoulder to Commodore Nok, Adria spoke up again, “Sir...blood.”

That got both of the other pilots’ attentions. In a moment the two were on either side of her, looking at the deep, red splatter across the hyperdrive levers, nav computer, and comm system. They all looked at it for a moment, and then Commodore Nok did what neither of the other two wished to. He reached to one of the larger spots and placed a long finger on it very gently...

“It is not dry,” he said, quickly pulling back his hand and cleaning the small amount of blood from his black glove. The Duros then turned and looked over the rest of the ship from the view of the cockpit and added, “The smell is in the air, the consoles are still smoking, the blood isn’t even dry, and there’s no one here...”

Rea stood up straight, turning to look out the viewport and into the darkness of the Thyferran night outside, “We must have just missed them.”

“Them?” Adria asked, her eyes still on the blood for some reason.

“Well,” Rea started, then stopped a moment. When Adria looked up, she saw one of the Twi’lek’s head tails twitch and shift slightly as the woman thought, “I doubt this was someone destroying the place for fun.”

At that, Adria could only nod, a clump of her red hair getting in her eyes in the process, “Good point.”

“They could not have gone far,” Commodore Nok spoke in a firm voice that he always used when being...well, when being a good officer. Blaster still in hand, he motioned for them to follow as he headed out of the cockpit and to the boarding ramp, “Glowrods out. We need to search this entire area. Whatever happened here didn’t end here.”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 514: Insane

Tobias tumbled backwards over one of the chairs in the shuttle’s cockpit, pushed over it with a hard fist of the Force. His flight was stopped by the pilot’s chair, which was harder than it looked and nearly knocked the wind out of him. If not for the blue lightsaber blade that chopped through the chair in front of him, Tobias might have simply stayed there on the deck with his back to the pilot’s seat. Of course, seeing a lightsaber take two swift strikes to peal through the other chair was enough to keep his head in the moment.

Seeing the blue lightsaber coming down again, Tobias put aside getting up and instead dove to the side, making sure to keep his own lightsaber up so he didn’t cut himself. Instead, he cut some of the lower consoles as he got to his feet, and a loud crackling behind him signaled that Tokarr’s lightsaber had also dealt a rather fatal blow to the shuttle’s controls.

A growl of frustration escaped the obviously-insane Miraluka and he spoke some odd word that was likely in his native language before swinging his lightsaber in a long, horizontal arc. The lightsaber took out another series of consoles as it swung for Tobias’ head, and the shower of sparks nearly caused him to drop his guard, but Tobias somehow kept his own blade up and caught the wild strike.

When Tokarr pulled his blade back to strike again, Tobias made a quick decision.

He turned and ran out of the cockpit, nearly fell down the boarding ramp, and turned around in time to duck under another swing from Tokarr. The strikes were so wild and...well, Tobias didn’t have another word for it, but it was like the Miraluka didn’t really know what he was doing. There was none of the finesse, style, or precision Tobias had come to expect from someone wielding a lightsaber. He was, however, quite fast.

“Stand still!” Tokarr finally yelled something that made sense as he exited the cockpit and swung down at Tobias. But Toby easily sidestepped the swing, edging around the lowered boarding ramp and to a place where he had more ground to stand on.

Before he knew it, he was in the open cargo hold, Tokarr a second behind him and still swinging wildly. There was more room here, at least, but that didn’t make any of it easier. Tobias ducked, rolled, parried, and even jumped over Tokarr’s attacks that came at him one after another after another. Soon the bulkheads and the deck was covered in smoking scorch marks from Tokarr’s wild attacks, and still, Tobias had yet to attack on his own. The entire time, he’d stayed on the defensive...partially because of how fast Tokarr’s attacks were coming at him, and partially because Tobias just didn’t want to attack.

Then, suddenly, Tobias saw an opening. Tokarr swung high for the neck again, and Tobias ducked under it easily, his eyes staying on his opponent the entire time...and Tokarr’s torso was wide open. Seeing his chance, Tobias shifted his weight and charged under the Miraluka’s guard, shoulder first. A grunt of surprise and pain escaped Tokarr before he was sent back a couple of meters and hit the rear bulkhead.

Tobias stood up straight, trying to ignore the pain in his shoulder...that shouldn’t have hurt so much...and raised his blue-green blade up in front of him again. Seeing the short moment of pause, he said firmly, “We didn’t come here to kill you.”

Before he responded, Tokarr also got up completely and off of the bulkhead. He took a few deep breaths and brought up his own weapon. The cloth that covered his non-existent eye sockets had been lost now, and so an odd, eyeless face was snarling Tobias, “If you want to stop me from destroying the Vong and protecting this galaxy then you’re going to have to kill me, Jedi.”

And then Tokarr charged again.

Not skilled enough with the blade to parry the thrust coming at him, Tobias simply spun to his right and out of the way, Tokarr moving past and sending his blade only into empty air. And there was another opening...but Tobias didn’t do what he could have. He could have taken off Tokarr’s head with a simple back swing of his lightsaber. It would have ended it right there. But instead, Tobias removed his right hand from his lightsaber and swung that back instead, catching Tokarr hard in the side of the skull and slamming him into the bulkhead with a loud thud.

By the time Tokarr hit the deck under him again, his head spinning from the force of the blow, Tobias had run down the boarding ramp. Something else had crossed his mind suddenly.

Venda.

Where in the Force was she?!

Knowing he didn’t have long and suddenly thinking this more important than fighting with some crazed Miraluka, Tobias ran back outside of the shuttle, his eyes scanning everything. No sign of her...

“Tobias!” the voice came from the treeline, behind him, and Toby turned to see her coming out from the forest, bright green lightsaber in hand. She looked to be in fairly bad shape, with cuts and bruises along her legs and face, and he couldn’t help but wonder what had happened and why she was coming out of the trees.

But instead of asking any of that, Tobias simply yelled back, “You’re alive!”

He was a kid, he was allowed to say stupid, cliched things.

Three loud clanks, one after another, signaled Tokarr descending the boarding ramp. Tobias ‘s head spun yet again, and he saw the Miraluka coming at him at full speed. Tobias raised his lightsaber up in front of him, seeing where the attack was coming and preparing to hold it back...

But then nothing came.

Tobias watched the Miraluka descend the boarding ramp then sharply turn away from him, charging off towards the south at a speed that had to be enhanced by the Force. Staring in shock, Toby didn’t know what to say.

Footsteps nearby caused him to turn again, nearly swinging his lightsaber to block an attack out of reflex, but he saw Venda and stopped himself. She was breathing hard, but gave him a quick look over to make sure he was okay before looking south towards where Tokarr had gone, “We need to go after him.”

“He’s lost it,” Tobias said flatly, stating the obvious but feeling someone needed to say it.

Venda nodded, deactivating her lightsaber blade with a loud fizzling sound, “It makes him even more dangerous,” her voice then assumed a stronger tone that seemed to wash away the previous exhaustion, “Draw on the Force...let it flow through your legs. We’re going after him.”

Tobias had never used the Force like that before. But there was a first time for everything, and Venda was already running...

 

[AKM]

Ah, more Toby-ness, good, good.