Star Wars: Heroes of Another Kind

[AKM]

Interesting, Voort the force ghost.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 537: Lax Security

One thing that Marix had never cared for were blasters. Sure, they were efficient and well designed weapons, but they just so...so...easy. It almost felt like cheating. Anyone could point a blaster and squeeze the trigger. Not everyone, however, was trained in hand-to-hand combat, which was very much like a form of art. When she trained, sparring with Jyren, usually, Marix saw it very much like that. Yes, the end result was the kill, but there was a certain style and skill that needed to be applied...that is, unless she wanted to just be a nameless thug.

And, currently, that was her aim.

Hutts had a habit of surrounding themselves with nameless thugs of various disreputable peoples. Part of her was still questioning her judgement, choosing a Twi’lek body to do this job, as it required every extra bit of work to prove that she was not some slave but one of the other thugs that just happened to gravitate towards this particular Hutt. And this meant, to her annoyance, that a blaster was an important part of the image. So Marix had gotten a hold of a nice, old model carbine while slipping into the so-called fleet. And if she had a weapon, it wasn’t as if she wasn’t going to use it. She might not like it, but Marix was in no way a bad shot.

Truthfully, there was very little in the way of combat that Marix wasn’t skilled at. That was really the whole point, and between the Tam’Day’U training that Marix had received from a very young age to the to the intense, and, for the rest of the galaxy, more conventional training that ‘Shadow’ had received from the Galactic Empire, there was very little Marix couldn’t do when it came to a fight.

So, when confronted with a situation that she wasn’t skilled with, Marix had one of two responses: coldly glaring at the problem with no emotion at all despite the fact that it felt like her eyes were shooting turbolaser blasts, or growling, cursing, and then just hitting the damned whatever it was causing the problem. The latter was a new response, developed over the years thanks to bad influences like Jyren...well, the lashing out was. Marix knew far more curses in far more languages than he could have ever dreamed of, and she knew how to say them just right, too.

Currently, having been confronted with such a situation, the wall in front of her had a series of very deep claw marks that could not have come from the small, rather frail looking Twi’lek woman standing in front of the surprisingly-undamaged computer terminal. Marix’s eyes narrowed as she read what the terminal was telling her, yet again that the information was locked out, and that if she did not input the correct passcode in thirty seven seconds, the alarm would sound and she would, according to the small diagram next to the warning, be shot at by crudely-drawn stick figures.

Getting into the building Torno was using for his headquarters had been simple enough. Marix had only needed to walk up, nod simply to the two very large, Trandoshan guards at the door, and then step into the door once it had been opened. The fact that she’d been around long enough to be recognized meant they didn’t even search her. Of course, she’d handed over her weapons, the vibroblade and blaster carbine, in the entranceway which had been turned into a defensible guard-post.

That, of course, didn’t bother Marix at all, though she was intelligent enough to at least feign annoyance and act reluctant to hand over the weapons. For some reason, guards always liked to see that. It was, apparently, normal. Marix was then led by a wrinkle-faced Nikto guard to Torno’s main chamber, where the fat, slug of a Hutt lazily wasted his time, speaking with captains of the ships in orbit and working out Vong fleet movements to decide on how long he could stay. There was the usual collection of creatures within the chamber, all of whom seemed to be more interested in their own business than Torno or the Hutt’s scantily dressed slaves.

Marix had actually faked a conversation with a middle-aged human who’s name she never bothered to ask before very gently slipping out of the chamber and out of sight. It had taken some interesting moving, but Marix was able to get away without a single being noticing her, even after quite literally sliding between a guard and a wall just at his back.

Twelve seconds left...

When it came to slicing, Marix wasn’t completely inept. But, then again, most of her ability in slicing was geared towards opening locks, shutting off security systems, and other tasks that usually rested along the same lines. Those skills could, to a point, help with slicing into data systems, but Marix really didn’t know the technical end of what, exactly, she was looking for. And now she’d tripped up and was looking at a timer without any real idea of how to proceed.

And she had five seconds...

Keeping her calm, Marix decided to make one more very quick attempt and then just deal with the guards if she had to. They’d likely already been alerted to the system intrusion already, and the warning she saw probably not as much a warning as a distraction while the guards did approach. Quickly, though, she input a quick series of commands directly into the terminal, then shifted to the panel she’d ripped open and reattached a pair of wires she’d very neatly cut in two.

It was at about that time that Marix’s internal chrono told her that it had, in fact, been far more than five seconds and she hadn’t been shot at by anything at all. Twi’lek hearing wasn’t terrible, and she didn’t hear a thing, either. Once she’d reattached the wires, Marix spared a quick glance toward the other end of the blank looking room she had holed herself up in.

The door was still open a couple of centimeters, not enough to see through but just enough that she would be able to hear the echo of boots coming down the corridor outside.

Satisfied, Marix turned to the terminal again. The alert screen was gone, but Marix didn’t trust that. Deciding she needed to work even faster, Marix started to just pull up whatever she could find. A very slight tremor in the Force alerted her to guards approaching...but since she couldn’t hear anything, Marix concluded she had just enough time to check what she’d brought up.

“Report on Captive in Cell 21A.

Last four guards to attempt interrogation killed. Captive produced small, dagger-like weapon from clothes. Weapon retrieved, but no further contact with the captive is permitted. Still no progress in interrogation and the captive does not seem to understand Basic.”​

It went on, but that was all Marix had time to read before she started to hear the footsteps very softly echoing into the room. Immediately, Marix drove her vibroblade into the terminal, causing much more noise than she’d have liked but wiping any evidence of what she’d been looking at. It wasn’t Peace Brigade or at all what she had been looking for, but suddenly Marix decided she had something else to do before getting away.

Sheathing the blade on her shoulder again, Marix bolted for the door.

When the guards arrived, barely thirty seconds later, they found only the destroyed terminal. One of them, a Rodian that none of the others had liked anyway, had sworn he’d heard something and ran off down the corridor despite the fact that the others, all of which had better eyesight in the darkness of the hallway, had neither heard anything nor followed.

Once the room was found to be empty, the four others had reluctantly gone after the Rodian, out of knowledge that Torno would have their heads if the damned Rodian caught the prey and they’d done nothing but stand around. They found his body sprawled out across the hallway just ten or so meters away from the room, a pool of blood under him and a pair of slashes across his face.

The problem about alerting the rest of the guards within the building was that they didn’t use comm systems. It was mainly due to the fact that Torno didn’t trust them at all, doing his best to quell any conspiracy against him. Of course it crippled his guards, but Torno really didn’t care about them, either. But, in this case, it meant that Marix had a great deal of time to find where Cell 21A was located.

Marix had a feeling that the cell contained something much more useful to her than whatever scant records Torno might have had about the Peace Brigade.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 538: The Force Never Makes Sense

Tobias’ eyes were closed as he sat on a small patch of grass a good kilometer away from the Great Temple. The jungle around him had thinned slightly, and so he’d decided it was a good place to meditate. He would have liked to stay near the Temple, but the tension in the air was tangible and extremely distracting. It was hard enough to sleep, let alone focus through distractions and meditate.

Of course, this was completely discounting the fact that Tobias had never been any good at the whole meditation thing. The root of the problem was that he didn’t understand the point, but it also ended up extending to the fact that his mind had a habit of just wandering. Over the last few months, Master Ral had taught him a great deal to take control of his thoughts, but it was something that usually took years to truly accomplish.

For the moment, Tobias was simply relying on a technique that Marix had taught him. He closed his eyes, then began to focus on his breathing.

In.

Out.

In.

Was that a bird...?

In.

No, out.

Out.

In.

Every so often, stray thoughts would seep in, but eventually he reached a point where the repetition simply took over. It was a very tenuous kind of focus, with Tobias basically drifting into something very close to sleep and any simple thought that might make its way in completely snapping him out of it. But, for the moment, he had reached that perfect point. Tobias’ mind was as blank as it could ever be, his only actual thoughts focusing completely on breathing in and out.

And then...

“Are you alright?”

It was a voice Tobias didn’t hear with his ears. It was also a voice that sounded odd because it was...

Tobias could see. His eyes were closed still, he was sure of it, and he could even hear himself silently focusing on his breathing, but he could see. And he didn’t see trees, either. Instead, there was a rather large, cream coloured wall behind a figure that, oddly enough, Tobias realized was himself. Leaning against the wall of an archway a few meters away from ‘him’ was another figure that was unmistakable.

Having heard the question, which had come from ‘Tobias’, the other figure turned over his shoulder and nodded, “Of course, little guy.”

‘Tobias’ walked along the clean cut grass to stand next to Jyren, “You don’t look it.”

At this point, despite hearing himself counting his own breaths and feeling his eyes closed, Tobias had lost track of where he was. Part of him was even confused over who, if that was even possible.

Jyren gave him a rather curious look, which even could have held a hint of annoyance there, too, “Aren’t you supposed to be taking your lessons right now?”

Tobias at least had the decency to look panicked, despite knowing that Jyren wouldn’t do a thing about it. As he was involved in this terrible acting, Tobias wandered over to the other side of the archway and mimicked the way Jyren was standing against the other side. Turning his head, Tobias glanced out towards the wilderness beyond. There was a soft, blue shimmer to the grass and the trees just beyond, as they were at the very bottom level of the Palace on Alraxia. The odd thing, though, was that there were always Knights guarding these open entrances to the Palace grounds. Tobias couldn’t help but wonder where they were, and he never even considered the fact that it might have been because Jyren told them to get lost.

“I didn’t sleep last night, either,” Tobias said quietly. It was a rather cryptic statement, but Jyren knew what that meant.

Arms folded across his chest in a very defensive pose, Jyren carefully eyed the younger Alraxian, “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

It was an old habit for Jyren, and Tobias had only picked up on it indirectly. When he couldn’t sleep, Jyren would wander into Tobias’ room to make sure the kid was alright. He had done it for years, sometimes falling asleep in a chair but always waking up before Tobias and slipping out unnoticed. Well, he thought it had been unnoticed. That had never been exactly true.

Tobias wasn’t exactly a genius when it came to conversation, but he could tell when someone was trying to steer away from a subject, “Mother only ever glares at me when I’ve done something wrong or when you’re acting like this. And I’m almost sure I haven’t done anything this time.”

A heavy sigh escaped Jyren and he looked down at the ground at his feet. After a few moments, he looked up and Tobias noted that Jyren’s voice had become much harder, “Tobias, sometimes things do not heal.”

Despite having pried straight for such an answer, it left Toby at a complete loss. His thoughts were easy to vocalize, “...what?”

A hint of a smile tugged at Jyren’s face, but it definitely wasn’t a happy one. In fact, it looked rather haunting for some reason, “Toby, this isn’t exactly the best conversation to have right now. In fact, its probably best to wait another twenty years or so.”

The last sentence had been said under his breath, as if it was an afterthought, but Tobias had latched onto that immediately. Pushing himself up off of the wall, Toby looked up at Jyren though his mess of blue-black hair and asked, “No...what do you mean?”

It really worried Tobias to see Jyren like this. This was his hero, his father, and despite putting on a rather hard exterior, the way he was suddenly avoiding people was the first tip off that something was extremely wrong. Add to that the fact that Jyren’s voice had none of the usual qualities to it, and then finally the rather oppressive feeling in the Force that surrounded him, and Tobias could tell without a doubt that something was wrong. Jyren had helped him so many times that Tobias wanted to return the favour...not really having any idea what he was getting himself into.

Jyren studied Tobias’ face very carefully. Eventually, he looked away and off towards the wilderness outside the shield protecting the Palace, “Remember when Eilat died?”

Eilat had been Tobias’ pet dragon. But it when both he and Eilat were still young, the dragon had gotten very sick and, sadly, there was nothing the Redstars were able to do for him.

Nodding, Tobias spoke the thought that came to mind which seemed relevant to the vague words spoken already, “You said that, eventually, with time, it would stop hurting.”

“And it did,” Jyren said with a nod, still talking off towards the trees in the distance, “But some things...sometimes, we encounter a situation that time doesn’t heal. A hurt so deep that it actually only gets stronger with time and we just have to find a way to live with it. Even if you learn to live with it, some days...some days are harder than others.”

Tobias didn’t even say ‘oh’ or anything like that. He just stared, unsure of what he’d gotten himself into and lost as to what to do now. But then Jyren did something surprising, he stood up, put on a smile, and said...

The comlink on Tobias’ belt beeped, snapping him out of the rhythm of focusing on his breathing and right back into the jungle of Yavin IV. Eyes opening, Tobias’s hand naturally went to the comlink on his belt. His mind, however, was elsewhere, trying to figure out why he’d just relived that event. It didn’t seem connected to anything at all and just seemed very...odd.

“I’m here,” Tobias mumbled at the comlink when he pressed the activation switch.

When he released it, Master Ral’s voice came through the other end, “Need you back to the Temple right away.”

Still slightly lost in the past, it was hard for Tobias to completely pull all of his awareness right into the present. But hearing Master Ral’s voice with an edge to it, a very hard one, was enough to tell Toby that something was wrong, “On my way. What’s going on?”

“A fleet of ships has shown up in system and they’re setting up a blockade. They don’t look to be Yuuzhan Vong, and they’re trying to stay unnoticed from the distance they’re keeping to us. We’re going to try to get everyone off planet before they try anything, though.”

Tobias didn’t say anything to that. It said enough. What he did do, however, was start running back to the Temple. It wasn’t surprising that something like this had happened, but Tobias couldn’t help but feel like it was the worst possible time. He was still busy trying to figure out what he’d just seen, and now the damned Academy was practically under attack!

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 539: Levels of Light

The lighting in the small corridor was barely lighting at all. In fact, had she a terrible sense of humour, Marix would have called it more of a darking than lighting. It was, however, to her advantage. In such lighting, it was fairly easy for a not-so-tall human woman, dressed in black and grey clothes and with raven coloured hair, herself, to press against a slight indentation in the wall and be very difficult to see.

The Twi’lek disguise had been useful enough, but it wouldn’t take Torno and his guards long to figure out that ‘she’ was gone. And then they’d connect the dots. Well, that wasn’t true. What they’d do was go after that Twi’lek solely due to the fact that she was missing and they would target anyone that wasn’t around, especially when they started to realize she hadn’t been around for that long in the first place.

So now Marix was human again, pressed against the wall in the darkness, watching guards pass by here and there without so much as a glance to where she was. Humans weren’t exactly the most common species among Torno’s lackeys, and they definitely wouldn’t recognize her, which would be dangerous, but right now, being blue skinned and having two long head-tails wasn’t going to do Marix any good at all. It also helped that, next to her normal, Alraxian body, she was most used to the human one. Sure it was weaker, felt odd, and had a strange center of gravity, but Marix had spent enough time in it over the years to get past those problems and not fall on her face when she tried to walk.

She had made it to Torno’s makeshift cell block with little difficulty, and could even see a couple of the doors that were labeled with small datacards crudely stuck on them. The words were in Huttese, unsurprisingly, but Marix could read enough to figure out which door was which. The one she was looking for, 21A, should have been on the same wall she was currently up against. That was only if there was any reason to the numbering scheme of the doors she could see, but Marix couldn’t really see enough at the moment. One true downside to a human body was weak eyesight.

It also didn’t help that there was really no break in the guards, and killing more of them wasn’t going to do her any good. If she took anyone else down, for the moment at least, there would have to be a place to hide the body safely. Currently, Marix didn’t see any place suitable for that. Stepping out of her very small hiding spot for long enough to find the door she needed wasn’t really an option, which meant Marix had to use the only sense she had that was just as strong in any body she happened to currently occupy.

Eyes staying very open to make sure she wasn’t noticed, and a great deal of focus on keeping her breaths slow, soft, and very quiet, Marix reached out with the Force. In a moment, the darkness of the corridor didn’t matter, because she could feel everything. Four guards from the directly she’d come in from, which had been interesting getting around, and another two at the opposite end. There was also at least three patrolling the area, though she could see two of them with her own eyes easily enough. Across the corridor from her, she could feel three other beings, though she was sure there were at least seven doors that led to ‘cells’. On her side of the wall, this was confirmed, as she could feel...six?

Now, that was right. Two to her left, four to the right, and then an empty cell about five meters to her right. If the cells were numbered correctly, or at least had some semblance of organization beyond random numbering, then that so-called empty cell was the one she wanted. This, however, also relied on the fact that there were only seven doors between her and the end of the corridor.

Well...that, and luck.

She needed a break in the guards, though. They were patrolling rather regularly, and she needed a break in that...

Marix shifted her focus back towards the four guards at the ‘entrance’ to the block of cells. Despite being a good distance from her, she could see it well enough. A pig-like Gamorrean, a Trandoshan, and two Nikto were there. Focusing on one of the Nikto, and knowing that both the Trandoshan and Gamorrean were the kind to lash out unnecessarily, she did some that was, thanks to many years of practice and training, quite simple.

With the Force, she shoved the Nikto as hard as she could into the wall nearest to him.

She didn’t need the Force to tell her what happened next. In fact, she didn’t need her eyes, either. There was a series of loud, surprised cries that echoed down the corridor, and that was enough to get the attention of the patrolling guards, which soon ran right past her, one after another, to the continued shouts and even a few blaster shots.

Immediately, Marix turned to her right and moved swiftly, knowing that there was a chance the two guards at the opposite end would come running right into her. But she couldn’t wait forever, and there was just as much a chance they wouldn’t go anywhere. That same trick wouldn’t work twice, so she just had to move and deal with whatever came at her, literally.

Her eyes then did their job, picking up “21A” crudely scrawled on a datacard barely stuck to a door exactly where she had hoped it would be. For once, things were managing to work out just as they needed to. Of course, now came the problem of opening the door. Marix didn’t even bother to just try opening it, knowing there was no way it would be that easy.

There was a small keypad on the door, obviously the lock that she needed to deal with as fast as she could. This, she could handle when it came to slicing...but Marix doubted she had enough time. Once again, she removed the vibroblade from its sheath on her left shoulder and decided to push her luck even more. Marix did not, however, think of it as pushing her luck. Rather, it was testing her knowledge.

If she was right, and this corridor wasn’t originally designed to be a cell block, then there was the chance the doors weren’t equipped with alarms. It was a long shot, but she didn’t have time to deal with anything else and everything about the contents of the cell screamed to be extremely important.

Marix could deal with whatever problems came up if there was an alarm.

As quietly as was possible, Marix drove her blade right into the keypad. The sound of the shattered metal and the crackling of the destroyed electronics was muffled slightly thanks to her very close proximity to the door...and no alarm sounded.

The next problem that she was confronted with was the fact that the keypad was also the door’s opening mechanism. But Marix had expected this, and decided to continue her low tech solutions.

With all the strength she could manage, Marix kicked the door hard. It was the kind of metal that didn’t so much echo as break one’s toes, and so Marix cursed under her breath as she quickly remorphed the wound.

The door, however, opened.

Inside the small, closet-sized room was just what she was looking for: the scarred and tattooed body of a Yuuzhan Vong. He was glaring daggers at her through two deep set eyes on a mutilated face, pointed teeth forming into a snarl, and though he struggled to get up, Marix could see shackles were holding him down quite well.

And then, just a few seconds late, an alarm began to scream.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 540: Invasion

Through the canopy of the jungle above him, Tobias could see the ships. The looks like transports, of various shapes and design, none of which he recognized, but all of which he knew had one distinct quality: they weren’t Yuuzhan Vong.

Sometime in the few minutes between Master Ral reaching him on his comlink and where Tobias was now, still a good few minutes off from the Great Temple, the ships that had, according to Master Ral, been holding back and trying to remain ‘unseen’, had moved in. And now they were landing. There was no reason for them to be that low otherwise.

“Tobias!” the comlink crackled with Master Ral’s voice, though there was a thick layer of static that was very hard to hear through. Someone was trying to jam the frequency, and almost had it, but wasn’t quite there yet, “Where are you?”

Lifting the small device up to speak into it, Tobias continued his sprint through the thick, but well traveled, jungle surrounding the Great Temple, “Be there in a couple minutes, Master!”

“No!” the words came through the static surprisingly clearly and almost immediately, “Several ships are setting down in the clearing. Stay where are you are!”

“But Master...” Tobias trailed off when he realized he hadn’t hit the ‘send’ button on the comlink, nearly slammed into a tree when he looked down to right this problem, then, after having stopped to catch his breath, spoke into a now-activated comlink, “Master, what’s going on? If we’re under attack then you need me! Its only you, the Masters Solusar, and me here besides the other children!”

“And you are one of those children, Tobias,” Master Ral continued that, but the words were lost in the static, “...Solo has just landed and is...assist. In conta...alon Kaarde in orbit...other Masters have the children in hiding until...an land safely. Stay where you are and out of....ight until we can get off the planet.”

Tobias’ first protest was an annoyed sigh, but then he looked ahead of him. Distantly, through the thick trees, he could see the clearing in front of the Great Temple. He couldn’t make anything out, really, but Tobias could damn well imagine what was over there. Again, he said into the comlink, “Who’s attacking us?!”

For a long few seconds, only static came through the channel. Then, “...eace Brigade accordi...Solo.”

Sighing again, Tobias put the comlink back into his belt pocket. He could hear it there, but the jamming was starting to hit the right frequency and he couldn’t really make things out that well anyway. He did, however, have a general idea of things now.

Peace Brigade. That made sense, as they had quickly become just as dangerous to the Jedi as the Vong were. It was only a matter of time before someone attacked them at Yavin IV, and it made a great deal of sense that it was the Peace Brigade doing so. The problem, however, was that the current population of Yavin IV, beyond the native animals and plants, consisted of three Jedi Masters, Tobias, and a handful of children. Well, no, apparently one of the Solo’s had landed and was there to help. Tobias assumed it was Anakin, feeling like he was the type to appear just at the right time to get things done.

But Tobias had seen at least five separate transports fly overhead, all of which would contain far more than their current numbers. Being outnumbered was normal for Jedi, but then again, there were only three true Jedi on the entire planet, two of which were protecting the young children.

There seemed to be, however, a plan to escape. Tobias had no idea who, or what, ‘Kaarde’ was, but the impression he got was that this thing, or, most likely, person, was there to help them get offworld.

It was, at that point, with all of the facts he currently had possession of, that Tobias came to a decision.

A little too dramatically, considering the only things watching him were the native bugs of the jungle, Tobias removed his lightsaber from his belt and started towards the Great Temple. If both Masters Solusar were doing what they usually did, they would be back with the children, keeping them in a safe place until it was time to move. That left just Master Ral, Anakin, and Tobias to really fight.

And this was one fight he wasn’t going to sit out. Not when the lives of children were on the line like this.

Suddenly, a blaster bolt cut through a tree a little too close to his head. Pieces of wood shattered in all directions and Tobias instinctively dropped to the ground. Distantly, he could hear shouts now, indistinguishable words that were in the tone of orders. Two more blaster bolts went over him, both from his left rather than directly in front.

Courage fading into panic, Tobias rolled over onto his back and fumbled for the comlink, “Master! I uh...they’re shooting at me!”

Instead of simply waiting for an answer, Tobias’ eyes looked around him. Underbrush, dirt, small rocks...and a ditch about two meters to his right. As fast as he could, he turned and started crawling for it, heading for cover to try and figure out what to do next. Being a brave hero and fighting when your enemies could see him but having no idea where they were was more difficult than it should have been.

“...ee them...” the crackled, broken words came through the comlink as Tobias slid down into the very small ditch that didn’t drop him down nearly as far as he’d have liked, “...ing...or you. Hold on...”

Though Tobias could hear more blaster fire, and it was quite constant now, it was distant. Peeking up over his small piece of cover, he identified the direction of the sounds as coming from the Temple. Roars of sublight drives overhead sounded again, but this time when he looked up, Tobias could see nothing but leaves and branches...and a small, lizard like creature about the size of his arm eyeing him curiously.

Suddenly, a sense of alarm gripped him and Tobias realized it was the Force yelling at him to get his head down right this second!

Not one to discount the Force, Tobias immediately ducked under his cover again, the sound of a blaster shot much closer erupting nearby and then impacting the dirt just a half meter from his eyes. So much for cover...they knew where he was! But he didn’t know where...they...were...

Wait!

The Force!

It was hard to calm down when blaster bolts had, on three occasions in the last couple of minutes, nearly caught Tobias in the face. He didn’t close his eyes, for fear he wouldn’t have a chance to open them again, but did manage to get a metaphorical hold on the Force, pulling it into him and then reaching out very slowly...

There!

Two...three...at least three, maybe more, just a few meters in front of him, moving closer...he could hear them now, soft footsteps in the underbrush coming very carefully as they approached with caution.

Even the damned Jedi kids are something to watch out for.

The ‘words’ snapped Tobias into the realization that he was doing it again. It was like Thyferra. A voice. Hard, gruff, somewhat annoying in the way that the words were pronounced, as if the speaker didn’t understand Basic. But not words. They were all in Tobias head...

Tobias then made another decision, some rational part of his brain alerting him to the fact that at least three attackers were nearly on him and he still had the element of surprise of he did things quickly. Any concern over hearing that thought from one of the Peace Brigaders faded right away as a survival instinct took hold.

After taking a quiet, but deep, breath, and gripping his lightsaber in both hands, Tobias acted. In one awkward looking motion, the currently-human Tobias jumped up to his feet, activated the lightsaber with a snap-hiss, and just ran straight forward.

Eyes picked up five humanoids. Four humans, two of whom were almost jumping back in shock at the sudden action he’d taken, and a male Twi’lek near the back who was already beginning to squeeze the trigger of his blaster rifle.

Tobias swung his lightsaber in a long, horizontal arc as he continued to move forward, the blue-green blade cutting through three tree branches before managing to slice off the nearest human’s wrist. The scream of shock and pain that elicited from the middle-aged man nearly caused a similar reaction in Tobias, but the sound of blasters firing very close to him sharpened his thoughts to a point.

Two shots went high, sending down a branch with leaves crashing down just a meter behind him, another caught the dirt at his feet, and then a fourth, from the other human that was within arms reach of him, caught Tobias in his left side. The burning pain of the impact wracked his body, causing Tobias’ vision to go completely blurred. But those survival instincts were working full blast, and though he could still feel the pain, the wound was healing much more quickly than a human should have been able to heal.

This fact was apparent to the Peace Brigaders, and it likely saved Tobias’ life in another way...they hesitated. He hadn’t fallen, he hadn’t even screamed. In fact, Tobias had taken the shot, gritted his teeth and grunted painfully, but held his footing, his lightsaber, and his ground. When his vision returned, a second later, the faces of his assailants were the same as their one-handed companion...shock. Because on top of all they had just seen in that short second, the only sign of the blaster shot left on Tobias was the black mark on his tunic...

But shock could only last so long, especially in men that had come to kill people like Tobias. It was likely their first time seeing anything like this, and so the reaction was natural...but short lived. Despite Tobias’ resilience and ability to take a blaster bolt, he hadn’t attacked again. He was still standing there, blue-green lightsaber blade thrumming in front of him. So the Peace Brigaders made a decision of their own, deciding to test just how much this Jedi brat in front of them could heal for.

Before they could fire their blasters, however, a nearby tree came crashing down on the Twi’lek and two of the humans. The cried out more in surprise than pain as it dropped them and pinned them all to the dirt. The last of the standing Peace Brigaders, the nearest human to Toby, turned to see what had just happened, momentarily letting his guard down.

This time, Tobias did move. Some deeper training in him, probably beat into him by Marix or maybe even before that, took hold and he swung the lightsaber again, cutting a clean slice across the human’s torso and dropping him to the ground before he could do anything else.

“Tobias!” Master Ral’s voice was clear, and Tobias looked to see the frail-built Omwati Jedi Master leap over the tree that had fallen, give a quick glance to the bodies at Tobias’ feet, then look right into his eyes with that piercing look, “Turn around. We’re heading back the way you came.”

“But Anakin and the others...”

A volley of blaster fire followed Master Ral’s path through the trees, causing both Tobias and his Master to duck and glance that direction, seeing a group of Peace Brigaders heading their way. Master Ral forcibly turned Tobias around and pushed him forward, “Kaarde is on the ground and has the children. We, however, are in the same situation as young Solo, cut off. We’ll have to find our own way off Yavin and it is not through those men. Now run!”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 541: Prisoner Transfer

There were hundreds of thousands of different alarms in the galaxy. The one currently echoing far too loudly around Marix was high pitched, screeching, and, if she was an Alraxian, would have had her on the ground clutching her ears at the pain of it. Her currently-human ears, though, were weak enough to pick up only enough of the sound to get her to grit her teeth and cringe at the sound.

A meter from her, within the small closet that was being used as a cell, the bound Yuuzhan Vong growled something in his native language in a very angry voice. Marix wondered if that was the only voice the Vong had, as she’d never heard anything else from them...

A pang in the Force caught her attention, and she turned to look back the direction she’d come from to see guards coming her way. Before she could draw her own blaster, the guards were firing their’s. Three blaster bolts arced towards her, and if not for the warning of the Force, Marix likely would have been hit. But thanks to it, she was able to quickly twist into the open cell, pressing against the inside wall.

The Vong struggled against its chains, trying to get to her but still unable to. It spoke again, words that were completely unintelligible to Marix...though she had a feeling none of it was friendly.

“Shut up,” she snapped at him, knowing he’d likely not understand her anymore than she understood him.

She then drew the vibroblade from its sheath on her shoulder again, holding it tightly in a reverse grip as she waited. Footsteps could be heard coming towards the door, though no other blaster bolts went past. Soon, she heard nothing, and Marix readied herself.

Out of no where, a wrist holding a blaster pistol appeared from around the corner, reaching in enough and prepared to just let off a series of random shots. Marix’s arm was just centimeters from the barrel...but her reaction was so natural that she had no trouble acting before the trigger was pulled.

Immediately upon seeing the weapon, her left arm extended out, then swatted at the weapon. The wielder didn’t lose his grip, and still fired off a quick series of loud shots, but they all hit the opposite end of the small room. Before the arm could be righted or the weapon’s owner could react at all, Marix grabbed his wrist, twisted it back the other direction until she heard a cry of pain from behind the door, then let go. The blaster pistol hit the ground just in time for a Rodian to appear in the doorway, blaster in hand and large, black eyes looking for its target.

Marix tackled the Rodian before he could even see her, driving her vibroblade into his neck as he fell on top of a human that had been coming up behind. Hearing the Force still yelling at her, she rolled off the Rodian’s corpse and swept at another figure’s legs in the same motion. A moment later, another human was on his back in the small corridor, head hitting the wall behind him on the way down with a very disconcerting thud.

Hopping to her feet just in time to hear a blaster fire behind her, Marix let the Force take hold and she attempted to sidestep the shot. Blaster bolts, however, were much faster than most humans were able to move. Because of this, Marix was unable to completely avoid the bolt. But, instead of taking the shot squarely in the small of her back, Marix felt a sharp, burning pain in her side as the red bolt of energy grazed her torso.

An inadvertent grunt escaped her, but by then Marix was already remorphing the wound. She’d had much, much worse in her life to let something like that slow her down at all.

Turning around, Marix saw that the Nikto holding the blaster rifle was, in fact, still firing. Marix dropped low, avoiding a volley over her head, and charged straight for the wrinkle-faced humanoid. In seconds, she was driving towards him, the sudden attack having shocked the Nikto into trying to swing his rifle. But Marix easily ducked under the clumsy strike and sliced upwards with her blade, opening the Nikto up from stomach to shoulder.

Hearing movment behind her, she turned to see a young, dark-haired human pushing a dead Rodian off of him and trying to get to his feet. Not wanting to deal with that, Marix drew her carbine from its holster with her free left hand.

Unlike many of the Hutt’s henchmen, she had the intelligence to actually aim. Lining up the shot, Marix squeezed off two quick shots that caught the human in the chest just as he’d finally got to his feet. The crumbling sound of his body dropping onto three other’s was the last she heard before Marix realized that only her heavy breathing and the blaring alarm was left.

The alarm was still going.

She needed to get out quickly.

[Loki.] Marix was running back to the open cell as she tried to get the attention of her old friend.

A feeling of curiosity seeped through before she heard his voice in her head. [Hmm...?]

[Forget the whole not being noticed idea.] she stopped in front of the door then looked in to see the Vong, mind working out how to do this as the Vong’s two eyes glared daggers at her. [Get outside Torno’s building as soon as you can.]

[I had a feeling you were the reason so many were headed that way...] Loki feigned a sigh. [Alright. But if I get shot on the way I’m leaving your tail behind. Blasters do hurt, you know.]

“Idiot,” Marix grumbled under her breath while stepping into the cell again and over to the Vong. Neither she nor the Vong bothered to say anything. He simply glared through his scars and tattoos at her, and she just went about the best plan she could come up with.

The best plan she could come up with ended up being quite simple.

Marix returned her vibroblade to its sheath, then turned her blaster carbine around. After a moment in which the Vong figured out what was about to happen, Marix slammed the butt of the gun hard into the back of his head. After the loud crack of blaster stock hitting skull echoed in the small room, the Vong just hung by his chains, very much unconscious.

Then, as quickly as she could, Marix went about removing the chains. Part of her was tempted to just cut off the Vong’s arms to do it, but some piece of Marix’s mind decided that was going just a bit too far. Even if that way, if he woke up, there would be no fighting back beyond very awkward, unbalanced kicks. Instead, though, Marix went the route of just shooting the damned things. It was quite simple, really, and all it took was one good, clean shot to break the chains.

Returning the blaster to her holster, Marix then took one last deep breath as a human. When she let out the breath, she was a good bit taller, had a tail, and was very definitely Alraxian again. No use hiding anymore. Besides, there was no way in any layer of any hell she would have been able to carry a two meter tall Vong, with muscles on his muscles, as a short, not-so-strong human woman. Not that lifting the Vong was that easy as an Alraxian, it wasn’t, but she could manage the weight better and not struggle to stand up...which was definitely a plus.

So now with a Yuuzhan Vong over her shoulder, Marix began the run back towards the way she’d come in, hoping to the Force that Loki had been lying about people headed to the building. Running while carrying a Vong was one thing, but fighting would be damned near impossible.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 542: Rodia

For the first time in far too many months, Zephyr Squadron was flying with a full twelve. Six of the new pilots were as green as the fields of Naboo, but the three others had been transferred in from the Coruscant Defense Squadron. Apparently, they hadn’t seen any action, but they were at least expected to know what they were doing. While it was hard to be comforted by any of it, the very fact that there were twelve instead of three was enough to keep both Adria and Rea quiet.

“Isn’t this a bit quiet for a besieged planet?” Adria’s voice crackled through Rulae’s comm in his helmet.

Well, quiet about there only being three of them...but not so quiet in general.

Turning his head slightly, Rulae looked out the canopy of his new, XJ-X-Wing to Flight Two, with Adria’s X-Wing at the forefront. She had a point. Taking a hand off the controls of his starfighter, Rulae checked his sensors again. Nothing.

There should at least be something...

“Keep your eyes open, Zephyrs,” he said through the comm to the rest of the squadron, his own two large, crimson eyes moving ahead of him again to inspect the planet that nearly encompassed all of his view.

It was the green and blue mess of Rodia, a full sector away from where their fleet was supposed to be...Hutt Space. Despite the Rodians very often collaborating with the Hutts, they were in no way a part of the Hutt’s territory, and in fact were much closer to where many of the Hutts were reportedly running for refuge: Tatooine.

But Rodian had been attacked and swiftly invaded shortly before the Yuuzhan Vong had taken Hutt Space under their control. From the mission briefing Rulae had received, many of the fleet’s squadrons would be scouting outlying planets as the rest of the fleet made its way to their scouting mission in Hutt Space. The trip required a series of many, many short hyperspace jumps due to recent Vong mining of populated hyperspace routes. But the tactic of continually reverting to realspace to adjust course also made it much easier for a squadron to rendevous and another to be sent out on the way to their destination.

A slight crackle on his comm alerted Rulae to a voice about to speak, and so his attention shifted to that, “Sir, this is Six...I think I’ve got something.”

Zephyr Six was one of the transfers, Flight Officer Denan Rast, an older, for a pilot at least, human male that had been flying for as long as Rulae had, though he lacked a great deal of combat experience. What Rast did have, however, was a good amount of recon experience. And now, on their first flight as a full squadron again, that seemed to be paying off already.

Of course, the awkward silence presented one reason why he might not have advanced very far in the years. Ignoring that, though, Rulae asked, “What do you have, Six?”

Thankfully, Rast just seemed to need a little push to actually present the information. His slightly raspy voice sounded again in Rulae’s headset, “Sensors aren’t picking up anything, sir...but I believe I saw something moving near the surface of the nearest moon.”

Okay, so that could have been better.

Then again, it was better than nothing.

“Copy, Six,” Rulae glanced over to his starboard side where Six and the rest of Flight Two were, “Five, take Two Flight and do a quick pass over the moon.”

“On our way, sir,” Rea said quietly into her comm as her X-Wing peeled away from their large formation of fighters. A moment later, the three other X-Wings of Two Flight broke off with her and headed towards the nearest of Rodia’s two moons.

At that point, Rulae wished that he had another squadron with him. Twelve X-Wings, especially with so many recruits flying them, was in no way the best way to scout a supposedly-besieged and invaded planet. The current lack of anything, Vong or otherwise, in sight only made it worse. And if Rast had seen something and it was a trap...

“Twelve, take Three Flight and head for the moon, too,” Rulae said the words before the thought actually registered, but to him that just meant it was good instincts.

There was a very feint beep on the comm to tell him that someone had switched to a secure channel directly to him, and then Rulae heard Adria’s voice, “This feel wrong to you, too, then?”

“Just keep your eyes open and stay alert,” was all Rulae replied with.

To her credit, Adria followed orders well enough. But she reminded Rulae a great deal of Jyren, always questioning the orders the entire time. He wanted to blame it on humans as a whole, but so many didn’t complain at him the entire time that it seemed insulting...so Rulae just passed it off as certain personality types.

After Adria and Three Flight had broken away and began following Two Flight towards the moon, Rulae switched his comm channel back to the squadron’s frequency, “One Flight, form up on me. We’re going to drop towards Rodia and give it a quick pass.”

Instead of vocal responses, a series of double clicks sounded on his comm. All acknowledging the order like good recruits were taught to do. But Rulae hadn’t waited for that, having already banked towards Rodia for a rapid descent. The three other members of One Flight, all fresh recruits, stayed close like they were taught, though his maneuver, despite being simple, had surprised them enough that they now lagged behind him just a bit more.

It was a long, silent descent to Rodia’s upper atmosphere. The only sound Rulae could hear was the constant droning of his X-Wing’s engines and the low hum of the computers that surrounded him. But then, as blobs of green began to form into marshy-looking continents on the planet below, he heard something else. At first, he dismissed it as nothing, not even sure there had been anything at all to hear. But then, as his X-Wing descended a bit lower, Rulae could clearly hear a series of slight fizzling sounds as something was clearly hitting the shields.

“Sir...” Rulae didn’t recognize the voice, other than the fact that it was one of the new pilots and he was part of One Flight.

Before he was going to respond, though, Rulae needed to figure out what it was. His eyes deduced the source before the sensors, but they weren’t far behind. Against the slight haze created by Rodia’s atmosphere, Rulae could see small, shining objects that were definitely metal. Then it started to make sense.

“Pull up a bit, One Flight,” he said in a calm voice, considering what could have been very dangerous, “Its debris. There’s a few large pieces out here, but they’re too small for the sensors to pick up until you’re very close. We’ll have to do a sweep from higher up to be safe.”

The three others responded with the same comm clicks as before. Something about the silence was a bit unnerving, though. Rulae had gotten so used to telling kids like Adria and idiots like Jyren to shut up that it seemed odd to not have to do that. But, then again, the entire atmosphere, metaphorically at least, of the Rodian system was so tense due to the emptiness that Rulae couldn’t blame the kids. And now, to make them feel ever better, they were flying over wreckage from the battle to take the planet. There was no denying something was wrong, now. And it felt even more like a trap.

“One, this is Four,” the voice sounded odd, and was from one of the new pilots, a young Kel Dor by the name of Tar Ko. Like all of his species, Tar Ko could not breathe an Oxygen atmosphere and so war a breathing mask and goggles over his eyes...the former of which helped to alter his voice even more than the comm could do on its own.

“Go ahead, Four,” Rulae responded right away, noticing a tendency for all of the pilots to ask permission to speak without posing their statements as questions.

The doubly mechanized voice replied quickly enough, though, “I’m not picking up anything on the surface. I know our sensors aren’t the best but...shouldn’t we be able to at least see cities from here?”

Now, finally, Rulae had been backed into a corner. Since they’d all been brought to the squadron, Rulae had tried to keep them as protected from the reality of the war as he could. But, sadly, that couldn’t last. So it was time to finally be honest with them.

“Not if the Vong leveled them all, Four,” Rulae said softly. The worst part was, it was probably true. Reports weren’t exactly the best from this region, but the few they received told of a massive invasion simply coming down on Rodia like a giant fist. Rulae knew what they really needed was a closer look, because there had to be something down there...but one squadron couldn’t afford to do something like that. They needed to all be in a position to get out of the system as soon as possible.

No response came to his statement, and Rulae wasn’t surprised at all.

And then, what Rulae knew had to be coming happened.

The sensors went crazy all of a sudden, and a second later, so did the comm frequency. The amount of yelling, mostly out of sheer surprise, meant that none of it could be distinguished at all, but what Rulae did know was that none of it was from One Flight.

Immediately, his head snapped up, looking straight up through his canopy to the moon. With his naked eye, Rulae couldn’t see the other two flights, but he could see that something had definitely changed. The rocky, brown surface of the moon was suddenly moving, like a swarm of bugs changing direction.

The yells and cries through the comm continued to the point where Rulae couldn’t hear anything else, but a second later, finally, the strong, heavy voice of Adria managed to get through, “Sir! We’ve got skips launching from the surface of the moon! Hundreds of them! It looks like they were...and at least another five cruiser analogs!”

Part of it was cut out by more yelling, but Rulae got the idea.

His voice hard and firm, Rulae snapped into the comm, “Zephyrs, stow it and get your tails out of the their! You know the orders, we’re not here for a fight! Stay with your Flight and head for the nearest jump vector...”

He had been about to say something else, but more alarms went off from the sensors. Rulae’s eyes went down to check them, but didn’t need to see it. Rising up from the planet below, he could see more ships. Large, cruisers definitely, some even bigger, all looking like oddly shaped asteroids of various sizes rising off of the surface of the planet. Not to mention the countless smaller ships that were undoubtedly Coralskippers.

“Incoming from Rodia’s surface!” Rulae called out, more to alert the two other Flights than his own, who would easily see what he could coming up after them, “ETA of about one minute!”

If that.

Opening his X-Wing’s S-Foils in preparation for the fight that was coming right for him from both directions, Rulae pulled his fighter up and away from the planet. The other pilots of his Flight stayed close as they followed suit, heading after him as fast as they could manage while still remaining prepared for the Skips that would overtake their slower fighters before they could make the jump to hyperspace.

In the back of his mind, while the rest of Rulae was acting on the sudden rush of adrenaline, Rulae couldn’t help but wonder if the other recon squadrons had to deal with this kind of insanity.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 543: Secondary Force

It was not something that the Jedi were known for. It was not something many in the galaxy were ever proud of. But, at some point in time, everyone was forced to do it.

Master Corentan Ral and his currently-human apprentice, Tobias BlueIce, ran. They ran from the Peace Brigade invaders that had attacked the Great Temple that served as the main complex for the Jedi Academy. They ran away from the Temple, where two Jedi Masters had remained with the young children that had been remained. But, according to Master Ral, some man named Kaarde was getting them offworld safely...though that didn’t include either Mater Ral or Tobias, who had run so far, so fast, that they had even surpassed the lake temples kilometers out from the Great Temple.

Tobias’ legs ached. While some part of him wanted to blame that on being human, he knew full well that the distance they’d moved in such a short time would have him in the same shape if he’d been Alraxian. Not surprisingly, Master Ral showed no sign of fatigue at all, despite the fact that he, like all Omwati, were thin and quite literally hollow-boned due to their avian ancestry. He sure as hell didn’t look like he could run as far as he had so easily...but Tobias was getting used to things like that from his Master.

They had lost the group of Peace Brigade pursuers at least ten minutes prior, but had continued moving without a word being said. Tobias knew what they had to do. It was actually a rather basic strategy. All of their focus was put to escape, first and foremost, and then, once they had reached a safe hiding place, then they could stop and figure out how to get off the completely undefended world.

Undefended.

These were Jedi Knights, protectors of the galaxy! And the New Republic wouldn’t even bother to have a small fleet to—

“GAH!” Tobias’ thoughts diverted his attention from the ground below, which was filled with underbrush, small rocks and, of course, tree roots specifically designed to catch feet because obviously trees ate small boys that were foolish enough not to watch their footing.

...well, that was what Marix always told him.

At least when he hit the ground, Tobias didn’t hit a rock. He even managed to get his hands up in front of his face, flipping over twice before finally sliding to a halt in the dirt. When he’d stopped moving and discovered that now all of him ached, rather than just his legs, Tobias had the good sense to groan.

Though his vision was currently blurred, and what he could see consisted of leaves and dirt and underbrush, Tobias could at least hear clearly enough. Beyond the normal noises of distant animals and other such things within the jungles of Yavin IV, Tobias heard Master Ral’s swift footsteps come to a sudden halt before growing louder.

A thin, but strong hand got a hold of Tobias by his left shoulder and began to pull him back up, “Are you alright?”

“Tree hasn’t eaten me...” mumbled Tobias as Master Ral helped him to his feet again. Seeing a look of concern suddenly form on his Master’s blue features, Toby managed a half smile, “I’m still standing...so my legs haven’t fallen off. Guess I’m alright, then.”

Master Ral’s head shifted slightly, as if he was looking past Tobias without actually looking. There was a short pause, but then Master Ral’s voice returned to its usual calm, almost airy tone, “They will continue searching for us. We will get off of this planet, but we must keep moving for now.”

Tobias was already nodding his head before Master Ral had finished, “I know...I know...where are we going, though?”

Turning to look over his shoulder, towards the direction they’d been heading, Master Ral said, “About four more kilometers south of here there is another group of smaller temples. They were bombed and leveled during the Galactic Civil War, decades ago, but the ruins are a good place to catch our breath and regroup.”

From the start, Tobias knew that being a Jedi wasn’t going to be easy. He knew that it was going to be the hardest thing he’d ever done, but he also knew that he could do it. Tobias knew that despite his own doubts about himself and worries, he could find a way to do it.

...he just wished someone had told him he was going to be stuck running everywhere as fast as he could.

One thing Tobias hadn’t learned much of just yet was the art of healing, and what little he had learned hadn’t ever proved to be that useful. Well, no...the truth was that Tobias just wasn’t confident with it and couldn’t focus well enough to get it done. It was definitely one of the more complicated Force techniques that would take much more time and practice to grasp at all. So, instead, Tobias prepared himself for the continued run by taking the short break to catch his breath and run through a few breathing exercises that Marix had taught him.

“Tobias...”

Eyes still closed, he just nodded again, knowing what Master Ral was saying, “Sorry, Master. I’m ready to move again.”

“No,” that word surprised him enough to open his eyes and see Master Ral was looking up trhough the canopy of the jungle, “Do you hear that?”

He didn’t. Or maybe Tobias did hear it, but just didn’t know what ‘that’ happened to be. To hell with it...

Half a minute later, Tobias was a bit taller and though he still ached, had a few new muscles in his legs to help with the run that he had been expecting. More important, though, being Alraxian again meant he had sharper hearing and...

That was odd.

It didn’t sound like anything Tobias had ever heard before. A constant, very low-pitched drone in the air above them. It was close, he could tell that, but...

“What is that, Master?!”

Tobias’ voice changed a bit, too, when he shifted back to his Alraxian body. His voice lost the awkward pitch that most human teenagers had, but instead it gained a quality that most humans would consider just right for a child. The last bit always annoyed him, because he was far older than any human children, but for some damned reason everyone always looked at him like he was less than half his age...

Master Ral still seemed to be getting used to Tobias’ ability to morph, but it only caused him to pause for a fraction of a second. His two eyes were still directed upwards, looking for something...which was odd, because Master Ral rarely used his eyes to find things. A few short moments passed and the sound grew slightly louder before Master Ral pointed upwards, “There.”

Though it took a moment for Tobias to follow the direction of Master Ral’s finger, Tobias saw it. It was a black spot against the orange gas giant, Yavin. No...no it wasn’t black. It was more of a greyish brown with an odd, crab-like shape and it was growing larger because it was coming closer...and around it, Tobias could see smaller dots, raindrop-shaped objects moving like darts across the sky.

Oh gods no...

“Is that...are those...?” Tobias couldn’t bring himself to say it. While it made perfect sense, the very thought made his stomach turn even more and any hope of getting off the planet fade from his vision.

“Yuuzhan Vong Coralskippers and some kind of transport,” Master Ral looked down from the sky to Tobias, “Most likely a landing craft and I doubt it is the only one.”

Shaking his head, Tobias turned to face his Master with a face that showed that any hope Tobias had felt about their escape was now gone, “What do we do now, Master?”

Reaching over and putting a surprisingly strong hand on Tobias’ shoulder, Master Ral gave him a serious look in the eye. It wasn’t at all the kind of reassuring face Tobias was used to getting, but somehow, it had a similar effect.

“We head for the ruins, just like I said. The only thing we do different is we keep our eyes and ears good and open the whole time and we move faster.”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 544: Barricade

Marix groaned as quietly as she could after getting a look out a small slit in the wall had probably been designed more for blasters to point through than eyes. Apparently, Loki hadn’t been joking. She could see at least a dozen figures moving through the makeshift streets right towards the main entrance...which Marix had been planning to use as an exit. That was going to make things difficult, but that wasn’t at all why she groaned.

“Gods,” she had to stand up straight again after leaning down to see outside, which meant shifting the weight of the unconscious Yuuzhan Vong she carried over her shoulder yet again, “How you can be half Jyren’s size and weigh twice as much as him I really don’t know.”

She had been about to get moving again, but immediately stopped herself. It was dangerous, stupid, and something she wouldn’t have done had it been many years earlier, but Marix closed her eyes and forced herself to take a slow, deep breath. She was still thinking of Jyren as being fine and just not there with her. And it bothered her on far too many levels. So much that it was distracting her and that was the last thing she needed, especially in her current situation.

Very much aware of the danger that closing her eyes would do, despite her other senses, Marix very quickly did something she was good at. Almost forcefully, she pushed the emotions aside. The moment later when she could feel nothing but the focus needed to keep moving combined with the weight of the damned Vong over her shouler, her eyes opened again, suddenly more silver than violet, and Marix was moving.

The distinct lack of guards for the last few minutes since the beginning of her escape was beginning to concern Marix. If everyone was moving towards the entrance and simply setting up a fortified area there, no amount of experience and skill would keep her alive. There was a point when the number of weapons being fired was just not possible to be avoided, just as there was a point where so many wounds were being inflicted that morphing simply couldn’t keep up. That was how many Tam’Day’U had died through the years: simple attrition.

[I should leave you.] Loki’s voice chimed into Marix’s mind as the main entranceway began to come into view.

Marix’s eyes stayed focused on the end of the corridor ahead of her, but she extended her senses outward with the Force, towards the main entrance that wouldn’t be very far away from that point. If her memory was correct, and it usually was for layouts of buildings, once she exited the corridor into the main hallway, the main entrance would be a good thirty meters to her left...but the there was also a guard station just five or six meters from where she was going to come out, and Torno’s main chamber was quite literally just around the corner in the opposite direction.

It would have been easier if Marix wasn’t carrying a Yuuzhan Vong with her, but this was a chance she wasn’t about to pass up, so she’d just have to deal with the problems it brought...and that meant no sneaking, just the direct approach.

She waited to respond to Loki after she could see where the corridor ended, noting that there were no beings aiming rifles at her, nor did she feel anything nearby through the Force. That was an even worse sign. [Loki, how bad does it look out there?]

[They just closed the main door again...] the distant ship didn’t miss a beat. [I didn’t get a count but you’re going to have your hands full and...well, at least one of them was carrying something big.]

Marix decided to worry about that last part later. [How’s the sky?]

[Empty.] the response from Loki was a bit slower this time, and he sounded somewhat worried, too. [Got clearance to take off and I just did a flyby on an exit vector. I don’t think they’ve made the connection.]

[Good.] reaching the junction, Marix stopped and waited for a long few seconds. She heard nothing out of the ordinary, and still couldn’t feel anything in the immediate area...carefully, she stuck a head out, looking back towards Torno’s chamber first.

Two small crates stacked against the far wall just before the corner that lead into the chamber, an open door that had been open when she’d passed by before, and a temporary light fixture standing in exactly the same position it had been before. Clear.

Her head went the other direction, where she could see the large door that served as the main entrance. It was big enough to allow the entrance of medium sized speeders if needed, maybe even a small ship. But the door took forever to open. There was, however, another, smaller door within it, off to the right side that saw the most use. And Marix could see them.

The second she got a quick count and assessment of the situation, Marix pulled her head back, hoping that she hadn’t been spotted.

Crates had been moved to form a barricade in front of the entirety of the entranceway, with a particularly large collection in front of the smaller door. She had counted at least twenty five heads, and suspected more due to the height some of the crates had been stacked to. Marix had also spotted what Loki had seen...and identified it as a large, anti-personnel artillery cannon that was aimed down the corridor.

Torno was taking this very, very seriously.

Considering the way the Vong had taken many of the Hutt’s worlds, however, Marix couldn’t blame him. He likely suspected either Peace Brigade agents or outright Vong spies attempting to escape and make contact with a full army for an attack. There was so much wrong with that, but Torno was no tactician...he was, at best, a mercenary type who was just a survivor. Some Hutts had a good military mind, but those were the ones that had retreated Hutt Space entirely. Stubborn fools like Torno stayed behind in a futile attempt to take back what they swore to be their’s.

That, at least, was one thing working in Marix’s favour. Well, that, and the fact that the unconscious Vong on her shoulder was being good and remaining unconscious.

It was obvious, now, that her usual plan of charge in, move fast, and go right through wasn’t going to do Marix any good at all. Even without that anti-personnel cannon, the corridor wasn’t wide enough for her to dodge all the shots that would be coming her way, and every bit of cover Marix might have used was currently a part of the barricade. Torno might not have been a tactician, but at least one of his guard’s had some basic ideas that were intelligent enough.

Or maybe Marix could charge them...

[Loki, I don’t have time to debate this with you so just answer me one question.] she had an idea, and it was a crazy one. But like most crazy ideas, it would work. That, Marix had learned from Jyren. [How fast can you get here?]

Knowing that tone and particularly noticing Marix’s choice of words, Loki answered directly. [About seventy five seconds.]

[Prove to me you’re as fast as you always brag and make it in forty.] Marix could heard movement. Shouts. Yells. They echoed right to her, though the words were lost in the echo, the point was obvious: they’d seen her.

[On my way.] Loki’s voice had that worried hint in it, as he knew she was up to something that he probably wasn’t going to like. [Why the rush?]

Marix told him.

She also told him her idea.

To Loki’s credit, he only complained in the form of a loud groan that echoed in Marix’s skull. Then, a slightly cocky edge taking over enough that Marix knew he’d be grinning if he could, Loki said. [Be there in twenty.]

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 545: Rash Decisions

Real combat was something that could never be taught. Simulators could teach skill in flying, basic aiming, and even simple techniques, but training could only go so far. Being shot at changed how a person thought and reacted, even with training to fight against that instinct. Firing any weapon systems while piloting took multitasking to another extreme entirely, as it required a kind of awareness that only developed when one’s life was very much on the line. And techniques...well, maneuvers only mattered in relation to your enemy.

But it was that initial panic upon experience combat for the first time that was the most dangerous thing for a new soldier, of any kind. Because of this, and knowing how he had panicked during his first engagement, Rulae had a habit of expecting the worst from fresh recruits. Thankfully, he’d never seen a recruit completely freeze up and do nothing at all...of course, that was the extreme. Rulae had watched young pilots fly off in a panic, simply trying to avoid the mass of laser fire in their direction and ending up colliding with another ship.

It was these kind of memories that made Rulae extremely proud of the new members of Zephyr Squadron. Rodia’s moon had just erupted into a mass of Yuuzhan Vong coralskippers, coming out of literally no where to ambush the eight XJ X-Wing fighters that were making a quick pass over its surface. The yells of surprise and shock over the comm lasted only for a matter of seconds...not because the pilots were killed in the volley of heated weapons fire from the coralskippers, but because they all silenced themselves and focused on getting out alive.

It was a good sign.

“Plate, calculate our escape jump immediately and transfer the information to the rest of the squadron as soon as you have it,” Rulae ordered his astromech, R7-P8. Sure, ‘Plate’ was a rather pathetic moniker, but sometimes Rulae enjoyed the simple things like that. The little droid mounted behind him chirped an affirmative and got to work.

Looking out his viewport to beyond his port S-Foils, Rulae could see the planet of Rodia below. The surface had changed from what it was supposed to look like, a drab brown and red now, but that wasn’t what attracted his attention...the rising objects that were slowly growing did.

“One Flight, stay tight,” without waiting for the acknowledgments of the other three pilots, Rulae pulled his X-Wing into a sudden loop before banking away from Rodia. As he did, he made sure to direct a bit more power to his engines, knowing that fighting wasn’t going to be a viable option.

“One, this is Twelve,” Adria’s voice cut into the comm channel, sounding annoyed and just a bit distracted, “Could use a little help if you can get to us! I’ve never seen so many skips before!”

Rulae’s eyes darted to his scanners, noting that the three others in his Flight were still close to him...and that there was a large mass of ships coming in from behind them and they were gaining. That was expected: X-Wings just didn’t have the speed to outrun coralskippers. But they’d be safe for at least another thirty seconds, so he then turned his attention to the other two Flights.

His eyes told him nothing when he looked towards the moon, seeing only a mass of black seeming to peel away from the surface like a swarm of insects, but the sensors were at least able to distinguish friend from enemy. Both Flights were already surrounded and the mass hadn’t even reached them yet.

It was a deathtrap.

There was also only one choice to make, “Jump coordinates are being transmitted to your astromechs now, Zephyrs. Put all your power to engines and shields and just get out of Rodia’s gravity well.”

Suddenly, a voice began to cut into the comm signal, but it only got as far as half a syllable before dropping into static and then the comm channel cutting out completely. Rulae knew what that meant, though he couldn’t identify who it was that had been shot down.

The previous quiet of the comm channel then completely faded.

“—just flew right through him!”

“Two on your tail, Eight!”

“I see ‘em, I see ‘em!”

“Another three coming in from above!”

“Hells, they aren’t even firing their weap—“

”Break now! Now!”

“I can’t see anything! There’s something on the canopy!”

“I’ll try to shoot it off, hang on.”

“Sithspit, its eating through the metal!”

A series of whistles from Rulae’s astromech caused him to turn his focus away from the chaos engulfing the other two Flights of the squadron. Checking the small screen in front of him, he read the words: JUMP PREPARATIONS COMPLETE.

In Rulae’s gut, he could feel that the pilots of the three X-Wings formed up on him were all getting the same message and about to ask the same question. It wasn’t the Force, it was the very fact that he was asking himself the same thing. So, before it could be asked, Rulae spoke the words that were required of him as the commanding officer of the squadron, “One Flight, make the jump and alert the fleet immediately. I’m going to head back and get the other’s out of here.”

Those were not the words Rulae had planned to say. In fact, his brain tried to make him say that the four of them were going to do that. But something...something else took hold of Rulae’s thin mouth and added something else to the end, while at the same time taking control of his body and bringing the X-Wing around to head straight for the rest of the squadron.

“Sir, we can’t—“

”That’s an order, Three!” Rulae snapped, not fighting the fact that the X-Wing’s S-Foils were now opened and his weapons were powered up as he headed in the exact opposite direction.

“Sir, go!” it was not Zephyr Three, or any other members of One Flight. It was Rea, her voice strained due to concentration.

That, Rulae did not respond to. He could have just said ‘no’, but that would have required explaining why. At this point, even Rulae was unsure of why he’d done something so...rash. It was the kind of action that he hadn’t taken since he was a young pilot, not understand how stupid it was to take on an entire fleet by himself. But no, no that wasn’t his motivation now.

Rulae was tired of seeing Zephyr Squadron die. Again and again, it was rebuilt, and then they were thrown right into the front lines to die again. Yes, some pilots were die. That was unavoidable. He was no, however, going to continue to find himself building up a bunch of new recruits just to watch them die again. Not this time. Not anymore.

A chirp from Plate reported that the three other members of One Flight had followed orders and jumped away to safety. Rulae then opened the comm channel again, “Zephyrs, I’ve got a fix on your position, stay together and head straight towards me. You cut your way out and I’ll head straight in. One way or another we’re making a damned hole in that mass of skips!”


Heads up everyone, but updates may continue to be a bit spotty for a few weeks. Busy time with finals and all that fun, plus trying to make sure my portfolio is actually decent.

Oh, and Mass Effect. Damn that Mass Effect.