Star Wars: Heroes of Another Kind

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 573: An Alien World

Coruscant had a way of continually amazing Tobias. Every part of the planet, despite the fact that it was one huge city, seemed completely different. After speaking with Anakin Solo at length about their various exploits, Tobias had followed the young man from where they had been to a much less crowded area of the planet that seemed completely dominated by starship hangars. There were countless guarded areas with the symbol of the New Republic Starfighter Command on them, and even a few with a symbol that was similar, but not one that Tobias recognized. Anakin had told him it was the New Republic Navy, and that was confirmed as they continued on to the civilian hangars and, from a walkway looking down at the long stretches of flat nothing, various warships could be seen being loaded with troops, supplies, and in the case of one carrier, E-Wing starfighters.

But then they had reached the various civilian areas, with so many different kinds of ships that Tobias didn’t even bother attempting to identify any of them. Public berths for transports eventually gave way to closed off hangars that were likely privately owned before the pathway they were following, which was large enough to accommodate most speeders, began to split off on one side into various round platforms. Some were pulled in against the walkway, while others, usually empty, were extended out and beyond the overhang above. Eventually, they came to a stop next to one of the extended platforms which had a newer model X-Wing resting on it.

Anakin then turned to face Tobias, bowed and said with a smile, “Take care of yourself, Toby. And if you ever need anything...I’m not that hard to track down.”

Returning the bow, Tobias nodded, “You, too, Anakin. Its not much, but if for some reason I can ever help you out...well, yeah.”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” was the last thing that Anakin said before turning and walking out to his X-Wing. Tobias stood there and found himself watching the other Jedi leave. He even waited a few minutes after the X-Wing was gone, just staring off into the vast city beyond. This collection of hangars was up much higher than most of the other areas Tobias had been on Coruscant, providing a view down before tops of many buildings could dominated again. In fact, it almost looked like, hundreds of meters below, there was a ground of metal, with great rivers and canyons carved out in geometrical patterns that didn’t seem to make any sense at all.

Eventually, though, after realizing people were staring at him, Tobias headed back the way he’d come. He walked slowly, hands in his jacket pockets, and continued to take in the alien world as he wandered through the hangar district. There were speeders passing him now, most transporting crates or even larger groups of people in rather expensive looking clothes. It wasn’t just the sights that was so odd about Coruscant...it was the feeling of it all.

Tobias had spent the majority of his life, or at least, the majority of it that he could remember, on Alraxia. It was a planet so full of life that, much like Yavin IV, it glowed brightly in the Force. But the Force wasn’t necessary to know how full of life the planet was; one needed only to open their eyes, their ears, their noses, and take in the very essence of life around them. But Coruscant...it looked dead, smelled dead, and sounded dead. All of Tobias’ senses told him this was a planet without life...except for the Force, where he could feel so many living beings that somehow, this dead world shone brightly.

Everything about that seemed wrong to him.

And yet...

The thought trailed off as Tobias noticed something odd. Truthfully, most things were odd to him on Coruscant, but that didn’t dampen his senses in the Force. He felt something. It was almost the same as the feeling he got when something that wasn’t a Yuuzhan Vong attacked him, but not as intense or direct. Still, Tobias found himself stopping and looking around.

He had left the hangars just moments before. The large, half-dome structure was behind him and nothing seemed to catch his eye as to the source of the odd feeling. It didn’t look like anyone behind him was trying to shoot him or stab him or worse. Instead, he just saw the same collection of various beings that seemed to be all over Coruscant.

Okay...but no, the feeling was still there in the back of his head, gently pushing in an oddly uncomfortable way. Looking to his left and right, Tobias knew saw the two sides of the walkway he was on. There were large buildings, of course, to both sides, but they were likely at least a kilometer away on both sides. In fact, the nearest collection of people beyond the hangar behind him, the levels of he city above and below him, and the distant areas to both of his sides, was back in the direction Tobias had already been going.

So, he continued forward, but now with a focus on that feeling in the Force. Something was wrong. He could feel that much for sure, but what? Where? And was it just because he was surrounded by so many billions of beings? Of course there was bound to be something wrong with so many people around!

But no...no it wasn’t that simple. The feeling had grown into an odd pressure, almost creating a headache but not yet reaching that point. Instead, it was more like an annoyance, something pushing on Tobias’ mind that he just couldn’t do anything about. Which was why he was trying to find it. Something told him that would make it go away...no, no that wasn’t important.

That was selfish. This was more important than just trying to relieve an odd pressure. Something was wrong. Somewhere relatively nearby and it was his duty as a Jedi to find out what it was and fix it. The more he walked back towards the areas that Anakin had found him in hours earlier, the more Tobias was sure that it was more than just a simple feeling. Something was truly wrong. It was danger. Danger for someone nearby...

Again, Tobias stopped.

Now, he was surrounded on all sides by countless beings, droids, and they were all tightly packed between the nightclubs, restaurants, and stores that dominated the huge spires on either side of the walkways. A speeder lane was below, adding to the constant noise and meaning that Tobias didn’t even bother trying to listen for something.

But he was close now. He could feel that.

As people moved around him like he wasn’t even there, Tobias’ eyes darted around. It was nearly impossible to identify anything or anyone specifically. All his eyes could tell him was that he was surrounded by more species than he’d ever seen in one place in his entire life. And that, while amazing, was also amazing unhelpful. So he turned to the Force again, feeling the same mess of life around him but trying to identify that pressure that had grown considerably and was becoming more intense as every moment passed. He couldn’t just stand around like this forever. He had to...

Suddenly, the feeling erupted into an outright scream in the Force and Tobias knew exactly where he had to go. Pushing through the crowd, he broke into the fastest sprint that he could manage and made his way towards the buildings on his right side. Eyes darted into open doorways as a new feeling appeared...a lack of that distress. It had gone. It had been right here and it was gone!

There!

A few meters in front of him was another building. This one was not a shop or place to eat or anything like that. In fact, the main entrance was a closed door and there weren’t any windows looking in. A simple sign stated it was an apartment complex, but that didn’t matter to Tobias. He could feel a lingering pain in the Force from right there.

As he headed for the doorway, Tobias ignored the fact that being a Jedi wasn’t a very popular thing and removed his lightsaber hilt from his belt. Due to the amount of people around him, he didn’t activate the weapon, but if he had been thinking a bit more clearly rather than with a mind clouded in worry and confusion, he would have known at least some people would have identified it as a lightsaber. But nothing happened to him when he reached the door and hit the switch to open it.

In fact, Tobias dashed into the circular entrance room around him without thinking to really look around first. When the door slid shut behind him, eyes took in the scene. A turbolift access directly in front of him, a few chairs to his left and a corridor going off on a gentle curve that direction and to his right...

“Put the weapon down, Jedi.”

The source of the gruff voice was a human male, taller than Tobias and dressed in simple clothes. The man had dark hard, deep set eyes, and a thick beared covering his face. But, most importantly, he was aiming a blaster pistol directly at Tobias’ fact. And he wasn’t alone, either. Two other men were aiming blasters at Tobias, looks of surprise on their faces and clearly emanating from them in the Force. And then, at their feet behind them, was a body. All that Tobias could see was that it had been humanoid and looked to be bleeding. He also couldn’t see any movement from it. Or feel anything in the Force...

“Put the weapon down,” the same man said again, slowly and much more dangerously.

This kid’s wandered into the wrong place.

Jedi or not, we outnumber him. Not a thing he can do.

Jedi?! The hell is a Jedi doing down here? Did they follow us? Warrn was supposed to be watching out backs better...this can’t be good.

Through the stress, Tobias was losing his control and realized he was hearing thoughts of others again. But he heard more than that. He felt other things from these three men. One of them had been right, too...for the moment, without knowing what was going on and having stupidly wandered into this without thinking, Tobias couldn’t do a thing.

Without a word, Tobias let his lightsaber fall to the carpeted floor beneath him.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 574: Rescue

“Don’t turn around, just run!” it was amazing that the usual gravely voice of the Mon Calamari, Obrack Loro, could transform into such a deep bellow when he was yelling.

Not that anyone was really going to argue with that.

Besides, before anyone had a chance to verbally respond, the young human bringing up the rear of their formation started to fire his blaster rifle. Next to Rea and helping with one of the three stretchers as they dashed for a small building that was just coming into sight, the older human did not listen to what Loro had said. At the sound of the blaster rifle, he looked over his shoulder and growled, “Val, quit standing there shooting at nothing! Come on!”

It was impossible for Rea not to risk a glance, and when she turned over her shoulder to see the young human male standing there, facing the other direction and holding his blaster rifle like a kid that had no idea how to aim. He turned, looking back to them and started to open his mouth to say something before the inevitable happened. In a flash of movement, a small black object cut through the meter and a half high, red grass before slicing across the young man’s neck.

There was a burst of a deeper red and no sound at all when he collapsed to the ground.

“No!” the old man stopped.

For the first time in her life, Rea found herself considering leaving someone behind to die. But no. No, he had to keep moving because one of the injured Zephyr pilots was on that stretcher just standing there with him!

“Take the Commander!” she snapped to Adria, who reacted before understanding and grabbed the other stretcher with a free hand while continuing on. The fiery haired woman was about to say something, but Rea turned around and sprinted back to the old man, who she could barely make out through the tall grass. And heading for him, she could see more movement in the sea of red. Grey forms moving quickly towards him, just like she’d encountered not long before. And then there was that thundering sound approaching rapidly...

Suddenly, the old man cried out in pain and Rea’s eyes caught a glimpse of a Chazrach pouncing onto him and driving a blade into his throat. She could also see the stretcher tip over and another Chazrach pounce the body that fell off. Another Zephyr dead...

Reason got the better of her all of a sudden, and Rea spun back around, lekku whipping through the grass around her at the sudden change in direction. As she charged after Loro and Adria, Rea was also intelligent enough to draw her blaster pistol. Glancing over her shoulder, she fired off a few quicky shots not aimed at any of the moving shapes in particular. She needed to keep her ears open for that buzzing sound just in case they had more razor bugs, too.

As she ran, Rea became more and more aware of that distant thundering. It wasn’t so distant anymore...in fact, the ground itself was shaking and...

When she glanced behind her again, Rea was shocked at the sight of a monstrous Vagh Rodiek bearing down on her, scythe like arm already swinging in a horizontal arc. As it was the first time she’d seen one of those monsters, her surprise was warranted, and luckily it didn’t impair her judgement. Immediately upon seeing what was happening, the Twi’lek dropped to the ground and rolled to the side, the huge crab-like legs of the monster charging past and continuing after Loro and Adria.

Why leave her behind? That seemed foolish...

Well, only for a moment.

When Rea managed to get back to her feet, she saw another of the creatures coming at her, easily visible through the red grass. Firing her blaster seemed useless against such a huge monster, but Rea squeezed off a series of shots anyway as she started to sprint away again, aware of the Chazrach coming after her, too. With about twenty meters between her and what she could see of the other Vagh Rodiek and how fast the thing seemed capable of moving, Rea knew she could only outrun it for another minute, at most.

Then, at just the right time, Rea heard the sound of a weapon firing that was not just a blaster rifle. The way the sound echoed more deeply indicated that it was a much heavier weapon, a blaster cannon, capable of taking down most speeders with a few shots.

Looking ahead of her again, she could see a tripod-mounted blaster cannon sitting on top of the not-so-distant building firing again and again. The Vagh Rodiek that had charged her first was dropped with a heavy thud after only three shots from the cannon, and immediately after Rea realized she wasn’t in the best position as its operators spun it to fire on the other monster...which was directly behind her and put her in the line of fire if they didn’t aim well, whoever they were.

But there were Chazrach flanking her now, moving in to cut her off so that the Vagh Rodiek behind would trample her in just a matter of seconds.

When the blaster cannon fired again, it went so close over her head that Rea swore she could feel the heat of the blaster bolt. There was a loud bellow from the monster behind her, but she didn’t bother to turn behind her to see where the thing had been hit. Another shot went much higher over her head, but was still terrifying, and when she heard the growl from the monster, Rea knew it could have only been meters behind her. But then there was a thud and she couldn’t feel the ground shaking behind her anymore.

There were shrieks from both sides as the Chazrach began to scatter, though when one came towards her, Rea had the foresight to put a blaster bolt into it before it could pounce. Just as she took the reptilian creature down, the grass dropped to a more reasonable heigh of knee level, and suddenly she could see Adria pushing the two stretchers into the building while Loro fired into the tall grass at Chazrach that were emerging with small amphistaves. On the building’s roof were five Rodians, one of them firing that blaster cannon almost blindly into the grass beyond while the other four were taking careful aim to pick off the Chazrach that were coming in from all sides.

“Move!” Loro was screaming at her as he put a blaster bolt into a Chazrach coming at Rea from the side. There were so damn many of them!

Hearing a buzzing sound suddenly, Rea dove to the ground again, but not before a sharp pain went up across her shoulder as the razor bug flew past. Somehow, though, she pulled herself up and kept moving, the Rodian’s above and Loro picking off any Chazrach that got close to her as she ran as fast as she could to the open doorway of the building.

It took only a few more seconds and she was in, tumbling into a table that was badly placed and then hitting the hard floor on her non-injured shoulder. Rea let out a groan of pain and turned to start firing out the door, but instead saw Loro slip inside and close the door before hitting a switch that would have sealed it. Yet, above, the Rodian’s weapons could still be heard firing.

Adria’s red-haired head suddenly came into view, “Are you alright?”

Sitting up as best she could and trying to wave off any help, Rea nodded. For some reason, however, she couldn’t find her voice. But despite her answer, Adria had grabbed a medkit from the floor, it had likely been on the table beforehand, and immediately went to patching up the open wound on Rea’s shoulder and back.

As she was working, Loro moved past and headed for a set of stairs. He stopped before going up and said, “When you’re done get up here and help us out. I’ve never seen this many Chazrach before and they’re still coming.”

“Looks like they finally got tired of you,” Adria mumbled as she kept working. Her eyes glanced up to Rea, “Stay down here and keep an eye on the door. Something tells me that won’t hold long.”

Rea shook her head, motioning upwards with her blaster pistol, “If there’s as many out there as it looked like, going to need every blaster you can up there.”

But Adria didn’t budge, as always, “If that door gets breached they’re not only in behind us but there’s also two unconscious pilots down here next to you.”

With a sigh, Rea gave in, “Fine. I’ll keep an eye on them.”

A smile formed on Adria’s face as she finished up with the small bacta-laced patches and then got to her feet to head to the roof, “I’ll make sure to tell the Commander how you felt about having to protect him.”

Before Rea could respond, the human woman headed up the stairs and out to the roof. Rea let out an annoyed sigh and sat back against the wall behind her, blaster in her lap and waiting. For the moment, she could sit safely and catch her breath. It would be obvious when she needed to be ready to defend the door.

After only a few moments of sitting there listening to the muffled sounds of blaster fire above, the Twi’lek noticed something else. There was a quiet beeping to her side. Curious, suddenly, Rea tilted her head to find the source of the sound. Her eyes immediately locked onto a blinking green light in time with the sounds on Commodore Nok’s jumpsuit.

And then she knew what it was.

Immediately, Rea’s hand shot out for the object and grabbed the Commodore’s comlink. Pulling it to her, she hit the activation switch and said, “Zephyr Five here.”

“Five, this is Four. We just arrived in system with the fleet and should be to your location in a few minutes. What the situation down there?”

The voice that came through was that of her wingmate’s, the Kel Dor Tar Ko, and probably one of the most wonderful things Rea had ever heard. Of course they’d come back. Of course the fleet had come for them. The Admiral wouldn’t leave them. He was too good a man for that. And the green Zephyr pilots that the Commodore had ordered to retreat had done exactly what they’d needed to: they brought back help.

In front of her, the door shook violently from a powerful hit.

The joy of the moment before was suddenly gone and Rea pulled herself to her feet, saying into the comlink, “We’re on the surface of the moon, Four, and we’re under heavy attack. The Commodore’s badly wounded and nly a few of us are here. We’re surrounded by a horde of Vong from the sound of it. Won’t be able to hold out long.”

“Copy, Five,” Four’s voice was doubly modulated through the comm system and his own breath mask on the other side, but she could still hear the worry in the voice, “That moon just erupted with skips again but we’re coming in. Just hang on and we’ll push through right to you.”

When there was another thud at the door, and Rea saw the thing buckle just slightly, she hoped they actually had time.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 575: Diagnosis

For a long, silent few moments, Marix simply let her hand rest gently on Loki’s familiar feeling hull. Hours earlier there had been metal plating in the exact spot her hand was resting. But now all of the metal, save for the two Jendari cannons under each wing, was gone. The hull looked better than it had when she and the Jedi, Corran Horn, had installed the metal plating as a makeshift patch on Loki, but it was obviously still raw. The colour of it where he had taken the strongest hits was a few shades lighter than the rest of him, making Loki look slightly patched rather than his usual single colour. And under her hand, it felt different, slightly softer than the rest.

“It will take him some time to heal, my lady,” one of the Redstars said.

Hand still idly resting on Loki, Marix turned to look over her shoulder. Six of the two dozen Redstars tending to Loki were gathered there, all the picture of serenity that the Redstars exemplified. Or rather, they were outwardly serene. Through the Force, Marix could feel their concern and even worry, though it seemed to be directed more towards her than their actual patient.

With a slight nod in response to what had been said, Marix looked back to Loki and where her hand rested on his hull, asking softly, “How long is ‘some time’?”

Her question, though simple, caused a slight reverberation in the Force in what Marix assumed was an indirect response by one of the Redstars. It was the one who’d spoken before, an Alraxian woman that looked to be about her own age, though was of slighter build and reminded Marix of some of her younger sisters. She also seemed to be the one voted on to do all the talking, as it was her calm voice that spoke up again, “I apologize, my lady, but I cannot say for sure. The injuries he sustained were quite severe, as you know, and, to be honest, it is truly amazing that he is alive at all. It would be best for Loki to remain here for as long as possible, until we can be absolutely sure that spaceflight will no longer be detrimental to his health.”

Again, Marix allowed herself a nod. She didn’t like to hear it, but it made sense. The important thing was that Loki was going to live, just as she’d known all along. But his recovery sounded like it would take months, maybe longer. If there was one thing Marix needed, it was Loki right there with her. That was not, however, possible. He needed rest. Real rest, too, not what they usually counted as rest which usually involved jumping to hyperspace. But he was alive.

Still...

“Has he been unconscious since we arrived?” Marix asked, finally turning around to face the group of Redstars completely and letting her hand fall to her side.

The young Redstar shook her head and then explained, “He was drifting in and out not long after you left. Before we did anything, we had to put him under again. It is likely that he will stay unconscious for at least another day while his own natural healing takes over. We will, of course, alert you the moment he regains consciousness. I expect he would like to know you are doing well just as you have worried about him.”

But when the Redstar stopped speaking, Marix could feel there was something else in the air. Though not all Alraxians had any training, or even ability, in the Force, many Redstars at least had some basic potential. It seemed that this young woman did, in fact, have at least some slight strength in the Force, probably with a bent towards empathy like many healers. Since she’d returned to check on Loki, Marix had detected the very slightest probing in the Force directed at her, and now she could identify where it had been coming from. Still, there was an obvious question and, for some reason, it bothered her that she could not immediately identify the answer on her own.

“What is it?” she finally asked, going for the direct approach as usual.

A moment of tension passed through the Force but then immediately was gone. Instead, it was replaced with a question in response to Marix’s own question, “My lady, may I ask you if you plan to return to Alraxia or...?”

Though the sentence trailed off, Marix knew what the other option was. Thinking about it for a moment, Marix answered truthfully, “That will depend on what we learn from the Yuuzhan Vong.”

“Ah, yes...” the answer seemed to make all of the Redstars uncomfortable. And for good reason, they weren’t the kind to think about interrogation techniques that might be necessary, as it was there job to heal, not harm. Quickly, though, the Redstar added, “Word of your arrival reached your brother, my lady. When he learned of what happened to Loki, he sent Hermes to assist you in Loki’s stead. Obviously, it is not the same, but...”

But Hermes had been Kyren’s closest compatriot through the years. But Hermes had served Jyren with the same dedication. But Hermes now did everything his power to protect Alyx. If there was one Kanyak, other than Loki, that could be said to be a part of the family, of course it was Hermes. He was, after all, Loki’s brother and would likely be just as worried for his safety as Marix was.

“I’ll make sure to thank Alyx,” Marix said quietly as she began to make her way out of the hangar and back to Rhinna and the Vong, “Do you have any idea when Hermes will arrive?”

The Redstar did not follow, simply speaking to her as Marix walked by, “Within the hour, my lady. In fact, the Jendari envoy should arrive at about the same time. We will let you know as soon as they arrive.”

“Thank you,” Marix said over her shoulder, took a few more steps then added, “Take care of Loki.”

Without waiting for a response, she continued on. Rhinna would hopefully have made at least some progress with Qroal, and the Redstar had brought up a valid point. Marix needed to decide what was going to be done next. She desperately wanted to see the twins again, but refused to even send a message to wherever Navik had taken them for fear that she would be drawn away too soon again. Marix couldn’t bear to keep coming and going with barely seeing them at all. Better to keep them in her thoughts and not torture herself, or them, with fleeting moments every few weeks.

It would all depend on the Vong. He obviously knew about the Alraxians already. There were a thousand possibilities as to what would have to be done next. The Vong threat to her people needed to be dealt with swiftly. If it was entirely internal, as she knew there were at least some Vong agents still somewhere hidden in the Empire, then Marix would have the help of the entire Empire to deal with it. But if there was another attack being readied, Marix would be on her own. The Mrrakesh border was, currently, well protected by the Jendari. There were not, however, enough ships to protect that border and fight off another Vong incursion at the Gateway, meaning Marix needed to learn of any such attack ahead of time and deal with it before it even arrived.

And yet it was all just speculation. There was even the chance that Qroal would not break and they would gain no information at all. If that happened...well, Marix wasn’t sure what she would do if that were the case, but she seriously doubted that. Qroal definitely knew something and he’d already shown himself to be brave in short, stupid moments.

Qroal would break.

He would talk.

Once he talked, once he broke, then Marix could decide on further action. Until then, she was left in a state that was horrible for her. Marix was left helpless.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 576: Standoff

Tobias stood staring into the barrel of a blaster, his peripheral vision showing two more aimed at him, and wondered if this was the kind of thing he was going to have to get used to as a Jedi...or maybe it was just what he got for being a BlueIce. Or maybe it was both. Either way, his lightsaber was on the ground at his feet and the three men didn’t seem to consider the fact that, in a second, he could call it to his hand again with very little effort. That was, of course, why Tobias had not been too worried to release the weapon.

“The hell are we going to do now, Rem?” the man on the left asked the one in the center.

“Will you shut up?” the one on the right snapped.

Left rolled his eyes and then motioned at Tobias with his blaster, “What’s it matter what he hears? Blasted Jedi are mind readers anyway so we might as well talk. Not like we’re going to be able to leave him alive anyway.”

“Stow it, both of you,” the beared man in the center, Rem, growled in his gruff voice. His deep-set eyes then shifted back to Tobias, looking down the barrel of the gun at the younger man very carefully, “I don’t like killing children, but you’ve put me in a very difficult situation.”

Not hearing a question in that, but taking in the situation as he had been taught by both Marix and Master Ral, Tobias decided he had enough of a grasp on the current predicament he had quite literally walked into to attempt speaking. Slowly, he suggested, “Then you could just put down the blaster and not kill me.”

That got a short laugh from Rem, but the one on the left, his voice a rather grating sound that made Tobias wonder how anyone could stand to be around him, said quickly, “Don’t you try any of those Jedi tricks!”

Though the man on the right glanced to the loud one, Rem seemed to ignore him. Instead, Rem went on, “You are correct, young man. I could just put the blaster down and not kill you. However, you are either a Jedi or a foolish child trying to pretend to be one by carrying that weapon. I have seen many of the latter, but you carry yourself like the former. And you Jedi being as you are, there is no way I can simply leave you here without your morality forcing you to do something about this.”

For a man that was quite obviously a killer, Rem was surprisingly formal and intelligent. And he was also right. Tobias had walked in not moment after what was clearly a murder, and he was a Jedi. It was his duty to do something about it. He couldn’t simply let these men go. Yet, at the same time, Tobias was not about to simply jump into action and kill them. He needed to wait, understand the situation a little bit better, perhaps figure out exactly what had happened, and then he could act.

So, still speaking carefully and trying to talk in such a way that showed he was not trying any mind tricks, Tobias asked, “Did you really think you could kill someone in the lobby of an apartment building on Coruscant, of all places, and someone wouldn’t notice?”

The problem, however, was that Tobias was not exactly experienced at handling delicate situations.

But instead of getting angry, Rem shrugged in a way that didn’t move his blaster from Tobias’ face, “If I could have killed him in his home, I would have. It isn’t our fault we walked in when he was leaving.”

“Yeah!” left was speaking again, “He even pulled a weapon first! Nicked me with his vibroblade!”

Apparently, the man on the left was not very intelligent. He seemed to think that Rem was feigning innocence, when he was actually just telling the truth. But Tobias did note the tension was rising. The man on the right was still quiet, a hard look on his weathered features as his blaster did not waver at all. On the left, the annoying-voiced man was obviously jittery and ready to fire his blaster at any second. Rem’s looked of seriousness remained, but his feeling in the Force was growing more tense by the second. It was obvious he had made the decision to kill Tobias and was just trying to give himself a reason to make it Tobias’ fault rather than his own.

Calmly, Tobias said, “Please put the blaster down, Rem. It’s the only way now.”

In his mind, Tobias had expected some kind of remark in response to what he’d said. It didn’t have to be witty, and could have even been as much as just an apology. But there was no verbal response. Instead, Tobias’ eyes caught the slightest of movements from Rem’s extended right arm. Marix had taught him to watch for that kind of thing if he ever ended up in such a situation, and there it was. A slight tensing of the muscles in the arm, barely visible beneath the loose clothing but still very much there. Rem was about to pull the trigger.

But thanks to senses drilled into him by Marix and Force-enhanced reaction, there was no way the blaster bolt would hit him in such a situation.

Tobias’ left arm shot up in an arc, hitting Rem’s right arm at the wrist. There was a slap as the arms hit, and the Force of Tobias’ strike sent Rem’s aim off. Tobas’ left ear suddenly was dominated by the loud scream of a blaster bolt firing right past, but he ignored it and, in almost the same motion, swept both of Rem’s feet out from under him with his right leg.

It was happening too fast for the others to clearly see what was going on.

The next thing either of the other two attackers saw, Rem was falling to the ground, blaster dropping on the other side of Tobias, who had just spun to his left and twisted in just the right way so that both blaster shots from the other two men went right across either side of him. But Tobias’ didn’t stop moving, his left arm reaching around behind him and then calling his lightsaber to it. Tobias caught the hilt and brought the blue-green blade to life in the same moment the man on his left fired again. But all it took was for Tobias to continue his spin and bring his lightsaber up to deflect the blaster bolt and send it into a far wall.

At the same time as the shot reflected off his blade in a flash of white-hot light, the right man also fired, forcing Tobias’ to twist around even more and then invert his blade to send that shot right into the duracrete floor just meters away from him. But the Force was yelling more warnings at him, and Tobias was no longer reacting as much as just letting it guide him. And with that, it took little effort to extend his right hand towards the man on the left and send a heavy blow at him with the Force.

The man yelped at flew back just a few meters before slamming into the wall behind him and dropping painfully onto a piece of rather unique looking furniture beneath him. But it still wasn’t over, and the only one of the trio standing was squeezing the trigger of his blaster pistol again, this time with it aimed at Tobias’ head. So, in a flash of light, Tobias swung his lightsaber around and back up, slicing off half of the man’s blaster pistol and creating a shower of sparks and flame that caused him to jump back and release the destroyed weapon. Before he could even attempt anything else, Tobias’ right hand was reaching out and sending a wave of the Force at him, sending him against the wall not far from his flung companion.

Then, hearing movement behind him, Tobias spun around again and put the tip of his lightsaber just centimeters from Rem’s chest. The man had been going for his blaster pistol, which was just a half meter out of his reach. But now, with a lightsaber so very close to his body, Rem froze and looked up the length of the weapon to Tobias, who was breathing heavily but somehow showing no hint of exhaustion.

Steadying his voice and trying to return his breathing to normal, Tobias spoke firmly, “I just wanted you to put the blaster down...I was never going to kill any of you.”

Rem’s eyes darted to his side to see his two companions unconscious against the wall and overturned pieces of furniture. The man then looked back to Tobias, “And now you are.”

“They’ll live,” Tobias said in the same voice. He then did something that surprised Rem even more than the swift movements that had occurred just moments early. Tobias deactivated his lightsaber, “As will you. Now, please, come with me to the nearest security office.”

For the shortest of moments, Rem looked to his blaster just out of reach, saying in a matter of fact way, “I could shoot you when you turn your back, you know.”

“No,” Tobias shook his head and motioned for the man to stand up, “You know very well now that you couldn’t.”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 577: Fall Back

There was a rush of movement off to Rea’s side as Obrack Loro bolted down from the roof above to where she stood, blaster aimed at the failing door and injured pilots unconscious behind her. Before the Mon Calamari could say anything, she called out over her shoulder, “The fleet’s on the way. Just have to hold out until they can get to us.”

Loro’s yellow eyes shifted from Rea and then to the door, which was still taking a beating from the Vong forces outside despite the fact that the Rodians and Harken were above, firing mercilessly into the mass of Vong and Chazrach. He then knelt down to construct a crude barricade out of the remains of the table and said to her, “How far out are they?”

Though she was still hurting from the long run and the various small injuries she had taken through the day, Rea did her best to assist Loro in piecing together the table in front of the door, which took another sudden, loud hit, “They didn’t say...how bad is it out there?”

Loro’s eyes darted to her again, but before he said anything he knelt behind the barricade and aimed his blaster rifle at the failing door. Looking down the sight of the weapon, he kept his voice low, “Bad. No sign of the Vagh Rodiek but I’ve never seen that many Chazrach before. They just keep coming and...well, before I came down here, Harken spotted a group of Vong warriors headed our way from the north.”

“How long do you think we can hold them off?” it was not a comforting question to ask, but it was the reality of their situation. Rea pushed one of her head-tails back off of her shoulder to stay out of her way and raised her own blaster pistol, ready for the door to fail and the swarm that would undoubtedly follow.

Loro opened his mouth to speak, but there was another violent bang at the door. The two of them tensed, but the door somehow held against whatever had hit it so hard. From the looks of it, though, it wouldn’t survive another. Not relaxing, however, Loro finally said, “The cannon up there is going to be out of power cells soon. After that...probably a few minutes.”

What was there to say to that?

Rea couldn’t think of anything, and so just kept her mouth shut, eyes watching the door and every part of her ready. It was terrible to wait for the attack, something she’d never experienced in the cockpit. It didn’t help that the entire recon mission to Rodia had just seemed like one disaster after another. The only thing good that seemed to come out of it was the fact that they’d found Loro and he was alive...too bad that didn’t look like it was going to last.

And then, finally, it happened.

One more loud, powerful crash and the entire door buckled inwards before an odd oozing substance could be seen melting it away entirely. Before anything could come through or even be seen, Loro’s blaster rifle came to life, sending a stream of blaster fire through the opening. Rea squeezed the trigger of her pistol, following suit and also trying to keep her head low. It proved to be an intelligent move, as a moment later the distinct buzzing sound of a flying razorbug could be heard. Her eyes caught the movement go right over her head before hitting the wall behind them.

Cries, snarls, and blood-thirsty growls echoed into the small building from outside, all nearly drowned out by the loud sound of blaster fire. Two of her shots caught a single Chazrach in the face, sending the reptilian creature back and into four others that were trying to pile through, miniature-looking amphistaves in hand. Loro’s rifle took down one after another easily, as none of the Chazrach seemed to be wearing any kind of armour. They were just piling in one after another, getting shot in time for a handful more to try to climb around.

But the rather primitive tactics were working.

For every Chazrach shot, it seemed as if there were four more trying to get through.

But before they could get through, more blaster shots started flying over Loro and Rea’s heads. Risking a glance behind her, Rea saw three of the Rodians coming down the stairs, blasters helping to lay down enough suppressing fire to keep the Chazrach from getting in. As one of them reached the floor, he yelled in a nasally voice that was hard to understand over the din of blaster fire and cries, “Fall back to roof! Safer!”

“There are wounded down here!” Loro yelled over his shoulder as razorbug hit the barricade and stuck into it, its little arms flailing for a moment before it went still. After taking out two more Chazrach, Loro quickly added, “No way in hell we’re leaving them down here!”

“We know!” it was another of the Rodians. The only way Rea could tell was that this one’s voice was, somehow, higher pitched than the other’s. She didn’t bother looking behind her, though, as the Chazrach were getting closer and closer to breaking through and the power pack on her pistol was being depleted with each shot she took. She had a backup, but it would take precious seconds to reload it and that was something they definitely didn’t have.

The blaster fire from the Rodians began to change, though, as they moved to the injured pilots behind. Movement behind her confirmed that the Rodians were moving as quickly as they can to get the stretchers up the stairs and to the roof, but the second they started up the stairs they would have no cover...

Suddenly, however, that no longer mattered.

Rather than a blaster bolt, Rea’s pistol emitted a soft, but horrifying, click.

The power pack was dead.

That short moment in which only Loro’s blaster rifle was holding back the horde outside was it. Two Chazrach got through first, one taking a blaster bolt to the chest and dropping right in front of the barricade, and the other diving straight for Loro, blade-first. Somehow, Loro raised his blaster and caught the strike aimed at him on the stock of his weapon. He then whipped it around and connected a heavy strike with the butt of the weapon to the Chazrach’s small, confused face.

“Up up up!” the Rodians were yelling at them from above now, having used the distraction of the Chazrach breaking through to quickly get up to the roof.

Before Rea could get to her feet and run for the stairs, however, more Chazrach poured through in the opening caused by there being no blaster fire at all. Rea ducked for complete cover behind the barricade as a Chazrach pounced at her and went right over. Dropping her blaster pistol, Rea’s hand quickly withdrew the vibrodagger from her belt and immediately dug it into the Chazrach’s leg. She got a kick to the face in response to that, which sent her back into Loro, who had been moving to get them both up to the roof before they were overwhelmed.

Sadly, it was too late for that.

Rea’s eyes caught movement from the stairs again, though, and two of the Rodian’s came charging down again, blasters spraying red bolts at the swarmed entrance. Using this opening, Rea dove at the Chazrach in front of her, driving her blade into its neck before Loro grabbed her and pulled her onto her feet. He was yelling something but she couldn’t hear it, and instead just found herself being half-drug, half-running on her own up the stairs and past the two Rodians as razorbugs flew in behind them.

When they reached the roof, the Rodians were right behind, the last one up hitting a switch that sealed a small door and, from the loud click sound, locked it, too. It was then that Rea noticed the blaster cannon was no longer firing. Instead, Harken and the other Rodians were down behind the small, meter-high ‘wall’ that surrounded the roof and provided very minimal cover. All of them were facing different directions, firing down into the masses of creatures now piling easily into the room below.

“That seal will hold for two or three minutes,” Loro growled angrily, his eyes looking up to the sky above, which was dominated by the great sphere of Rodia.

Not turning away from where she was firing, Adria yelled back at them, “About twenty actual Vong over here! Something tells me they’re not looking for a surrender!”

“Why they take so long to kill us?!” one of the Rodians asked to no on in particular between taking shots of his own down below.

“Doesn’t matter,” Loro answered swiftly as he crawled over to find his own place to fire over the side and hopefully thin the numbers more...even though it was obviously a futile effort, “Rea tells me the fleet’s in orbit and on their way so we need to hold this position until they get here!”

There was a momentary pause in the conversation as that sunk in, but it was Adria that spoke up to make things worse, “I think I see something coming our way...but there’s no way those are our ships.”

Everyone turned to see what she was talking about. What they saw were four objects coming in across the sky, likely a many kilometers away still. They were, however, very obviously Coralskippers. They were moving fast and coming right for the building with no sign of any pursuit.

Processing this new information, Rea found only one response was left, “Well, dammit.”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 578: Captives

Marix sat alone in a small, boring looking room that served as a meeting room when necessary. There were, of course, dozens of similar rooms all across the Gateway, and they were rarely used mainly due to how sparsely populated the facility was. The chairs were a bit small for adult Alraxians, but they were somehow still quite comfortable. But Marix was not sitting there in the empty room to brood.

Rather, she was awaiting the arrival of the Jendari. They had, apparently, just arrived at the Gateway but she had been unable to meet them in the hangar they’re ship set down in. They would not be offended, and besides, there was a good reason she had not met them.

Qroal had finally broken.

Marix did not bother with the how, but had seen he was not in the best of shape, physically or, from the look on his face, mentally. Rhinna had done her job well, and relayed everything she had learned. Sadly, it had not been a great deal. It seemed that Qroal was not much more than a low-level operative. He was, apparently, a member of the Intendant class, which apparently meant he was basically an expert in politics and manipulation. It explained why he broke so easily, as he was no warrior. Eventually, it seemed, even Vong could break. Especially cowardly ones, and Rhinna made sure to emphasize that if Qroal was anything at all, he was most assuredly a coward. He seemed to care much more for his own well-being than for his people’s crusade.

That was something Marix made sure to file away in her mind for later. Not all Vong were the religious zealots that it appeared.

But beyond Qroal’s position amongst his people as an agent meant to prepare the way for further conquest by the warrior caste, Rhinna did learn something else important. Apparently, after she had removed a claw-like implant from Qroal’s right leg, he became much more willing to speak after screams of pain and rage. After ranting on about being defiled and something about the Gods never rejecting him despite what the infidels did to him, he finally gave up the information that Marix had been looking for.

The Vong were, in fact, very interested in the Alraxian people. Just as Marix had expected, their interest was solely in regard to the Alraxians’ natural ability to morph. According to Qroal, this quality was seen as one that could be shaped, as he called it, into other creatures. He then babbled on about it being the will of the Gods, spoke some names that Rhinna could not recognize and assumed to be the Vong Gods, and then began growling curses at her. Eventually he drifted into a state of semi-consciousness, likely due to blood loss, and began to talk again.

According to Qroal, the Vong had never seen anything like the Alraxians’ morphing ability. But since the failure of the attack on the Gateway months earlier, a new tactic had been adopted. It seemed that the Vong were focusing their efforts on infiltration of the Alraxian people through those skin-suit-like disguises and agents like Qroal who were building up fleets from the Peace Brigade to assault the Gateway again. The latter was proving to be a failure, though, as the war effort turned Coreward. Alraxian space was just too far behind to prove worth so many resources.

At that point, Qroal’s delirium faded and he had realized all that had been said. Rhinna said he’d gone into another tirade against her and all of the Alraxian people, but before finally falling unconscious had made a vital slip in his screams. He had said, according to Rhinna, that the Vong already had Alraxians in captivity and were working to find out how their ability to morph actually worked. It had been a boast or maybe even a threat, but for one who claimed to be a master of speech, it was a foolish mistake.

So Marix sat alone in the meeting room, awaiting the Jendari, and now beginning to realize what could have happened to some of the Knights that had not returned. At least a dozen of the Knights sent on reconnaissance missions into the rest of the galaxy had failed to return or report in. They had been assumed dead, but now a seed of doubt was put in Marix’s mind. At least two of the Knights had been former Tam’Day’U, which meant the Vong potentially had two Alraxians with very well developed morphing skills. If the Vong were able to work morphing into their own creations, it would likely make them completely unstoppable.

Marix told herself, time and time again, that her sole concern was with the Alraxian Empire. Her people. But in moments like this, that was put into doubt. Yes, it was an obvious threat to the Empire. But, beyond that, it would be one more nail in the coffin for the New Republic and the rest of the galaxy which was already overrun. The last scouts to return reported that signs pointed towards more Core Worlds falling and one of the Knights even mentioned Coruscant being more heavily protected for fear of an attack. It was already falling apart. But Coralskippers that could morph in addition to their dovin basal defenses...warriors with the morphing trait bred into them...whole Vong fleets with that ‘shaped’ into their genetic makeup...

Letting out a deep breath, Marix sat back in her chair and shook her head.

So it seemed she would not be going home, but rather back into the war-torn galaxy. Marix would have to track down where the Vong were keeping their Alraxian captives and put a stop to any research that was being done. She could send Knights, but it was something Marix knew she needed to handle herself. It was too important for her to sit back and worry about. She was the Empress, the protector of her people, and that meant she had to take an active role in that defense in times of crisis.

There were Alraxians out there, somewhere in the galaxy, in the hands of the Vong. That was bad enough. But what the Vong wanted to do made it worse, and it was something she could not allow. Never any rest, it seemed...

“Momma!”

That one word cut off every single other thought that might have followed. Marix’s eyes widened and she spun to look at the door which, somehow, she hadn’t heard open. Just as she turned, Saaran dashed from the doorway and right to her, bounding from the floor and right up into her lap in one swift motion. Before Marix could respond, however, Andrea ran in, following suit and quickly landing right next to her brother, both of them grinning up at her and exuding that intoxicating happiness through the Force...that, and the satisfaction that they’d surprised their mother.

As Marix found herself paying far too much attention to the twins, four Jendari walked into the room, their faces showing the same smile that they projected in the Force. There was no sign of Navik, which somehow didn’t surprise Marix one bit. Eventually, Marix would talk business with them and explain to the Jendari what she had learned and what she planned to do next...but Marix decided that could wait. It felt like it had been ages since she’d seen the twins, and they were both babbling on and on and on about everything they’d done on the new planets they’d seen since Marix had last seen them.

The twins’ adventures chasing small bugs, one another, and their grandfather were suddenly much more important to her than anything else.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 579: Onwards...

It took some time, but Tobias managed to get Rem and his two companions to the nearest Security Office without incidence. With it very clear that there was nothing they could do without Tobias being forewarned and assisted by the Force, none of them tried anything. The fact that he had a lightsaber and they no longer had any weapons at all, obviously, helped that.

The interesting part, however, was turning them over to the Coruscant Security personnel. They seemed surprised, at first, that Tobias had apprehended three men much larger than himself. The men on duty became even more surprised when they learned that Tobias was a Jedi, though he made sure to correct them and mention he was only an apprentice. This, of course, heightened the sense of surprise among the security officers and the shame felt by the three men Tobias had brought in.

From what he learned while answering questions relating to what he’d found them doing, it seemed that crimes like the one Tobias had encountered were becoming more and more common throughout the planet. The security officers admitted to being understaffed, with many among them having been drafted into the military. There just weren’t enough security officers to police the streets, and where Jedi would usually help to pick up the slack, there was a void. The void was created by the fact that the Jedi were being blamed for nearly every failure of the war by the New Republic government, meaning it was dangerous to be a Jedi in public. But, beyond that, there were simply very few Jedi Knights in the galaxy and most of them were, in fact, out fighting the Vong and saving lives.

All of those things put together meant that it was easy for pointless murders to occur all over Coruscant and go completely unnoticed. But the security officers, all four of them, were extremely elated with what Tobias had done. All of them were a good ten years older than Tobias claimed to be, though he was actually older than all of them. That was, of course, one of the wonderful technicalities that Tobias did his best to not let get in the way of his conscious thought. It had a habit of giving him a headache.

After an hour in the Security Office, with a great deal of the latter ten minutes involved in Tobias convincing them that he didn’t need any reward, he was finally able to leave. Two of the officers had been dispatched to the scene of the crime to find out whatever else they could, especially the identity of the victim, but at that point it became their job, not Tobias’. And, truthfully, he didn’t mind. It was hard to tell if it was getting late, with the lights of the buildings illuminating everything, but Tobias definitely felt as if he’d been gone for hours and hours. So, quietly, he made his way back to the Jedi Headquarters.

Tobias found Master Ral standing outside the entrance to the building, simply staring off into the skylanes with his arms behind his back and silently contemplating something. The Omwati Jedi Master acknowledged Tobias with a short glance, and then Tobias told him what had happened.

Unlike the stories Jyren had told him as a child, Tobias did not exaggerate his story. In fact, he downplayed everything he had done, a part of him still not truly accepting how swiftly he’d acted. There was a very great deal of Tobias that was still clinging to the idea that he was just a child, when in fact, he had grown a great deal since beginning his training as a Jedi.

When Tobias had finished speaking, Master Ral nodded before speaking in his usual calm, somewhat airy voice, “We have spent very little time on defensive training...it would seem to me that it is barely necessary.”

“My parents...” Tobias started but stopped, knowing that Master Ral already knew. But then, Tobias just shrugged and went on, “For the first time in my life, the lightsaber actually felt like an extension of my arm rather than an actual weapon. I think that’s why I was able to control it so well.”

Master Ral nodded, “It is. There is more to this than I believe you see, however. If what you tell me is accurate, you reacted to actions before those actions occurred...yes?”

Tobias had to think about that, recalling the short few seconds of combat that were more of a blur from his point of view. Well, a blur to his eyes. Through the Force, it had been impossibly clear. It had been clearer than anything his eyes could have ever hoped to see. Realizing that, Tobias nodded, “I think so...”

Turning to face him, Master Ral reached out to put a hand on Tobias’ shoulder, “In the last few weeks, you have displayed an ability to clearly sense the thoughts of those around you. This is not unusual for a Jedi, but it seems to come much more naturally to you rather than as an active ability. Eventually, it is common practice to teach an apprentice to extend this sensing ability further, beyond the surface thoughts to the ability to sense an opponents actions before they happen. Most apprentices take years to reach that point, but I believe that is exactly what you did earlier.”

Tobias found himself staring blankly at his Master. When he thought about it, that was what had happened. Tobias had been able to react so quickly because he knew exactly what was happening. But he hadn’t even thought about it. It had just happened. His arm needed to move there to block the shot that was going to be fired, while he body needed to be here and turned just like that to dodge the shot of the other, then shift his arm just there so that his blade went right where it needed to be to deflect another shot...

He hadn’t really seen it happen, as such. Rather, Tobias just somehow knew exactly where he needed to be. He had just...reacted. Reacted to things that had not happened. It was an odd thought, but it was definitely true. The strangest part, though, was that not once did Tobias think about it. He didn’t try to do it. Instead, it just happened. He just moved exactly as he needed to as easily and simply as if he was walking.

“What does that mean...?” finally, Tobias asked the question that kept coming up in his mind.

A smile formed on Master Ral’s face, “It means that you are beginning to truly understand what it is to let go of yourself and allow the Force to guide you. The fact that you are able to do this unconsciously is important. The Force can react to a command, but what a Jedi truly must learn is to let go of that and understand that we are not in command of the Force, rather, it is there to guide us. It is a difficult distinction...and not one that I can teach you. That is something you must do on your own.”

After letting this sink in, Tobias decided another question was important, “Well...where to next?”
The smile on the Jedi Master’s face only grew and he turned to head back into the Jedi Headquarters, motioning for Tobias to follow. Over his shoulder, Master Ral said, “There are reports coming in from various parts of the galaxy of Yuuzhan Vong creatures hunting down Jedi. It seems we have become more than just a target for blame by the New Republic govnerment. We’re going to find out what these creatures are and find a way to protect ourselves and other Jedi from them.”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 580: The Cavalry

“What the hell did you do?!” Loro was down behind the cover of the ledge on the roof of the building, no longer bothering to fire over the side as it was doing no good. They’d moved a heavy crate and the remains of the blaster cannon onto the door in such a way that, even if opened, it would be extremely difficult to break or move. He was currently yelling at the nearest of the Rodians, a younger one with slightly greenish skin pocketed with brown here and there.

The Rodian, who’s name Rea was completely unaware of, leaned over and fired a few shots with his rifle before ducking back down again. He gave Loro a sharp look with those two black eyes and then snapped back, “Didn’t even get to the base!”

“They were coming for us already!” one of the other Rodians, who was currently replacing the power pack in his small carbine, grumbled, “Vong done toying with their prey. Let us live longer than I would have...”

“I think he’s right,” Rea felt the need to yell across the very small roof to be heard, “But I don’t think it really matters right now!”

Loro nodded to that before looking up and over his shoulder. The Coralskippers were still approaching quickly. They were close enough to be distantly heard, too, and odd sound coming through the air that was far more chill-inducing than the screech of TIE Fighters. It was very obvious from the sound that the thing was alive, but it was still relatively quiet, as if the essence of everything that felt wrong about the Yuuzhan Vong could be condensed into a sound.

Next to Rea, who was currently between the crates over the roof access and the stretchers, the crates shook. It made her nearly jump, but thankfully that was all the did. She could vaguely make out the sounds of Chazrach beneath, but knew that the crate would hold long enough. The Coralskippers would kill them first, anyway, so what did it matter?

The green-skinned Rodian suddenly cried out, “Vong Warriors are killing Chazrach to get to the building! They are insane!”

It was stupid, but Rea tilted her head enough to get a look over the side. Just as the Rodian had said, a group of ten or so very large, very angry looking warriors were simply cutting down the smaller Chazrach that got in their way. One of them looked up, caught sight of Rea, and looked ready to throw something, likely a razor bug. Before he could, however, Rea ducked down again, making sure her lekku were good and below the cover, too.

“Why the hell would that send warriors in if they’re going to just blow this place up with those Skips?” Adria growled angrily, having also given up on fighting back due to her power pack dying and not having a backup. That and, well, it felt futile. The only ones still firing were two of the youngest Rodians.

Rea considered looking over again, but heard the growls of the warriors getting closer. Eyes looking up past Loro, she saw the Coralskippers would likely be in range within seconds. It was then that she decided on some last words, “Maybe they just really want us dead.”

They weren’t the best last words, but they damn well were more than most fighter pilots got.

And then four red bolts of energy slammed into the lead Coralskipper from above. Three of the shots were eaten by its miniature black hole defense, but the fourth got through and hit its nose, causing an eruption of liquid flame that must have been thanks to the atmosphere, as Rea had never seen that happen in space. A moment later, the Coralskipper flight was completely overwhelmed from above, and only one was actually able to pull away, with the others going up in flame and then hitting the ground in a plume of fire.

Two X-Wings, three of the newer E-Wings, and an A-Wing suddenly dropped into view, all pulling out of a dive and heading different directions. The E-Wings went after the Coralskipper, with the other fighters breaking off and flying directly over the building before strafing the Vong troops on the ground.

If any of the seven conscious beings on the roof cried out in surprise or joy, it couldn’t be heard. From the roar of the sublight drives passing overhead to the loud screams of the fighter’s laser cannons. And then came another sound even more deafening. It was the distinct sound of turbolaser fire, and Rea looked up to see the shape of a Star Destroyer in orbit above the moon. It was so large that its wedge shape could be clearly seen, as could the green turbolaser blasts arcing down through the moon’s atmosphere, hitting some location off over the horizon.

And there were other ships coming down. Small dots in the sky could be seen darting about, likely that horde of Coralskippers that had ambushed the squadron from before...but now they looked to have an entire fleet to deal with. Through it all, Rea made out a few of the ships growing larger. Eventually she made out the somewhat boxy shapes of Assault Transports, hopefully fully loaded with troops. And they were, from the looks of it, headed straight for the building.

Then, just to make things difficult, the crate next to Rea shook violently again.

“Quit staring up and get your blasters ready!” Loro yelled as he started to scramble for a power pack that at least had a few shots left, “No use getting ourselves killed when help finally gets here!”

There was no arguing with that. Quickly, and still staying low, Rea moved the stretchers away from the crates more and found a blaster pistol she could use. The power pack looked light, though, enough for only a five or six shots. That was, at least, more than none. She then, once again, moved to a position where she was in front of the stretchers as an extra bit of protection.

Above, the fighters were still strafing the outer perimeter around the building, but were being smart and not firing too close. Sadly, that meant the Vong Warriors would likely be either in the building or close to that soon. It seemed like every time something good happened, five things worse occurred.

This time, it was about ten Vong Warriors that were about to occur.

And, from the looks of how far away the shuttles were, the few shots they all had left to defend themselves on the roof would be all they had when, not if, the Vong got through the makeshift defense. Rea began to worry that the fleet had just arrived too late.

 

[AKM]

You know, when looking at it... I have to admit... Somehow I miss this.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

You know, when looking at it... I have to admit... Somehow I miss this.

I miss it and so very much more.

I'm glad, in an odd way, it has the same effect for you.