Star Wars: Heroes of Another Kind
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Alrighty...so I'm still alive. Mostly.
Sorry for the month-ish long disappearance but damn has life been crazy. Between daily paintings, my usual distracted self, and a new little writing project slowly developing into something I sadly haven't had the time to keep this updated and I feel pretty bad about it.
Good news is, life is slowing down again. It'll probably pick up again in a few months, but for now...slight calm. Which means that updates should resume back on their usual daily schedule starting tomorrow, if all goes well.
Sorry again...and especially sorry I didn't leave it on a dramatic cliffhanger just to be evil.
Sorry for the month-ish long disappearance but damn has life been crazy. Between daily paintings, my usual distracted self, and a new little writing project slowly developing into something I sadly haven't had the time to keep this updated and I feel pretty bad about it.
Good news is, life is slowing down again. It'll probably pick up again in a few months, but for now...slight calm. Which means that updates should resume back on their usual daily schedule starting tomorrow, if all goes well.
Sorry again...and especially sorry I didn't leave it on a dramatic cliffhanger just to be evil.
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Its not the last.
When I thought I'd have more time as of the last update I uh...haven't. I'm currently trying to figure out a way to work this into my current schedule, but its gotten pretty insane lately.
I'm still working on that aforementioned separate writing project, but in addition to that have managed to snag a job doing the graphic design for a friend's website, and also am in the preliminary stages of an online comic. The latter is taking up almost all of my time, as I'm working with a writer to get all the character/setting designs just right. Sadly, with all of that I haven't even really had time for my own sketching or painting so between that and this being on an annoying hold, I'm really driving myself crazy with things.
I can't really give an ETA on things at this point, but my hope is I can find a way to balance things without too much trouble sooner rather than later.
When I thought I'd have more time as of the last update I uh...haven't. I'm currently trying to figure out a way to work this into my current schedule, but its gotten pretty insane lately.
I'm still working on that aforementioned separate writing project, but in addition to that have managed to snag a job doing the graphic design for a friend's website, and also am in the preliminary stages of an online comic. The latter is taking up almost all of my time, as I'm working with a writer to get all the character/setting designs just right. Sadly, with all of that I haven't even really had time for my own sketching or painting so between that and this being on an annoying hold, I'm really driving myself crazy with things.
I can't really give an ETA on things at this point, but my hope is I can find a way to balance things without too much trouble sooner rather than later.
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Chapter 588: Like Father, Like Son
Jedi Knights were taught a great many techniques in resolving conflicts. While it looked as if most of this was combat training in the form of lightsaber technique, most of the training was actually in avoiding combat all together. The majority of the training is spent on Force calming techniques, proper negotiation and diplomacy, and most importantly, restraint. It is the last of which that focuses on when not to draw one’s lightsaber, and that is also one of the hardest things for most apprentices to grasp. A Jedi had to master many conflicting ideals, and that was one of the most fundamental.
More times than he could count, Tobias BlueIce had failed to realize when he was in such a situation. But finally, working on his own in Bestine, Tobias had resisted the urge to deal with a difficult situation by drawing his lightsaber. But sadly, just doing that was not enough. Though he had almost managed to defuse an angry trio bent on violence for what seemed like no true reason, almost wasn’t good enough.
Which meant that he was currently engaged in another technique taught by more than just the Jedi.
The strategic retreat.
Admittedly, there was nothing strategic about running as fast as he could through crowded, sand-covered streets, but Tobias liked to keep that adjective around if only because it made him feel better.
After quickly slipping through a large crowd of beings of all kinds that were browsing a market in the alley he’d run down, Tobias risked a quick glance behind him. Over the heads of the crowd, he could see movement. That meant nothing, as it was a city and people were always moving somewhere. But accompanied by annoyed growls, curses in languages that Tobias didn’t know, and cries of surprise, Tobias was fairly sure it was his three pursuers. It had been at least five minutes of running and dodging down alleys and somehow, he’d not lost them. Even the damned Gamorrean had managed to keep up.
Somehow, Tobias needed to lose them. His legs were starting to hurt, a fault of the smaller human body he currently occupied, and he had been out of breath for at least three streets. Only the help of the Force was keeping him going, and even that wouldn’t last much longer. Tobias just wasn’t good enough to keep up that kind of concentration for long. Not yet, at least.
Talking would do no good, as he could feel through the Force their anger. Fighting was not going to happen. Tobias was determined to avoid that no matter what, even if it was becoming more and more foolish as he tired himself out. Eventually they would catch up and he wouldn’t have the strength to even defend himself. Which meant he needed another option. And that meant he needed at least a few moments to stop running, catch his breath, and think.
Before he could even turn to look for another small alley between sand-coloured buildings, the Force alerted Tobias to a nearby danger in an odd screaming inside of his head. One thing Tobias had learned to do was truth that instinct, and not fight the immediate reaction his body was already taking the second it happened.
Mid-stride, Tobias dropped to the sand in a roll and a blaster bolt went directly over him. The roll ended and he was back on his feet in a quick motion that he’d pat himself on the back for later. As he had been getting back to his feet, however, he’d caught a glance behind him. The bulky, three-eyed Gran had broken through a crowd and fired an ancient-looking blaster. It looked like the Gamorrean and the Weequay were also about to fire blasters of their own, but before that could be confirmed Tobias was up and running again.
Again, he was given no chance to think. This time, however, the Force did not warn him of any danger. Instead, his head just tilted up at the right angle at the right moment so that the right thought crossed his mind. Tobias’ eyes locked onto one thing, and without questioning it, trusting entirely in the Force in a moment of amazing clarity he drew the Force to him and with that, jumped.
Tobias leapt into the sky and landed surprisingly gracefully on the rooftop of the house he’d looked at. This time, he heard blasters firing, but they were going to miss again. This was not because of the warning of the Force, but because Tobias was already using the terrain of the rooftop to his advantage. Unlike many of the other buildings, the one he’d just happened to look up at had a waist-high, solid wall, presumably to prevent one from falling over and into the street. It also made a perfect shield for Tobias to drop down below.
And he had it. The few moments of relief he needed. There was a door to the roof about five meters in front of him, with a few decorations that confirmed it was just a house with a unique design, but thankfully that door looked to be the only way up. That meant his pursuers had to get to the building, get in, and then find the way up. It wouldn’t take long, but Tobias hoped he wouldn’t need more time.
Think.
Can’t run aimlessly. Won’t fight them. Can’t talk them down.
Then run.
Already nixed that.
“No,” for some reason, it felt better to have half of the argument out loud, “Need a direction to run in.”
Where?
“I don’t know!” Tobias yelled at himself a moment before hearing the door below him break down, “Stop! Focus on this! Come on!”
Well...we do know one thing in Bestine.
“...we? But yeah...Master Ral. Find him. He can help!”
Ignoring the slightly disturbing conversation with himself, Tobias took a series of short, deep breaths just like he’d been taught to. With each inhale, his eyes closed and he let the intake of air focus his vision on ‘seeing’ the Force around him. With each exhale, Tobias opened his eyes and tried to hold that focus so it made sense when in the context of the rather large city around him.
In...dark, empty world with bright spots of the Force that weren’t really any colour that could be described. So many living things everywhere...
Out...bright light of two suns scorching the planet and wiping the Force vision from his eyes with their intensity.
In...dark, but with some of the patches of brightest growing...
Out...blinding light...
In...outlines of buildings etched inside his eyelids, dotted by the not-really-visions of beings in the Force, and one especially strong one not far off...
Out...so much light but...
There!
Somehow, beneath the blinding light of the suns above and its reflections on the tan buildings all around, Tobias could see, actually see, that bright point of not-light that he’d felt with his eyes closed. He could see it through the buildings themselves. He could see it!
Two streets down, directly in front of him.
Just as he got to his feet, the door in front of him burst open. The large, green Gamorrean practically fell through it, and his Gran companion quickly pushed through, aiming his blaster straight at Tobias.
Again, Tobias jumped. This time, though, as the Force managed to flow through him with so little effort on his part, he flipped backward, landing on his feet in the sand below right in the center of an already surprised crowd. Without missing a beat, he pushed past a confused Duros and an older Twi’lek and ran down the alley next to the building he’d just been on top of.
Blaster bolts followed him, angling down from the roof above but striking the building next to him as he darted past with a newfound strength in his legs. A series of loud thuds followed the blaster bolts, and Tobias didn’t bother to turn around. He knew what they were. The three had jumped down, which probably wasn’t smart without the aid of the Force or a jetpack to ease the landing.
But just as Tobias exited the alley into the next street over, more blaster bolts followed. They were poorly aimed, most streaking overhead and hitting nothing. But one went right past his left side and struck a passing landspeeder. The pilot panicked and swerved right into Tobias, who attempted to leap over the nose that came at him but did so a half second too late. The landspeeder caught Tobias’ right leg hard on the knee, sending him face first into the front end of the speeder before momentum sent him rolling off into the sand. Intense pain shot up his leg, so much so that Tobias couldn’t find the strength to remorph the definitely-broken bone.
By the time he’d come to a stop and was trying to deal with the pain and, at the same time, get up and keep running towards Master Ral, several of the people in the street were heading over to help him, as was the pilot of the landspeeder. The human who got out of the speeder was greeted with another blaster bolt to his vehicle, and the man panicked again but intelligently dropped to the ground instead of taking out another pedestrian.
“Ha! Look at that! He dropped his lightsaber! Was a Jedi after all!” the scratchy, annoying sounding voice of the Weequay managed to cut through the din of everything else.
Tobias rolled over onto his back, cursing his lack of skill when it came to both the Force and morphing, and immediately saw that he had, in fact, dropped his lightsaber. The impact must have dislodged it from its place hidden beneath his jacket, as the hilt of the weapon was several meters off to the side. But, more importantly, the Gran, Gamorrean, and Weequay were nearly on top of him, now casually walking with blasters aimed and devilish smiles on their faces.
In the time it took them to walk slowly over to him, obviously trying to be threatening and scare him into giving up so they could just shoot him, Tobias managed to find the strength to remorph his injured leg. But it took him until they were right on top of him, and Tobias suddenly realized he was stuck in a situation where he’d have to fight.
No.
There had to be another way.
He was supposed to be a Jedi, dammit! He could find another way!
...well, with time...time that he didn’t have...
“One Jedi lots of credits!” the Grain laughed.
The Weequay nodded his wrinkled face, “And there another somewhere!”
When the Gamorrean grunted a response, he pointed his large blaster rifle right down at Tobias’ face.
Suddenly, the rifle was ripped out of the Gamorrean’s hand, flying off to the side and slamming into a nearby building. All four of them looked around in surprise, and a robed figure dropped into view. There was a blur of movement around Tobias, with the Gamorrean flying a few meters away before hitting the ground hard. A second later, the blur stopped to form a distinctly humanoid shape within the robe and a wooden staff whipped around and took the Gran’s legs out from under him at the same time that the Weequay inexplicably was thrown into his companion. The two of their skulls hit hard and both dropped to the sand unconscious.
Tobias lay there, looking up in shock before mumbling to the back of the robed figure, “You’re not Master Ral...”
“And you’re quite perceptive,” a very feminine voice responded. The figured spun around and Tobias found he could see very little of the identity of this person who was obviously quite strong in the Force. She was about his height, if he’d been standing that is, the robe covered whatever she wore under entirely and all of her face except for her mouth, which was currently in the shape of a smirk, “You’re welcome, by the way.”
Tobias finally got onto his feet, dusting the sand off him as best as possible and started to ask the obvious question pertaining to this odd person’s identity. But he didn’t have a chance to speak. Right as Tobias opened his mouth, a series of loud sounds from the distance grew behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw a large pack of Swoop bikes heading right for him.
“Introductions later,” the robed woman said simply. She removed one of her hands from the staff she carried and extended it off behind her. Tobias’ lightsaber flew right into her grip and she then tossed it to him, “Just follow me, okay?”
Though he caught the lightsaber hilt out of instinct, Tobias was still too confused to answer. The situation had changed too fast for him and he was trying to catch up. And apparently this mysterious woman was not going to wait. In a flash, she made a Force-aided jump onto a nearby building, stopped and looked down at him again. That smirk, still visible beneath her hood, she called down to Tobias, “Come on, Jedi boy! Keep up!”
Then she disappeared, turning in a flourish of the robe and darting off out of sight.
Jedi boy?!
“Hey! Wait!” was the best Tobias could come up with as he jumped up after her.
In the immortal words of Bender: "We're back, baby!"
Jedi Knights were taught a great many techniques in resolving conflicts. While it looked as if most of this was combat training in the form of lightsaber technique, most of the training was actually in avoiding combat all together. The majority of the training is spent on Force calming techniques, proper negotiation and diplomacy, and most importantly, restraint. It is the last of which that focuses on when not to draw one’s lightsaber, and that is also one of the hardest things for most apprentices to grasp. A Jedi had to master many conflicting ideals, and that was one of the most fundamental.
More times than he could count, Tobias BlueIce had failed to realize when he was in such a situation. But finally, working on his own in Bestine, Tobias had resisted the urge to deal with a difficult situation by drawing his lightsaber. But sadly, just doing that was not enough. Though he had almost managed to defuse an angry trio bent on violence for what seemed like no true reason, almost wasn’t good enough.
Which meant that he was currently engaged in another technique taught by more than just the Jedi.
The strategic retreat.
Admittedly, there was nothing strategic about running as fast as he could through crowded, sand-covered streets, but Tobias liked to keep that adjective around if only because it made him feel better.
After quickly slipping through a large crowd of beings of all kinds that were browsing a market in the alley he’d run down, Tobias risked a quick glance behind him. Over the heads of the crowd, he could see movement. That meant nothing, as it was a city and people were always moving somewhere. But accompanied by annoyed growls, curses in languages that Tobias didn’t know, and cries of surprise, Tobias was fairly sure it was his three pursuers. It had been at least five minutes of running and dodging down alleys and somehow, he’d not lost them. Even the damned Gamorrean had managed to keep up.
Somehow, Tobias needed to lose them. His legs were starting to hurt, a fault of the smaller human body he currently occupied, and he had been out of breath for at least three streets. Only the help of the Force was keeping him going, and even that wouldn’t last much longer. Tobias just wasn’t good enough to keep up that kind of concentration for long. Not yet, at least.
Talking would do no good, as he could feel through the Force their anger. Fighting was not going to happen. Tobias was determined to avoid that no matter what, even if it was becoming more and more foolish as he tired himself out. Eventually they would catch up and he wouldn’t have the strength to even defend himself. Which meant he needed another option. And that meant he needed at least a few moments to stop running, catch his breath, and think.
Before he could even turn to look for another small alley between sand-coloured buildings, the Force alerted Tobias to a nearby danger in an odd screaming inside of his head. One thing Tobias had learned to do was truth that instinct, and not fight the immediate reaction his body was already taking the second it happened.
Mid-stride, Tobias dropped to the sand in a roll and a blaster bolt went directly over him. The roll ended and he was back on his feet in a quick motion that he’d pat himself on the back for later. As he had been getting back to his feet, however, he’d caught a glance behind him. The bulky, three-eyed Gran had broken through a crowd and fired an ancient-looking blaster. It looked like the Gamorrean and the Weequay were also about to fire blasters of their own, but before that could be confirmed Tobias was up and running again.
Again, he was given no chance to think. This time, however, the Force did not warn him of any danger. Instead, his head just tilted up at the right angle at the right moment so that the right thought crossed his mind. Tobias’ eyes locked onto one thing, and without questioning it, trusting entirely in the Force in a moment of amazing clarity he drew the Force to him and with that, jumped.
Tobias leapt into the sky and landed surprisingly gracefully on the rooftop of the house he’d looked at. This time, he heard blasters firing, but they were going to miss again. This was not because of the warning of the Force, but because Tobias was already using the terrain of the rooftop to his advantage. Unlike many of the other buildings, the one he’d just happened to look up at had a waist-high, solid wall, presumably to prevent one from falling over and into the street. It also made a perfect shield for Tobias to drop down below.
And he had it. The few moments of relief he needed. There was a door to the roof about five meters in front of him, with a few decorations that confirmed it was just a house with a unique design, but thankfully that door looked to be the only way up. That meant his pursuers had to get to the building, get in, and then find the way up. It wouldn’t take long, but Tobias hoped he wouldn’t need more time.
Think.
Can’t run aimlessly. Won’t fight them. Can’t talk them down.
Then run.
Already nixed that.
“No,” for some reason, it felt better to have half of the argument out loud, “Need a direction to run in.”
Where?
“I don’t know!” Tobias yelled at himself a moment before hearing the door below him break down, “Stop! Focus on this! Come on!”
Well...we do know one thing in Bestine.
“...we? But yeah...Master Ral. Find him. He can help!”
Ignoring the slightly disturbing conversation with himself, Tobias took a series of short, deep breaths just like he’d been taught to. With each inhale, his eyes closed and he let the intake of air focus his vision on ‘seeing’ the Force around him. With each exhale, Tobias opened his eyes and tried to hold that focus so it made sense when in the context of the rather large city around him.
In...dark, empty world with bright spots of the Force that weren’t really any colour that could be described. So many living things everywhere...
Out...bright light of two suns scorching the planet and wiping the Force vision from his eyes with their intensity.
In...dark, but with some of the patches of brightest growing...
Out...blinding light...
In...outlines of buildings etched inside his eyelids, dotted by the not-really-visions of beings in the Force, and one especially strong one not far off...
Out...so much light but...
There!
Somehow, beneath the blinding light of the suns above and its reflections on the tan buildings all around, Tobias could see, actually see, that bright point of not-light that he’d felt with his eyes closed. He could see it through the buildings themselves. He could see it!
Two streets down, directly in front of him.
Just as he got to his feet, the door in front of him burst open. The large, green Gamorrean practically fell through it, and his Gran companion quickly pushed through, aiming his blaster straight at Tobias.
Again, Tobias jumped. This time, though, as the Force managed to flow through him with so little effort on his part, he flipped backward, landing on his feet in the sand below right in the center of an already surprised crowd. Without missing a beat, he pushed past a confused Duros and an older Twi’lek and ran down the alley next to the building he’d just been on top of.
Blaster bolts followed him, angling down from the roof above but striking the building next to him as he darted past with a newfound strength in his legs. A series of loud thuds followed the blaster bolts, and Tobias didn’t bother to turn around. He knew what they were. The three had jumped down, which probably wasn’t smart without the aid of the Force or a jetpack to ease the landing.
But just as Tobias exited the alley into the next street over, more blaster bolts followed. They were poorly aimed, most streaking overhead and hitting nothing. But one went right past his left side and struck a passing landspeeder. The pilot panicked and swerved right into Tobias, who attempted to leap over the nose that came at him but did so a half second too late. The landspeeder caught Tobias’ right leg hard on the knee, sending him face first into the front end of the speeder before momentum sent him rolling off into the sand. Intense pain shot up his leg, so much so that Tobias couldn’t find the strength to remorph the definitely-broken bone.
By the time he’d come to a stop and was trying to deal with the pain and, at the same time, get up and keep running towards Master Ral, several of the people in the street were heading over to help him, as was the pilot of the landspeeder. The human who got out of the speeder was greeted with another blaster bolt to his vehicle, and the man panicked again but intelligently dropped to the ground instead of taking out another pedestrian.
“Ha! Look at that! He dropped his lightsaber! Was a Jedi after all!” the scratchy, annoying sounding voice of the Weequay managed to cut through the din of everything else.
Tobias rolled over onto his back, cursing his lack of skill when it came to both the Force and morphing, and immediately saw that he had, in fact, dropped his lightsaber. The impact must have dislodged it from its place hidden beneath his jacket, as the hilt of the weapon was several meters off to the side. But, more importantly, the Gran, Gamorrean, and Weequay were nearly on top of him, now casually walking with blasters aimed and devilish smiles on their faces.
In the time it took them to walk slowly over to him, obviously trying to be threatening and scare him into giving up so they could just shoot him, Tobias managed to find the strength to remorph his injured leg. But it took him until they were right on top of him, and Tobias suddenly realized he was stuck in a situation where he’d have to fight.
No.
There had to be another way.
He was supposed to be a Jedi, dammit! He could find another way!
...well, with time...time that he didn’t have...
“One Jedi lots of credits!” the Grain laughed.
The Weequay nodded his wrinkled face, “And there another somewhere!”
When the Gamorrean grunted a response, he pointed his large blaster rifle right down at Tobias’ face.
Suddenly, the rifle was ripped out of the Gamorrean’s hand, flying off to the side and slamming into a nearby building. All four of them looked around in surprise, and a robed figure dropped into view. There was a blur of movement around Tobias, with the Gamorrean flying a few meters away before hitting the ground hard. A second later, the blur stopped to form a distinctly humanoid shape within the robe and a wooden staff whipped around and took the Gran’s legs out from under him at the same time that the Weequay inexplicably was thrown into his companion. The two of their skulls hit hard and both dropped to the sand unconscious.
Tobias lay there, looking up in shock before mumbling to the back of the robed figure, “You’re not Master Ral...”
“And you’re quite perceptive,” a very feminine voice responded. The figured spun around and Tobias found he could see very little of the identity of this person who was obviously quite strong in the Force. She was about his height, if he’d been standing that is, the robe covered whatever she wore under entirely and all of her face except for her mouth, which was currently in the shape of a smirk, “You’re welcome, by the way.”
Tobias finally got onto his feet, dusting the sand off him as best as possible and started to ask the obvious question pertaining to this odd person’s identity. But he didn’t have a chance to speak. Right as Tobias opened his mouth, a series of loud sounds from the distance grew behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw a large pack of Swoop bikes heading right for him.
“Introductions later,” the robed woman said simply. She removed one of her hands from the staff she carried and extended it off behind her. Tobias’ lightsaber flew right into her grip and she then tossed it to him, “Just follow me, okay?”
Though he caught the lightsaber hilt out of instinct, Tobias was still too confused to answer. The situation had changed too fast for him and he was trying to catch up. And apparently this mysterious woman was not going to wait. In a flash, she made a Force-aided jump onto a nearby building, stopped and looked down at him again. That smirk, still visible beneath her hood, she called down to Tobias, “Come on, Jedi boy! Keep up!”
Then she disappeared, turning in a flourish of the robe and darting off out of sight.
Jedi boy?!
“Hey! Wait!” was the best Tobias could come up with as he jumped up after her.
In the immortal words of Bender: "We're back, baby!"
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Chapter 589: The Will of the Force
It seemed like at some point in every story Jyren ever told there was a rooftop chase. Usually, Jyren had used the tops of buildings as a last resort and was barely surviving whatever it was trying to kill him. And also, usually, he ended up worse for wear after the rooftops. And it always bothered Tobias, because it seemed like that strategy had never worked, yet Jyren continually attempted it as if, magically, it would.
Once already, Tobias had actually discovered the tactical use of escaping on the rooftop of a building. It put distance between him and three very dangerous beings and gave him the time he needed to think. That had made sense. The attackers had been on foot and had to use conventional means to reach him. In that case, it had been a good plan.
But now, not five minutes later, Tobias was back on the roofs of Bestine’s buildings and confronted with an entirely different situation.
“Did you forget swoop bikes are actually in the air?” he had to yell at the robed woman in front of him due to the distance between them, “You know what that means right? Not attached to the ground?”
The Force assisting her once again, the woman leapt up from one building to another that was three stories taller. After a graceful landing, she called down to Tobias, “If you don’t want my help, feel free to stand still and do this yourself!”
Tobias jumped over a small gap between two low-level homes and continued to run. Why was he even following her in the first place? For that matter, why was a swoop now after him?! Part of him wanted Master Ral to have been there to help, but the rest of him knew that the Jedi Master likely would have made Tobias fix the situation himself. At this point, Tobias figured he should probably follow this mysterious woman if only to find out who she actually was.
A few more strides and he was drawing the Force to him again. One more step and he let the Force propel him upwards, coming to a landing almost exactly where she had moments later. Upon landing on the roof now four stories into Bestine’s sky, Tobias had started to run again. But he came to a sudden stop when he saw that the woman was standing a few meters away, casually leaning on her staff with that same smirk visible beneath the hood of her robe.
She lifted the staff and motioned at him with the bottom of it, “I expect you don’t carry that around just to impress girls, yes?”
Realizing she was speaking of his lightsaber, which Tobias still carried in his left hand, he nodded, “Yeah, but I’ve been trying not to use it...”
“Noble, but a bit stupid,” oddly enough, her voice made it sound like she admired him...even if the words didn’t agree, “Swoop gangs are not so noble, Jedi boy. We have the advantage up here, as their swoop bikes can’t hold this altitude for long, but you will still need that weapon because they will be trying to kill you.”
“How do you know...” he trailed off, then decided to ask a more pertinent question, “Why are they trying to kill me?”
The robes she wore ruffled in what was probably a shrug, “They are normally very tightly nit groups. An attack on one of them is seen as an attack on all of them. And really, its quite obvious what they intend...you should be able to feel that in the Force all by yourself.”
Tobias could feel it. Anger. Very pointed anger coming right for him. He was only a few blocks away from where the three others had been left unconscious, but the swoops had been gaining the whole time and that was how he could tell. Well, that and the sound. The distinct roaring of badly-maintained repulsorlift engines slowly growing as the swoop bikes got closer and closer.
As the sounds grew louder and louder, Tobias did what he’d been taught and assessed his surroundings. The roof of whatever this building housed was quite large. In fact, where most of the roofs of the homes and businesses he’d traversed were covered in the same tan, hardened-sand-like material, this one was plated with durasteel and there were two lift tubes off to one end. The construction of the roof combined with the size, and the fact that there were no raised sections beyond the lift tubes, suggested that this was used as a private landing pad. It could likely hold a smaller transport, but nothing larger. But no cover, and the only real advantage was the height of the building, being one of the largest in Bestine, along with most of the government buildings and other official places nearby.
Then the swoops arrived. They shot up vertically, from behind Tobias before leveling off a shooting past just a few meters overhead. As Tobias dropped and rolled to avoid the lower moving ones, he counted six, all carrying very dirty and well-armed beings of various species. Coming out of the roll, Tobias was still one knee but activated his lightsaber just in time to bat away an incoming blaster bolt.
Across the roof, he could see the woman had been ready for the swoops. With a simple motion of her arm, the lead swoop went flying off course and hard to its left. Its pilot made an intelligent mood, recognizing the swoop was out of control far too high into the air, and dove off before the thing careened away from the roof and eventually began to drop wildly to the rest of the city below.
Tobias was unable to watch what happened next, as two of the swoops whipped around to charge at him, their pilots using the handlebar-shaped controls to steady blaster rifles that were already beginning to fire. Standing, Tobias deflected two more blaster bolts before jumping up and placing his boot directly into the face of the first of the pilots to reach him. Another swoop went off pilot-less and Tobias spun his lightsaber vertically just as he landed, barely in time to take off the back end of the second swoop bike. But this pilot was not able to ditch his bike in time, and the last Tobias saw of him was a screaming Twi’lek desperately trying to get control of a smoking swoop that went tumbling off the roof.
By the time Tobias turned to deal with the first of the gang members he’d taken down, he noticed that there were no more swoops in the air. But that was all he had time to see before the dirty, beared human kicked Tobias hard in the gut. Tobias stumbled back a few steps, trying to recover quickly from the blow before anything else happened. The human wasn’t bothering to get up off of his back, rather he’d drawn a small blaster pistol and was already squeezing the trigger, at least that’s what the Force was screaming at Tobias about.
Tobias raised the blue-green blade of his lightsaber up in front of his face just in time, and the blaster bolt struck the roof right next to the human...who didn’t seem at all disturbed by this. Instead, the man continued to fire, but Tobias dodged the shots to the left and then kicked the blaster pistol out of the human’s hands. Then Tobias was left with a decision: cut the man down and quickly end one of his problems, or find a way to get him unconscious without killing the man.
Obviously, the latter had to be done, but before he could figure out how to go about that, considering the man was removing a vibroblade from his belt, the human’s body was yanked away. Tobias watched as the man slid all the way across the rooftop until his slammed into the feet of a very large Rodian. As the Rodian slammed into the man, a staff came down and gave both of them a very strong hit to the skull.
And as Tobias stood there, watching the robed woman move her staff from her left hand to her right and then rest on it again, he realized that she was surrounded by two of the swoop bikes, down and smoking, and the rest of the gang members, all unmoving.
Idly, she leaned against the staff and smiled at him again, “See? Catch them off guard and they never know what to do.”
The thrumming of Tobias’ lightsaber ended as he deactivated the weapon, though he kept the hilt in hand, “Do I get to know who you are now?”
“Hmm...” she stood there a few moments before stepping over an unconscious Trandoshan and walking over to where Tobias stood, “Wouldn’t it be more fun if I smile at you mysteriously then jump off the building and disappear, only to return again exactly when you least expected it?”
“Not really, no,” Tobias shook his head.
Jyren would have been proud of him for that answer. It had been perfectly blunt and honest to the point of sarcasm. Of course, Marix probably would have given Tobias a good smack to the back of the head for it...
But the robed woman did neither, instead laughing and tilting her head in a simple nod, “Alright, fine. You win.”
Casually, she reached up and pulled the hood of her robe back off of her head. Some part of Tobias had actually expected to see a familiar face. Maybe an Alraxian he hadn’t seen in years or a Knight sent to shadow him or something appropriately dramatic. Instead, Tobias was presented with a face he did not at all recognize. The woman looked to be just a couple of years older than he looked to be as a human, with soft features and shoulder-length, auburn hair. But the thing immediately noticeable was the piece of cloth, almost the same colour as her hair, that was wrapped around her entire head, under much of her hair, and completely covered her eyes and most of her nose.
The distinct smirk he’d seen so much already returned to her face and she bowed her head politely, “Corinna Sohvi.”
“Tobias,” he paused, confused still, then realized he should add a bit more to that, “Erm...BlueIce.”
Corinna failed to hold back a laugh, “Dare I ask what brings a young Jedi to this dustball and then drives him to annoy the natives?”
Now Tobias understood what had been bothering him about her. She was Miraluka, like Tokarr had been. That wasn’t a problem at all, but since the species saw through the Force, there was a constant odd feeling around them that Tobias just wasn’t used to. She wasn’t as much looking at him as she was clearly seeing him in a way that wasn’t really easy to mask. It was uncomfortable to be so...exposed.
Especially when she did look quite nice...
Just as he thought it, Tobias saw the grin on Corinna’s face grow even more, though she said nothing. Not that she needed to. He went a deep shade of crimson and tried to remember what question she’d asked him, “Uh...I uh...”
Of course, when he did remember a problem came up that made him stutter even more than he already had begun to out of nervousness. So Tobias decided to ask a question of his own, “You’re not a Jedi, are you...?”
For the first time, Corinna’s smile faded to be replaced with a very terse look. Through the Force, Tobias could feel she was immediately concerned with the situation.
Her voice only further proved that, “Would that be a problem for you?”
Would it?
It could. Maybe. She had helped and didn’t feel at all dangerous...not like Tokarr had. In fact, through the Force, Corinna felt almost exactly like most Jedi did. Calm, controlled, and quite strong. There was no hint of darkness at all. So was it bad if she wasn’t a Jedi?
“I...don’t know?” was the best Tobias could manage. He didn’t notice that he had phrased it as a question rather than a vague statement of uncertainty.
Corinna, however, did notice the way he raised his voice at the end of the sentence, and that smile returned, “Good answer. Care to take a few steps back and satisfy my curiosity about you?”
Though he caught none of the subtlety in that, Tobias did manage to go a bit more red before opening and closing his mouth a few times. Eventually, he realized she was asking for an answer to her earlier question, and so he attempted again, “I was uh...my Master and I...Jedi have gone missing...”
“Are you always so eloquent?” Corinna tilted her head to rest against her staff. Somehow, the eyeless, Force-only stare was more unnerving than any look Marix had ever given him before in his entire life.
“Um...no?” Tobias nearly cursed when he realized he’d said that, shook his head and tried to ignore Corinna’s laugh before he tried yet again, “I was trying to uh...find out information and find out what happened to the uh...the uh...other...guy...Jedi, that went missing and those guys came after me and then you uh...yeah.”
After recovering from the laughter and returning to a wide-mouthed grin, Corinna nodded a few times as he spoke and eventually said, “My mother used to say that the Force has a way of putting us in the right place at the right moment to do the right thing and...meet the right person,” she let that hang in the air for an uncomfortably long time before continuing, “I believe the Force is working on that lesson for you today, Jedi boy, because I just might be able to help you find what you’re looking for.”
It seemed like at some point in every story Jyren ever told there was a rooftop chase. Usually, Jyren had used the tops of buildings as a last resort and was barely surviving whatever it was trying to kill him. And also, usually, he ended up worse for wear after the rooftops. And it always bothered Tobias, because it seemed like that strategy had never worked, yet Jyren continually attempted it as if, magically, it would.
Once already, Tobias had actually discovered the tactical use of escaping on the rooftop of a building. It put distance between him and three very dangerous beings and gave him the time he needed to think. That had made sense. The attackers had been on foot and had to use conventional means to reach him. In that case, it had been a good plan.
But now, not five minutes later, Tobias was back on the roofs of Bestine’s buildings and confronted with an entirely different situation.
“Did you forget swoop bikes are actually in the air?” he had to yell at the robed woman in front of him due to the distance between them, “You know what that means right? Not attached to the ground?”
The Force assisting her once again, the woman leapt up from one building to another that was three stories taller. After a graceful landing, she called down to Tobias, “If you don’t want my help, feel free to stand still and do this yourself!”
Tobias jumped over a small gap between two low-level homes and continued to run. Why was he even following her in the first place? For that matter, why was a swoop now after him?! Part of him wanted Master Ral to have been there to help, but the rest of him knew that the Jedi Master likely would have made Tobias fix the situation himself. At this point, Tobias figured he should probably follow this mysterious woman if only to find out who she actually was.
A few more strides and he was drawing the Force to him again. One more step and he let the Force propel him upwards, coming to a landing almost exactly where she had moments later. Upon landing on the roof now four stories into Bestine’s sky, Tobias had started to run again. But he came to a sudden stop when he saw that the woman was standing a few meters away, casually leaning on her staff with that same smirk visible beneath the hood of her robe.
She lifted the staff and motioned at him with the bottom of it, “I expect you don’t carry that around just to impress girls, yes?”
Realizing she was speaking of his lightsaber, which Tobias still carried in his left hand, he nodded, “Yeah, but I’ve been trying not to use it...”
“Noble, but a bit stupid,” oddly enough, her voice made it sound like she admired him...even if the words didn’t agree, “Swoop gangs are not so noble, Jedi boy. We have the advantage up here, as their swoop bikes can’t hold this altitude for long, but you will still need that weapon because they will be trying to kill you.”
“How do you know...” he trailed off, then decided to ask a more pertinent question, “Why are they trying to kill me?”
The robes she wore ruffled in what was probably a shrug, “They are normally very tightly nit groups. An attack on one of them is seen as an attack on all of them. And really, its quite obvious what they intend...you should be able to feel that in the Force all by yourself.”
Tobias could feel it. Anger. Very pointed anger coming right for him. He was only a few blocks away from where the three others had been left unconscious, but the swoops had been gaining the whole time and that was how he could tell. Well, that and the sound. The distinct roaring of badly-maintained repulsorlift engines slowly growing as the swoop bikes got closer and closer.
As the sounds grew louder and louder, Tobias did what he’d been taught and assessed his surroundings. The roof of whatever this building housed was quite large. In fact, where most of the roofs of the homes and businesses he’d traversed were covered in the same tan, hardened-sand-like material, this one was plated with durasteel and there were two lift tubes off to one end. The construction of the roof combined with the size, and the fact that there were no raised sections beyond the lift tubes, suggested that this was used as a private landing pad. It could likely hold a smaller transport, but nothing larger. But no cover, and the only real advantage was the height of the building, being one of the largest in Bestine, along with most of the government buildings and other official places nearby.
Then the swoops arrived. They shot up vertically, from behind Tobias before leveling off a shooting past just a few meters overhead. As Tobias dropped and rolled to avoid the lower moving ones, he counted six, all carrying very dirty and well-armed beings of various species. Coming out of the roll, Tobias was still one knee but activated his lightsaber just in time to bat away an incoming blaster bolt.
Across the roof, he could see the woman had been ready for the swoops. With a simple motion of her arm, the lead swoop went flying off course and hard to its left. Its pilot made an intelligent mood, recognizing the swoop was out of control far too high into the air, and dove off before the thing careened away from the roof and eventually began to drop wildly to the rest of the city below.
Tobias was unable to watch what happened next, as two of the swoops whipped around to charge at him, their pilots using the handlebar-shaped controls to steady blaster rifles that were already beginning to fire. Standing, Tobias deflected two more blaster bolts before jumping up and placing his boot directly into the face of the first of the pilots to reach him. Another swoop went off pilot-less and Tobias spun his lightsaber vertically just as he landed, barely in time to take off the back end of the second swoop bike. But this pilot was not able to ditch his bike in time, and the last Tobias saw of him was a screaming Twi’lek desperately trying to get control of a smoking swoop that went tumbling off the roof.
By the time Tobias turned to deal with the first of the gang members he’d taken down, he noticed that there were no more swoops in the air. But that was all he had time to see before the dirty, beared human kicked Tobias hard in the gut. Tobias stumbled back a few steps, trying to recover quickly from the blow before anything else happened. The human wasn’t bothering to get up off of his back, rather he’d drawn a small blaster pistol and was already squeezing the trigger, at least that’s what the Force was screaming at Tobias about.
Tobias raised the blue-green blade of his lightsaber up in front of his face just in time, and the blaster bolt struck the roof right next to the human...who didn’t seem at all disturbed by this. Instead, the man continued to fire, but Tobias dodged the shots to the left and then kicked the blaster pistol out of the human’s hands. Then Tobias was left with a decision: cut the man down and quickly end one of his problems, or find a way to get him unconscious without killing the man.
Obviously, the latter had to be done, but before he could figure out how to go about that, considering the man was removing a vibroblade from his belt, the human’s body was yanked away. Tobias watched as the man slid all the way across the rooftop until his slammed into the feet of a very large Rodian. As the Rodian slammed into the man, a staff came down and gave both of them a very strong hit to the skull.
And as Tobias stood there, watching the robed woman move her staff from her left hand to her right and then rest on it again, he realized that she was surrounded by two of the swoop bikes, down and smoking, and the rest of the gang members, all unmoving.
Idly, she leaned against the staff and smiled at him again, “See? Catch them off guard and they never know what to do.”
The thrumming of Tobias’ lightsaber ended as he deactivated the weapon, though he kept the hilt in hand, “Do I get to know who you are now?”
“Hmm...” she stood there a few moments before stepping over an unconscious Trandoshan and walking over to where Tobias stood, “Wouldn’t it be more fun if I smile at you mysteriously then jump off the building and disappear, only to return again exactly when you least expected it?”
“Not really, no,” Tobias shook his head.
Jyren would have been proud of him for that answer. It had been perfectly blunt and honest to the point of sarcasm. Of course, Marix probably would have given Tobias a good smack to the back of the head for it...
But the robed woman did neither, instead laughing and tilting her head in a simple nod, “Alright, fine. You win.”
Casually, she reached up and pulled the hood of her robe back off of her head. Some part of Tobias had actually expected to see a familiar face. Maybe an Alraxian he hadn’t seen in years or a Knight sent to shadow him or something appropriately dramatic. Instead, Tobias was presented with a face he did not at all recognize. The woman looked to be just a couple of years older than he looked to be as a human, with soft features and shoulder-length, auburn hair. But the thing immediately noticeable was the piece of cloth, almost the same colour as her hair, that was wrapped around her entire head, under much of her hair, and completely covered her eyes and most of her nose.
The distinct smirk he’d seen so much already returned to her face and she bowed her head politely, “Corinna Sohvi.”
“Tobias,” he paused, confused still, then realized he should add a bit more to that, “Erm...BlueIce.”
Corinna failed to hold back a laugh, “Dare I ask what brings a young Jedi to this dustball and then drives him to annoy the natives?”
Now Tobias understood what had been bothering him about her. She was Miraluka, like Tokarr had been. That wasn’t a problem at all, but since the species saw through the Force, there was a constant odd feeling around them that Tobias just wasn’t used to. She wasn’t as much looking at him as she was clearly seeing him in a way that wasn’t really easy to mask. It was uncomfortable to be so...exposed.
Especially when she did look quite nice...
Just as he thought it, Tobias saw the grin on Corinna’s face grow even more, though she said nothing. Not that she needed to. He went a deep shade of crimson and tried to remember what question she’d asked him, “Uh...I uh...”
Of course, when he did remember a problem came up that made him stutter even more than he already had begun to out of nervousness. So Tobias decided to ask a question of his own, “You’re not a Jedi, are you...?”
For the first time, Corinna’s smile faded to be replaced with a very terse look. Through the Force, Tobias could feel she was immediately concerned with the situation.
Her voice only further proved that, “Would that be a problem for you?”
Would it?
It could. Maybe. She had helped and didn’t feel at all dangerous...not like Tokarr had. In fact, through the Force, Corinna felt almost exactly like most Jedi did. Calm, controlled, and quite strong. There was no hint of darkness at all. So was it bad if she wasn’t a Jedi?
“I...don’t know?” was the best Tobias could manage. He didn’t notice that he had phrased it as a question rather than a vague statement of uncertainty.
Corinna, however, did notice the way he raised his voice at the end of the sentence, and that smile returned, “Good answer. Care to take a few steps back and satisfy my curiosity about you?”
Though he caught none of the subtlety in that, Tobias did manage to go a bit more red before opening and closing his mouth a few times. Eventually, he realized she was asking for an answer to her earlier question, and so he attempted again, “I was uh...my Master and I...Jedi have gone missing...”
“Are you always so eloquent?” Corinna tilted her head to rest against her staff. Somehow, the eyeless, Force-only stare was more unnerving than any look Marix had ever given him before in his entire life.
“Um...no?” Tobias nearly cursed when he realized he’d said that, shook his head and tried to ignore Corinna’s laugh before he tried yet again, “I was trying to uh...find out information and find out what happened to the uh...the uh...other...guy...Jedi, that went missing and those guys came after me and then you uh...yeah.”
After recovering from the laughter and returning to a wide-mouthed grin, Corinna nodded a few times as he spoke and eventually said, “My mother used to say that the Force has a way of putting us in the right place at the right moment to do the right thing and...meet the right person,” she let that hang in the air for an uncomfortably long time before continuing, “I believe the Force is working on that lesson for you today, Jedi boy, because I just might be able to help you find what you’re looking for.”
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Chapter 590: Hunt
As she worked her way through the thick, nearly-impossible-to-traverse jungle of Myrkr, Marix decided that she truly liked the planet. Even putting aside its similarities to Alraxia, there were other things about it that made her feel so very alive. When she reached out with the Force, there were pockets of nothing. They weren’t Vong, because they were too large. No, those were some of the local yslamiri, blocking the Force around them and making it impossible to sense anything around them. And on the opposite end of the spectrum, Marix could sense the strong, focused predators around her that used the Force to hunt...and were very carefully following her just out of sight for the right moment to strike. The way the Force was manipulated by the natural life meant that Marix was instead relying on her other senses, especially sounds and smells, to detect things around her.
It was not something that most worlds offered, and something she truly wished she could experience more often. It kept her sharp. That was likely why the predators still kept their distance. Through the Force, she was radiating the same things they were, and she was indeed hunting.
Over an hour had passed since she had left Hermes to find the lost Knight. Now, Marix was finding the forest was thinning and knew she was close to reaching the point where the Knight’s last transmission had originated from. Though she did not expect to find a single thing there to tell what had happened to the Knight, Marix did expect it to point her in the right direction next. The one kink in the entire plan was that something Marix didn’t let get far from her mind. At some point, the Knight had disappeared entirely, probably due to the Vong. That meant Marix had to be ready at all times for the Vong to be right behind the next tree, lest she suffer a similar fate.
Ducking under a low branch, Marix noticed something odd about the section of the jungle immediately around her. It wasn’t so much a tangled mess. Sure, there were a few vines here and there and some of the branches got in the way, but it looked a bit cleared...in fact, the ground wasn’t covered in underbrush like the rest of the jungle.
It was a camp. Or had been. There was no other physical hints of evidence towards that conclusion, but Marix could feel it in the Force. She knelt down near the center of the area and gently traced a few lines in the dirt. Yes, she could feel a presence in the Force that had occupied the area not long ago. It had to be the Knight. There were no signs of glowrods or any other kinds of technology that most in the galaxy would use, and always left at least some trace of behind. But here nothing but a fading feeling in the Force.
Looking up, Marix scanned the area around her. She had come from the west, which was still behind her, and it all looked exactly as the east, in front of her, and the south, to her left, looked: covered in jungle. But the north was where the clearing seemed to begin. The thick jungle gained in light as the trees separated before, probably, opening up into the foothills of the mountains that she had seen before Hermes had set down in another part of the jungle. Any path in the Force that the Knight had taken was too faint to detect, but Marix’s instincts told her to go to the north.
So, after being sure there was nothing to be found where she was, Marix headed north. In only a few minutes, the jungle was disappearing entirely, fading into rolling grasslands and, eventually, the large, rocky mountains in the distance. There was a distinct lack of settlements in the area, which bothered Marix as she knew this planet used to be home to many smugglers and other unsavoury types. Sure, the Vong had it now, but there should at least have been some evidence of the previous inhabitants. But despite the emptiness of the area, she wasn’t about to just walk out in the open.
Instead, Marix stayed just inside the treeline, walking along the edge of the jungle and carefully looking for something, anything, that pulled at her. Another hour passed as she hunted nothing at all, and she reached a section of the grasslands that dropped off sharply into a valley. The treeline stopped and did not continue on the other end of the canyon, which looked to be nearly a hundred meters wide and several kilometers in length. Carefully, she headed to the edge and looked over.
Marix’s eyes showed her what the Force could not: a Yuuzhan Vong facility.
The buildings looked like coral mixed with stretchy, odd membranes spread across most of the bottom of the canyon. It was surprisingly large, and very well positioned to stay hidden. Though why the Vong would hide something on their own world was beyond her, she rationalized it as some kind of protection just in case. Sadly, the Force still told her nothing about whether she had found the Knight’s trail or not. But where the Force failed her, Marix’s gut told her she was going the right way. So the next step was to get down there undetected, slip in and investigate as much of it as possible before she was noticed.
The part about being noticed was not an if. Marix knew how her life worked. There was no way she would get down there and not be discovered, no matter what she did. Instead, it was best to get as far as she could undetected while being absolutely ready to deal with the problems that would come up.
It meant that she needed to plan both an entrance and an exit strategy. The latter would be absolutely necessary ahead of time with a Vong base of that size. There would be too many of them to just wing it and hope. So Marix took the time to memorize the layout from above, then even more time to carefully scan all sides of the canyon for sections that would assist in both insertion and escape. After she was sure she knew the area, which was yet another hour later, Marix retreated back into the safety of the deeper parts of the jungle and sat against a tree, planning.
All the while, keeping her eyes, ears, nose, and Force-senses aware of everything around her. Most of the predators had left, getting bored as she gave them no opening to strike safely, but at least one was still there, far enough away that she could only faintly sense it in the Force, but definitely there and waiting. It was as patient as she was, and Marix was not about to let her guard down, even while planning out how to get into the Vong base.
As she worked her way through the thick, nearly-impossible-to-traverse jungle of Myrkr, Marix decided that she truly liked the planet. Even putting aside its similarities to Alraxia, there were other things about it that made her feel so very alive. When she reached out with the Force, there were pockets of nothing. They weren’t Vong, because they were too large. No, those were some of the local yslamiri, blocking the Force around them and making it impossible to sense anything around them. And on the opposite end of the spectrum, Marix could sense the strong, focused predators around her that used the Force to hunt...and were very carefully following her just out of sight for the right moment to strike. The way the Force was manipulated by the natural life meant that Marix was instead relying on her other senses, especially sounds and smells, to detect things around her.
It was not something that most worlds offered, and something she truly wished she could experience more often. It kept her sharp. That was likely why the predators still kept their distance. Through the Force, she was radiating the same things they were, and she was indeed hunting.
Over an hour had passed since she had left Hermes to find the lost Knight. Now, Marix was finding the forest was thinning and knew she was close to reaching the point where the Knight’s last transmission had originated from. Though she did not expect to find a single thing there to tell what had happened to the Knight, Marix did expect it to point her in the right direction next. The one kink in the entire plan was that something Marix didn’t let get far from her mind. At some point, the Knight had disappeared entirely, probably due to the Vong. That meant Marix had to be ready at all times for the Vong to be right behind the next tree, lest she suffer a similar fate.
Ducking under a low branch, Marix noticed something odd about the section of the jungle immediately around her. It wasn’t so much a tangled mess. Sure, there were a few vines here and there and some of the branches got in the way, but it looked a bit cleared...in fact, the ground wasn’t covered in underbrush like the rest of the jungle.
It was a camp. Or had been. There was no other physical hints of evidence towards that conclusion, but Marix could feel it in the Force. She knelt down near the center of the area and gently traced a few lines in the dirt. Yes, she could feel a presence in the Force that had occupied the area not long ago. It had to be the Knight. There were no signs of glowrods or any other kinds of technology that most in the galaxy would use, and always left at least some trace of behind. But here nothing but a fading feeling in the Force.
Looking up, Marix scanned the area around her. She had come from the west, which was still behind her, and it all looked exactly as the east, in front of her, and the south, to her left, looked: covered in jungle. But the north was where the clearing seemed to begin. The thick jungle gained in light as the trees separated before, probably, opening up into the foothills of the mountains that she had seen before Hermes had set down in another part of the jungle. Any path in the Force that the Knight had taken was too faint to detect, but Marix’s instincts told her to go to the north.
So, after being sure there was nothing to be found where she was, Marix headed north. In only a few minutes, the jungle was disappearing entirely, fading into rolling grasslands and, eventually, the large, rocky mountains in the distance. There was a distinct lack of settlements in the area, which bothered Marix as she knew this planet used to be home to many smugglers and other unsavoury types. Sure, the Vong had it now, but there should at least have been some evidence of the previous inhabitants. But despite the emptiness of the area, she wasn’t about to just walk out in the open.
Instead, Marix stayed just inside the treeline, walking along the edge of the jungle and carefully looking for something, anything, that pulled at her. Another hour passed as she hunted nothing at all, and she reached a section of the grasslands that dropped off sharply into a valley. The treeline stopped and did not continue on the other end of the canyon, which looked to be nearly a hundred meters wide and several kilometers in length. Carefully, she headed to the edge and looked over.
Marix’s eyes showed her what the Force could not: a Yuuzhan Vong facility.
The buildings looked like coral mixed with stretchy, odd membranes spread across most of the bottom of the canyon. It was surprisingly large, and very well positioned to stay hidden. Though why the Vong would hide something on their own world was beyond her, she rationalized it as some kind of protection just in case. Sadly, the Force still told her nothing about whether she had found the Knight’s trail or not. But where the Force failed her, Marix’s gut told her she was going the right way. So the next step was to get down there undetected, slip in and investigate as much of it as possible before she was noticed.
The part about being noticed was not an if. Marix knew how her life worked. There was no way she would get down there and not be discovered, no matter what she did. Instead, it was best to get as far as she could undetected while being absolutely ready to deal with the problems that would come up.
It meant that she needed to plan both an entrance and an exit strategy. The latter would be absolutely necessary ahead of time with a Vong base of that size. There would be too many of them to just wing it and hope. So Marix took the time to memorize the layout from above, then even more time to carefully scan all sides of the canyon for sections that would assist in both insertion and escape. After she was sure she knew the area, which was yet another hour later, Marix retreated back into the safety of the deeper parts of the jungle and sat against a tree, planning.
All the while, keeping her eyes, ears, nose, and Force-senses aware of everything around her. Most of the predators had left, getting bored as she gave them no opening to strike safely, but at least one was still there, far enough away that she could only faintly sense it in the Force, but definitely there and waiting. It was as patient as she was, and Marix was not about to let her guard down, even while planning out how to get into the Vong base.
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Chapter 591: The View
“There is something on this planet that should not be here. I can’t see it, but I know it is here somewhere. It is likely the source of your reason for coming here, and I expect you can feel it, too. Its not something you can grasp in the Force, but its there, just on the edge of your senses and it has been since you arrived, hasn’t it?”
Nodding, Tobias looked across Bestine below. It had been roughly a half hour since he and Corinna had dealt with the swoop gang, but they hadn’t yet left the roof of the large building. There had been some local security that showed up, which were essentially a bunch of Hutt lackeys, but seeing the mess, they were intelligent enough to not attempt to start a fight. Instead, they not-so-politely thanked Tobias and Corinna for dealing with the swoop gang that had been a problem lately, then dragged off the bodies.
It was a bit odd, really. Decades ago, Bestine had been the Imperial capital of the planet. There were still signs of it. The large building they currently sat on top of, legs dangling off the edge, and a couple clearly Imperial-designed administrative buildings in the immediate area. Everything else in the city were rounded buildings of that odd, sand-coloured material. Though the desert could be seen in the distance, the city itself was surprisingly large, bigger than the Palace on Alraxia.
And somewhere down there was Master Ral.
Tobias knew he should probably go find his Master, but...
“What do you think it is?” he eventually asked Corinna, glancing to her but keeping more of his focus on not falling off the building and the rather interesting view.
“I have no idea,” she shrugged and leaned back to look up at the slightly darker sky. One of the two suns had set a few minutes earlier, “I would have left this dustball days ago if not for whatever it is, though. I did find a body a few days back, though. Or at least, what was left of one. I saw it distantly and knew it was a Force-user then I felt danger so I went after the source. But, all that was there when I arrived was an arm, a trouser leg, and a few other unidentifiable bits. The entire area was heavy with pain and violence and I couldn’t stay around for very long...but it was likely one of those Jedi you’re after.”
“Where uh...where was that?”
Leaning forward, Corinna sat there patiently a moment and Tobias could feel her already odd presence in the Force extending outwards much more deliberately. Her right arm then extended in front of Tobias and pointed, “A half kilometer down that street and then it was down a backstreet near an old landspeeder repair shop.”
Tobias blinked before turning and following where she was pointing. He just saw the tops of buildings, “Um...that’s very accurate.”
When he looked back to her, Corinna was grinning again, “Not bad for a girl with no eyes, eh?” but quickly after that the smile faded into a curious look and Tobias felt her Force senses focus onto him again, “Speaking of which, you’re reacting quite well to that. Most humans freak out and most Jedi...well, most Jedi don’t approve of non-Jedi using the Force even if we can’t help it.”
“I actually uh...you’re not the first Miraluka I’ve met,” Tobias had no idea why he was being cautious about that, “My Master and I...my Master’s first apprentice he started killing people and we had to stop him.”
“That explains the first but doesn’t explain why you don’t think I’m on the edge of darkness and pure evil.”
Tobias was surprised by how touchy the Jedi situation was with her. He hadn’t ever considered how non-Jedi Force-users were treated by the Jedi, which was ironic of course. But he decided to just answer it as best he could manage, “I’m actually the first one of my family to be a Jedi since my grandmother but even that’s...complicated. But my mother even is...well, she isn’t exactly a fan of me doing this, if that makes sense.”
The smile returned to Corinna’s face, “It explains enough. Actually, my father was never too happy I didn’t run off to become a Jedi. He used to always tell me stories of my ancestors who were apparently great Jedi Knights for the Old Republic...but those stories never ended well.”
“So what are you doing on this planet, anyway?” Tobias asked the question rather suddenly, and immediately wondered why.
Corinna shrugged, “Was just passing through originally. One transport to another. But ah, how plans change.”
An awkward silence fell upon the roof. Tobias couldn’t help but be proud of himself for his ability to completely destroy any normal conversation without having to try.
“Come on, just do it,” Corinna said quietly, nudging him with an elbow.
Raising an eyebrow, he turned to look at her to find no help at all, “Do what?”
Though a Miraluka had no eyes to roll, and even if she had them, currently they would have been hidden beneath that cloth around her face, Tobias got the distinct feeling that she was doing exactly that. It was amazing what the Force could be used to portray, especially for a species that used it so naturally, “You’re amazingly oblivious, did you know that? Its quite cute, actually.”
Tobias’ face glazed over in a mix of confusion, shock, and embarrassment. Though she couldn’t see it, Tobias knew she could do better than that and clearly feel it in the Force as well as use that to ‘see’ the way he was trying not to squirm or accidently fall off the roof.
And somehow, Corinna seemed to be enjoying the effect. But eventually she nudged him again, “Quit panicking and just ask. Its not hard. Just a few simple words and you already know the answer, you just have to ask it.”
“Ask...what?” it was the best he could manage because he sure as hell didn’t know what she was demanding he ask. Well, no, he had a few ideas, but none of them were going to escape the realm of deep, suppressed thoughts and the more rational ones never got to his conscious mind. There was just too much of a haze of confusion in his mind for the moment.
“Alright, fine. I’ll walk you through this,” Corinna sighed dramatically and shook her head, “Even though I’ve just given you the exact location of what you’re looking for and I don’t actually have much more direct information beyond theories that are based entirely outside of facts, you want me to help you. But we just met less than a standard hour ago and you barely know me so your hesitation is understandable. Not only that, but you do have to get back to your Master and you’ll have to explain this little mess. So you’re nervous...for more reasons than one and those ones you’re trying not to think about are nothing to be embarrassed about by the way. But even though you are, it shouldn’t stop you from simply asking me to come with you and help. So, what you need to do is close your eyes, breathe, that’s important, and then ask. Okay?”
With a blank expression on his face, Tobias somehow managed a nod. But as he stared at her, it became obvious that he really was going to have to ask. She was just sitting there, right next to him and staring at him with the Force, waiting. Expectant in such a way that was even more unnerving than the not-look she was giving him. Not to mention it was the first time he’d really ever been confronted with someone who looked...nice. Nice was what he was going to leave it at. But that just made it harder to focus.
What did she say?
Close your eyes...that wasn’t hard. In fact, the darkness that brought on somehow helped, even though he could still feel the gaze on him.
Next step...breathe. Well, he was already doing that. But keep it up. Definitely keep it up.
Right. Two down. Now the hard part.
“Will you uh...will...” Tobias stopped, took another breath, then tried again, “Will you come with me?”
The smile quickly returned to Corinna’s face and she nodded, “Of course. Now lets find your Master. Lead the way, Jedi boy.”
“There is something on this planet that should not be here. I can’t see it, but I know it is here somewhere. It is likely the source of your reason for coming here, and I expect you can feel it, too. Its not something you can grasp in the Force, but its there, just on the edge of your senses and it has been since you arrived, hasn’t it?”
Nodding, Tobias looked across Bestine below. It had been roughly a half hour since he and Corinna had dealt with the swoop gang, but they hadn’t yet left the roof of the large building. There had been some local security that showed up, which were essentially a bunch of Hutt lackeys, but seeing the mess, they were intelligent enough to not attempt to start a fight. Instead, they not-so-politely thanked Tobias and Corinna for dealing with the swoop gang that had been a problem lately, then dragged off the bodies.
It was a bit odd, really. Decades ago, Bestine had been the Imperial capital of the planet. There were still signs of it. The large building they currently sat on top of, legs dangling off the edge, and a couple clearly Imperial-designed administrative buildings in the immediate area. Everything else in the city were rounded buildings of that odd, sand-coloured material. Though the desert could be seen in the distance, the city itself was surprisingly large, bigger than the Palace on Alraxia.
And somewhere down there was Master Ral.
Tobias knew he should probably go find his Master, but...
“What do you think it is?” he eventually asked Corinna, glancing to her but keeping more of his focus on not falling off the building and the rather interesting view.
“I have no idea,” she shrugged and leaned back to look up at the slightly darker sky. One of the two suns had set a few minutes earlier, “I would have left this dustball days ago if not for whatever it is, though. I did find a body a few days back, though. Or at least, what was left of one. I saw it distantly and knew it was a Force-user then I felt danger so I went after the source. But, all that was there when I arrived was an arm, a trouser leg, and a few other unidentifiable bits. The entire area was heavy with pain and violence and I couldn’t stay around for very long...but it was likely one of those Jedi you’re after.”
“Where uh...where was that?”
Leaning forward, Corinna sat there patiently a moment and Tobias could feel her already odd presence in the Force extending outwards much more deliberately. Her right arm then extended in front of Tobias and pointed, “A half kilometer down that street and then it was down a backstreet near an old landspeeder repair shop.”
Tobias blinked before turning and following where she was pointing. He just saw the tops of buildings, “Um...that’s very accurate.”
When he looked back to her, Corinna was grinning again, “Not bad for a girl with no eyes, eh?” but quickly after that the smile faded into a curious look and Tobias felt her Force senses focus onto him again, “Speaking of which, you’re reacting quite well to that. Most humans freak out and most Jedi...well, most Jedi don’t approve of non-Jedi using the Force even if we can’t help it.”
“I actually uh...you’re not the first Miraluka I’ve met,” Tobias had no idea why he was being cautious about that, “My Master and I...my Master’s first apprentice he started killing people and we had to stop him.”
“That explains the first but doesn’t explain why you don’t think I’m on the edge of darkness and pure evil.”
Tobias was surprised by how touchy the Jedi situation was with her. He hadn’t ever considered how non-Jedi Force-users were treated by the Jedi, which was ironic of course. But he decided to just answer it as best he could manage, “I’m actually the first one of my family to be a Jedi since my grandmother but even that’s...complicated. But my mother even is...well, she isn’t exactly a fan of me doing this, if that makes sense.”
The smile returned to Corinna’s face, “It explains enough. Actually, my father was never too happy I didn’t run off to become a Jedi. He used to always tell me stories of my ancestors who were apparently great Jedi Knights for the Old Republic...but those stories never ended well.”
“So what are you doing on this planet, anyway?” Tobias asked the question rather suddenly, and immediately wondered why.
Corinna shrugged, “Was just passing through originally. One transport to another. But ah, how plans change.”
An awkward silence fell upon the roof. Tobias couldn’t help but be proud of himself for his ability to completely destroy any normal conversation without having to try.
“Come on, just do it,” Corinna said quietly, nudging him with an elbow.
Raising an eyebrow, he turned to look at her to find no help at all, “Do what?”
Though a Miraluka had no eyes to roll, and even if she had them, currently they would have been hidden beneath that cloth around her face, Tobias got the distinct feeling that she was doing exactly that. It was amazing what the Force could be used to portray, especially for a species that used it so naturally, “You’re amazingly oblivious, did you know that? Its quite cute, actually.”
Tobias’ face glazed over in a mix of confusion, shock, and embarrassment. Though she couldn’t see it, Tobias knew she could do better than that and clearly feel it in the Force as well as use that to ‘see’ the way he was trying not to squirm or accidently fall off the roof.
And somehow, Corinna seemed to be enjoying the effect. But eventually she nudged him again, “Quit panicking and just ask. Its not hard. Just a few simple words and you already know the answer, you just have to ask it.”
“Ask...what?” it was the best he could manage because he sure as hell didn’t know what she was demanding he ask. Well, no, he had a few ideas, but none of them were going to escape the realm of deep, suppressed thoughts and the more rational ones never got to his conscious mind. There was just too much of a haze of confusion in his mind for the moment.
“Alright, fine. I’ll walk you through this,” Corinna sighed dramatically and shook her head, “Even though I’ve just given you the exact location of what you’re looking for and I don’t actually have much more direct information beyond theories that are based entirely outside of facts, you want me to help you. But we just met less than a standard hour ago and you barely know me so your hesitation is understandable. Not only that, but you do have to get back to your Master and you’ll have to explain this little mess. So you’re nervous...for more reasons than one and those ones you’re trying not to think about are nothing to be embarrassed about by the way. But even though you are, it shouldn’t stop you from simply asking me to come with you and help. So, what you need to do is close your eyes, breathe, that’s important, and then ask. Okay?”
With a blank expression on his face, Tobias somehow managed a nod. But as he stared at her, it became obvious that he really was going to have to ask. She was just sitting there, right next to him and staring at him with the Force, waiting. Expectant in such a way that was even more unnerving than the not-look she was giving him. Not to mention it was the first time he’d really ever been confronted with someone who looked...nice. Nice was what he was going to leave it at. But that just made it harder to focus.
What did she say?
Close your eyes...that wasn’t hard. In fact, the darkness that brought on somehow helped, even though he could still feel the gaze on him.
Next step...breathe. Well, he was already doing that. But keep it up. Definitely keep it up.
Right. Two down. Now the hard part.
“Will you uh...will...” Tobias stopped, took another breath, then tried again, “Will you come with me?”
The smile quickly returned to Corinna’s face and she nodded, “Of course. Now lets find your Master. Lead the way, Jedi boy.”
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Chapter 592: Connections
By the time Tobias and Corinna had reached the street level of Bestine, Tatooine’s second sun had set. Compared to most cities in the galaxy, Bestine was quite dark at night. Sure, there were glowrods set up as lights at various intervals down the main streets, and there were a few others outside doorways and even on the corners of the larger buildings, but that seemed to be about it. The moonlight didn’t add much, either. None of it would have annoyed Tobias if he hadn’t been in a human body, but he was and that meant his senses just weren’t what they could have been.
And he wasn’t ready for Corinna to find out he wasn’t technically human. Something told him that would be a rather...odd conversation. More than it would normally have been, with the way she seemed to be. In fact, if there was one word Tobias could describe her with, he was becoming more and more sure it was ‘distracting’.
She seemed to be doing it on purpose, too. While she had been surprisingly quiet since they reached the streets, just letting Tobias idly wander to find Master Ral, she was walking behind him just a bit too close for his comfort. And she had to know that, since he could feel that her Force sense was definitely focused in his direction more than the rest of the surroundings.
It didn’t take long before Tobias had to stop. It was too unnerving and, on top of that, he had no idea where to go. Of course, there was no way he was going to tell Corinna she was driving him insane. Somehow, he figured that would just make it worse. So instead, he tried to find Master Ral the best way he knew without the help of a comlink...which would have actually been quite helpful...
Instead, Tobias attempted the same thing he had done that had found Corinna earlier. Slowly and deliberately, he took in deep breaths, calming his mind and drowning out the various beings occupying the streets even at night. With each of them, he drew in the Force around him, seeing out further and further in that odd non-colour that was probably something close to how Corinna saw the galaxy. As with his last attempt, Tobias first saw countless beings all around, most very dim in the Force, but some slightly brighter here and there.
And then Tobias found a bright, shining beacon in the Force that had to be his Master. The fact that he had thought Corinna had been his Master, upon ‘seeing’ Master Ral’s presence, was almost insulting to the Jedi Master. Where Corinna’s presence was amplified from her natural strength in the Force by her constant use of it, Master Ral was so clear once Tobias found him. But when Tobias opened his eyes, he knew why he had found Corinna instead.
It looked like Master Ral was clear on the other end of Bestine. Tobias just hadn’t searched long enough, having simply latched onto the nearest presence in the Force rather than actually searching. He would have to do better next time...
“You know,” Corinna spoke up suddenly, “For a guy with two eyes, you do that quite well.”
Tobias’ concentration broke. Thankfully, he was sure of which way to go to find Master Ral. So, he turned a questioning glance to his Miraluka companion to find her much closer than he’d thought, “What do you mean...?”
Of course, that brought the smile back to her face and she nodded off in the direction he had found Master Ral to be, “You feel like a Miraluka when you do that. It was why I came running, actually. I’ve never seen anyoen that wasn’t a Miraluka see like we do.”
“Really?” Tobias hadn’t meant to ask it, but his mouth and his brain were not really working together very well for the moment. In all honesty, he had thought it was something all Jedi could do. But as he thought about that, Tobias realized that he hadn’t actually been taught it. Sure, the pieces were all part of his training, but he’d just put it all together in a way that seemed to make sense and always expected everyone else had, too. But he put that aside and quickly put a stop to too much else on that subject, “Master Ral’s on the other end of the city from the looks of it.”
Corinna simply nodded to that, and they were walking again. And thankfully, beyond some odd smells that were best not investigated and a few landspeeders that didn’t seem to care about pedestrians, the trip across the city was uneventful. It did take time, though, and Tobias couldn’t help but feel like he should have at least tried some kind of conversation. Of course, that was as far as it went, as he could never really come up with anything to say that wasn’t incredibly foolish or blatantly pointing out the obvious.
Because of that, Tobias was thankful when they found Master Ral casually walking down the street right to them. Tobias quickly introduced his Master and Corinna and then very carefully explained how he’d run into her, trying to keep the details light so that Master Ral wouldn’t get angry...even though Tobias knew better than that. But Master Ral was surprisingly calm about it, keeping his usual serenity and thanking Corinna for assisting.
“Did you find anything, Master?” Tobias asked after all that was behind them.
The Jedi Master tilted his head slightly in an odd gesture that Tobias still wasn’t sure how to read, “The city is oddly clean of any evidence of Barrin or even the two Jedi that were originally here. I did find one man who described a Twi’lek carrying a lightsaber some time ago, but that was it. There are very few reasons for there to be so little evidence that do not point to a purpose behind the lack of information.”
At that point, Corinna explained how close she had come to finding one of the Jedi. Or rather, how she had found one of them, but only pieces after arriving likely just a few moments too late. After she finished explaining, and adding that she had failed to turn up anything more for days, Corinna asked, “Can you feel that odd presence in the Force, Master Jedi?”
“Yes...” the Omwati Jedi nodded and closed his eyes a moment, clearly focusing on it as best he could, “It has perplexed me since arriving. You believe it is related to whatever killed the Jedi?”
Tobias decided to stop being useless and try to help, “It would make sense. I mean...it sounds to me that Corinna found the aftermath of some predator. No one just takes body parts like that and this feeling in the Force...its just...it reminds me of that feeling you get when someone’s watching you but you can’t prove it. It feels like we’re being hunted.”
That hung in the air uncomfortably for some time before Master Ral turned his full attention to one thing in all of that, “It could have easily been a Yuuzhan Vong warrior. Losing a limb and pieces of clothing, along with other injuries that would leave blood and a mess behind are quite common with Vong weapons and fighting techniques. What makes you think it’s a predator?”
Tobias felt Corinna’s Force-sight focus on him. The eyes of his Master along with that made him feel like he was being tested, even though he was absolutely sure he wasn’t. Why had he said that, though? Why jump to that conclusion? Why couldn’t the feeling in the Force be entirely unrelated? Why did he connect them both and not question it before?
“I uh...” it was a bad start, as usual, but Tobias was getting better at recovering from those, “I don’t know. Well no. If its in the Force, its not Vong, right? It couldn’t be another Jedi. Lightsaber wounds don’t leave a mess like that. Vibroblades don’t either. At least not like what Corinna described. I mean, we have to assume that this distant feeling in the Force is related...right? If its not, fine, but better to be ready for that danger than not. And this feeling reminds me of a predator of some kind.”
“If there was an animal running loose in Bestine, you couldn’t keep it quiet,” Corinna shook her head, “This place isn’t exactly the height of civilization, but its not that wild, either. No one knows a thing. Trust me on that, I’ve looked around in almost every corner of this city over the last few days.”
Tobias shook his head, not ready to accept another explanation, even if he was still grasping and vague ideas and connecting things that probably weren’t actually connected, “We’ve got, what? Two Jedi murdered and one other missing and probably dead. You, yourself, found a strong Force-User killed by something that you didn’t spot. So what if the city isn’t going crazy because whatever it is doesn’t care about everyone else?”
The second he said it, Tobias knew he was right. Master Ral didn’t immediately reject the idea, but he pushed Tobias a little more, “You think we’re dealing with a creature that hunts Force Sensitive beings?”
“It fits,” Tobias shrugged, not liking the idea at all but unsure of any other explanation that made sense.
“Not entirely,” Corinna still didn’t seem convinced, “You’re still talking about a predator in a city. A rather large city, too. Even if it doesn’t hunt other beings, people would spot it. Unless its invisible, too, and at that point I think its time to just lay down and let the invisible, Force-Killer eat you then and there because there’s no winning with that.”
Sarcasm aside, she did have a point.
Tobias bit his lip and nodded a couple of times before looking back to his Master, “What do you think, Master?”
The frail-looking Omwati Jedi Master folded his arms and looked between the two of them before finally saying, “I believe the possibility that you are correct is too dangerous to ignore. I do agree that we should assume all of these occurrences are related until proven otherwise. So, with that in mind, I might just have a way to test your theory, Tobias.”
In a rather odd moment, Tobias attempted to turn a curious glance to Corinna. He had forgotten that she had no eyes with which to look back, and instead just found himself looking at the side of her face. But then, a moment later, he felt her focus in the Force shift to him and got the distinct impression that they were sharing exactly what he had attempted to find, even if one of them was using the Force to get the feeling across.
Satisfied he hadn’t made a complete fool of himself, Tobias looked back to his Master and asked, “I get the feeling this is the point where one of us gets to be bait.”
By the time Tobias and Corinna had reached the street level of Bestine, Tatooine’s second sun had set. Compared to most cities in the galaxy, Bestine was quite dark at night. Sure, there were glowrods set up as lights at various intervals down the main streets, and there were a few others outside doorways and even on the corners of the larger buildings, but that seemed to be about it. The moonlight didn’t add much, either. None of it would have annoyed Tobias if he hadn’t been in a human body, but he was and that meant his senses just weren’t what they could have been.
And he wasn’t ready for Corinna to find out he wasn’t technically human. Something told him that would be a rather...odd conversation. More than it would normally have been, with the way she seemed to be. In fact, if there was one word Tobias could describe her with, he was becoming more and more sure it was ‘distracting’.
She seemed to be doing it on purpose, too. While she had been surprisingly quiet since they reached the streets, just letting Tobias idly wander to find Master Ral, she was walking behind him just a bit too close for his comfort. And she had to know that, since he could feel that her Force sense was definitely focused in his direction more than the rest of the surroundings.
It didn’t take long before Tobias had to stop. It was too unnerving and, on top of that, he had no idea where to go. Of course, there was no way he was going to tell Corinna she was driving him insane. Somehow, he figured that would just make it worse. So instead, he tried to find Master Ral the best way he knew without the help of a comlink...which would have actually been quite helpful...
Instead, Tobias attempted the same thing he had done that had found Corinna earlier. Slowly and deliberately, he took in deep breaths, calming his mind and drowning out the various beings occupying the streets even at night. With each of them, he drew in the Force around him, seeing out further and further in that odd non-colour that was probably something close to how Corinna saw the galaxy. As with his last attempt, Tobias first saw countless beings all around, most very dim in the Force, but some slightly brighter here and there.
And then Tobias found a bright, shining beacon in the Force that had to be his Master. The fact that he had thought Corinna had been his Master, upon ‘seeing’ Master Ral’s presence, was almost insulting to the Jedi Master. Where Corinna’s presence was amplified from her natural strength in the Force by her constant use of it, Master Ral was so clear once Tobias found him. But when Tobias opened his eyes, he knew why he had found Corinna instead.
It looked like Master Ral was clear on the other end of Bestine. Tobias just hadn’t searched long enough, having simply latched onto the nearest presence in the Force rather than actually searching. He would have to do better next time...
“You know,” Corinna spoke up suddenly, “For a guy with two eyes, you do that quite well.”
Tobias’ concentration broke. Thankfully, he was sure of which way to go to find Master Ral. So, he turned a questioning glance to his Miraluka companion to find her much closer than he’d thought, “What do you mean...?”
Of course, that brought the smile back to her face and she nodded off in the direction he had found Master Ral to be, “You feel like a Miraluka when you do that. It was why I came running, actually. I’ve never seen anyoen that wasn’t a Miraluka see like we do.”
“Really?” Tobias hadn’t meant to ask it, but his mouth and his brain were not really working together very well for the moment. In all honesty, he had thought it was something all Jedi could do. But as he thought about that, Tobias realized that he hadn’t actually been taught it. Sure, the pieces were all part of his training, but he’d just put it all together in a way that seemed to make sense and always expected everyone else had, too. But he put that aside and quickly put a stop to too much else on that subject, “Master Ral’s on the other end of the city from the looks of it.”
Corinna simply nodded to that, and they were walking again. And thankfully, beyond some odd smells that were best not investigated and a few landspeeders that didn’t seem to care about pedestrians, the trip across the city was uneventful. It did take time, though, and Tobias couldn’t help but feel like he should have at least tried some kind of conversation. Of course, that was as far as it went, as he could never really come up with anything to say that wasn’t incredibly foolish or blatantly pointing out the obvious.
Because of that, Tobias was thankful when they found Master Ral casually walking down the street right to them. Tobias quickly introduced his Master and Corinna and then very carefully explained how he’d run into her, trying to keep the details light so that Master Ral wouldn’t get angry...even though Tobias knew better than that. But Master Ral was surprisingly calm about it, keeping his usual serenity and thanking Corinna for assisting.
“Did you find anything, Master?” Tobias asked after all that was behind them.
The Jedi Master tilted his head slightly in an odd gesture that Tobias still wasn’t sure how to read, “The city is oddly clean of any evidence of Barrin or even the two Jedi that were originally here. I did find one man who described a Twi’lek carrying a lightsaber some time ago, but that was it. There are very few reasons for there to be so little evidence that do not point to a purpose behind the lack of information.”
At that point, Corinna explained how close she had come to finding one of the Jedi. Or rather, how she had found one of them, but only pieces after arriving likely just a few moments too late. After she finished explaining, and adding that she had failed to turn up anything more for days, Corinna asked, “Can you feel that odd presence in the Force, Master Jedi?”
“Yes...” the Omwati Jedi nodded and closed his eyes a moment, clearly focusing on it as best he could, “It has perplexed me since arriving. You believe it is related to whatever killed the Jedi?”
Tobias decided to stop being useless and try to help, “It would make sense. I mean...it sounds to me that Corinna found the aftermath of some predator. No one just takes body parts like that and this feeling in the Force...its just...it reminds me of that feeling you get when someone’s watching you but you can’t prove it. It feels like we’re being hunted.”
That hung in the air uncomfortably for some time before Master Ral turned his full attention to one thing in all of that, “It could have easily been a Yuuzhan Vong warrior. Losing a limb and pieces of clothing, along with other injuries that would leave blood and a mess behind are quite common with Vong weapons and fighting techniques. What makes you think it’s a predator?”
Tobias felt Corinna’s Force-sight focus on him. The eyes of his Master along with that made him feel like he was being tested, even though he was absolutely sure he wasn’t. Why had he said that, though? Why jump to that conclusion? Why couldn’t the feeling in the Force be entirely unrelated? Why did he connect them both and not question it before?
“I uh...” it was a bad start, as usual, but Tobias was getting better at recovering from those, “I don’t know. Well no. If its in the Force, its not Vong, right? It couldn’t be another Jedi. Lightsaber wounds don’t leave a mess like that. Vibroblades don’t either. At least not like what Corinna described. I mean, we have to assume that this distant feeling in the Force is related...right? If its not, fine, but better to be ready for that danger than not. And this feeling reminds me of a predator of some kind.”
“If there was an animal running loose in Bestine, you couldn’t keep it quiet,” Corinna shook her head, “This place isn’t exactly the height of civilization, but its not that wild, either. No one knows a thing. Trust me on that, I’ve looked around in almost every corner of this city over the last few days.”
Tobias shook his head, not ready to accept another explanation, even if he was still grasping and vague ideas and connecting things that probably weren’t actually connected, “We’ve got, what? Two Jedi murdered and one other missing and probably dead. You, yourself, found a strong Force-User killed by something that you didn’t spot. So what if the city isn’t going crazy because whatever it is doesn’t care about everyone else?”
The second he said it, Tobias knew he was right. Master Ral didn’t immediately reject the idea, but he pushed Tobias a little more, “You think we’re dealing with a creature that hunts Force Sensitive beings?”
“It fits,” Tobias shrugged, not liking the idea at all but unsure of any other explanation that made sense.
“Not entirely,” Corinna still didn’t seem convinced, “You’re still talking about a predator in a city. A rather large city, too. Even if it doesn’t hunt other beings, people would spot it. Unless its invisible, too, and at that point I think its time to just lay down and let the invisible, Force-Killer eat you then and there because there’s no winning with that.”
Sarcasm aside, she did have a point.
Tobias bit his lip and nodded a couple of times before looking back to his Master, “What do you think, Master?”
The frail-looking Omwati Jedi Master folded his arms and looked between the two of them before finally saying, “I believe the possibility that you are correct is too dangerous to ignore. I do agree that we should assume all of these occurrences are related until proven otherwise. So, with that in mind, I might just have a way to test your theory, Tobias.”
In a rather odd moment, Tobias attempted to turn a curious glance to Corinna. He had forgotten that she had no eyes with which to look back, and instead just found himself looking at the side of her face. But then, a moment later, he felt her focus in the Force shift to him and got the distinct impression that they were sharing exactly what he had attempted to find, even if one of them was using the Force to get the feeling across.
Satisfied he hadn’t made a complete fool of himself, Tobias looked back to his Master and asked, “I get the feeling this is the point where one of us gets to be bait.”
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Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Chapter 593: Step One
Marix watched the Yuuzhan Vong base for several hours until she could close her eyes and still see exactly where all the buildings were. The Force would do her no good, so that meant all of her other senses would have to be on full alert and she needed to be ready. But she did notice one thing that seemed off. While there were many figures moving back and forth between the buildings in the valley below, only a few seemed to be carrying weapons that she could see. It didn’t look as if there were any regular patrols or even guards of any kind. Perhaps the Vong simply did not feel the need for tight security so far beyond the front lines of the invasion, but Marix still didn’t like it.
But she did have a plan now, and one she was fairly certain would give her access to most of the facility. That is, if she understood the Vong well enough...and that was, of course, questionable. Still, Marix had to work with what she could, and that was her limited knowledge of Vong society from which she could only assume details. Hopefully they were like they appeared to be: a strongly regimented caste-based society that valued strength and glorified death about all else.
Hopefully.
Deciding that she was doing no good sitting and watching anymore, and still uncomfortable with that feeling in the back of her mind that one of Myrkr’s predators was still following her from a distance, Marix began to very carefully and slowly descend into the valley. It was like a scar on the planet, dipping in a few kilometers away and sloping down at a rather sharp angle before reaching its lowest point and then curving away and slowly rising up again. Marix followed the treeline along the valley and away from the Vong base for a few minutes until it reached a point where she could quickly drop from above to the sloping ground below.
The valley itself was scattered with moss-covered rocks, a few unhealthy looking trees, and oddly-shaped bushes. Very little of it provided cover, but Marix did the best she could and made careful use of her ability to morph to get in close. By the time she reached the Vong base, Myrkr’s star was beginning to set. She quickly found a small area near the valley’s rock wall and the outer edge of what had to be buildings. Next to them, they looked more like odd mixtures of fleshy substances and the same coral that made up the rest of the Vong technology. The fact that the structures didn’t rise and fall in some breathing action was actually amazing. Obviously, the Vong took a different view of biotechnology than the Alraxians...
The small lizard that Marix had been found a place behind one of the buildings that had ample cover and morphed back to her Alraxian form. She knelt down and carefully studied the area. In front of her was an oddly-shaped, coral structure about the size of an average home on Alraxia. To her side was a larger, dome structure that smelled awful and was the largest of the buildings she had seen from above. Though she could only see a fraction of it, above it looked to be at least four times the size of everything else around it. There didn’t seem to be any entrances, but then again Marix wasn’t too sure what an entrance would have looked like.
The important part of her current position, though, was the small gap between the two buildings. Through it, she could carefully watch another three structures and see a few Yuuzhan Vong walking from place to place. None of the Vong looked like the ones she had previously encountered. They weren’t big, armoured and well armed warriors. No, Marix saw smaller, more frail-looking Vong in elaborate robes with odd scarring and grafts even more insane than she’d seen on others of the species. At least one looked to have a six-fingered hand that didn’t have fingers so much as what could only have been tools of some kind.
Marix waited and watched, keeping as much out of sight as she could. Technically, any Vong would do for what she had planned, but Marix wanted to start with a known quantity. That meant that she had to simply watch as the various Vong passed by until she either found what she was looking for or decided it had been too long and that she would have to take a chance.
A good ten minutes later, Marix’s eyes caught sight of what she was hoping to find. One of the structures’ doors opened in an odd, almost circular motion and a Yuuzhan Vong exited. Not only was the Vong a good head taller than all of the others, but she looked to be wearing the distinct Vonduun Crab armour that Marix had seen on all of the warriors. And, to make things better, she wasn’t carrying an amphistaff.
Slowly getting to her feet, Marix made sure to pick up a small rock as she watched the warrior begin to turn and head away. Before the Vong was out of sight, Marix did something that, had Jyren done it, she would have yelled at him for hours about how stupid an idea it had been. Marix threw the rock right at the Vong’s head and then ducked out of sight.
Almost immediately, there was a loud, angry voice that uttered something guttural and likely a curse of some kind. Marix quickly pressed herself against the uneven structure behind her and waited...
Heavy footsteps alerted her to the Vong’s approach, but she had to wait until the Vong moved out of sight from anyone around. In a matter of seconds, the warrior stopped right next to Marix, where she had originally been watching the area from, and turned a scarred and tattooed face to look straight to Marix. The angry expression on the warrior’s face quickly shifted to shock and she immediately reached for something at her hip.
Marix didn’t give her a chance, however. Quickly, Marix grabbed the Vong’s arm and yanked her out of sight before slamming the warrior’s back into the building hard. It got a grunt from the warrior, but when Marix twisted the arm around suddenly and violently, the snap of broken bone was much more satisfying. Oddly enough, the warrior didn’t make any sounds of pain. Rather, her small, deep set eyes narrowed and she lashed out with what looked like a miniature amphistaff about the size of a vibroknife. Marix ducked under the bladed edge and brought her knee up into the warrior’s gut, forcing her back into the structure hard a second time.
Before the warrior could bring her weapon back around, Marix’s leg took her feet out from under her. The Vong’s head hit a protrusion from the building before her entire body crumbled to the ground below. Not sure the job was finished, Marix was immediately on top of the Vong and swiftly snapped the warrior’s neck.
She then waited a few short heartbeats...
Nothing else.
No one had seen or heard.
Good.
Picking up the small knife-like weapon, Marix slit the Vong warrior’s throat open. A disgusting smell rose up and black blood soon began to pool around the area. This was not the part she enjoyed at all, but it was necessary. And at least the blood wasn’t red. That colour just made her feel sick when it came to blood...
A few minutes later, a same Yuuzhan Vong warrior that had disappeared exited the area behind the two buildings and walked out into the open areas of the Vong base. Marix just hoped no one would see the body before she had done what she needed to.
Marix watched the Yuuzhan Vong base for several hours until she could close her eyes and still see exactly where all the buildings were. The Force would do her no good, so that meant all of her other senses would have to be on full alert and she needed to be ready. But she did notice one thing that seemed off. While there were many figures moving back and forth between the buildings in the valley below, only a few seemed to be carrying weapons that she could see. It didn’t look as if there were any regular patrols or even guards of any kind. Perhaps the Vong simply did not feel the need for tight security so far beyond the front lines of the invasion, but Marix still didn’t like it.
But she did have a plan now, and one she was fairly certain would give her access to most of the facility. That is, if she understood the Vong well enough...and that was, of course, questionable. Still, Marix had to work with what she could, and that was her limited knowledge of Vong society from which she could only assume details. Hopefully they were like they appeared to be: a strongly regimented caste-based society that valued strength and glorified death about all else.
Hopefully.
Deciding that she was doing no good sitting and watching anymore, and still uncomfortable with that feeling in the back of her mind that one of Myrkr’s predators was still following her from a distance, Marix began to very carefully and slowly descend into the valley. It was like a scar on the planet, dipping in a few kilometers away and sloping down at a rather sharp angle before reaching its lowest point and then curving away and slowly rising up again. Marix followed the treeline along the valley and away from the Vong base for a few minutes until it reached a point where she could quickly drop from above to the sloping ground below.
The valley itself was scattered with moss-covered rocks, a few unhealthy looking trees, and oddly-shaped bushes. Very little of it provided cover, but Marix did the best she could and made careful use of her ability to morph to get in close. By the time she reached the Vong base, Myrkr’s star was beginning to set. She quickly found a small area near the valley’s rock wall and the outer edge of what had to be buildings. Next to them, they looked more like odd mixtures of fleshy substances and the same coral that made up the rest of the Vong technology. The fact that the structures didn’t rise and fall in some breathing action was actually amazing. Obviously, the Vong took a different view of biotechnology than the Alraxians...
The small lizard that Marix had been found a place behind one of the buildings that had ample cover and morphed back to her Alraxian form. She knelt down and carefully studied the area. In front of her was an oddly-shaped, coral structure about the size of an average home on Alraxia. To her side was a larger, dome structure that smelled awful and was the largest of the buildings she had seen from above. Though she could only see a fraction of it, above it looked to be at least four times the size of everything else around it. There didn’t seem to be any entrances, but then again Marix wasn’t too sure what an entrance would have looked like.
The important part of her current position, though, was the small gap between the two buildings. Through it, she could carefully watch another three structures and see a few Yuuzhan Vong walking from place to place. None of the Vong looked like the ones she had previously encountered. They weren’t big, armoured and well armed warriors. No, Marix saw smaller, more frail-looking Vong in elaborate robes with odd scarring and grafts even more insane than she’d seen on others of the species. At least one looked to have a six-fingered hand that didn’t have fingers so much as what could only have been tools of some kind.
Marix waited and watched, keeping as much out of sight as she could. Technically, any Vong would do for what she had planned, but Marix wanted to start with a known quantity. That meant that she had to simply watch as the various Vong passed by until she either found what she was looking for or decided it had been too long and that she would have to take a chance.
A good ten minutes later, Marix’s eyes caught sight of what she was hoping to find. One of the structures’ doors opened in an odd, almost circular motion and a Yuuzhan Vong exited. Not only was the Vong a good head taller than all of the others, but she looked to be wearing the distinct Vonduun Crab armour that Marix had seen on all of the warriors. And, to make things better, she wasn’t carrying an amphistaff.
Slowly getting to her feet, Marix made sure to pick up a small rock as she watched the warrior begin to turn and head away. Before the Vong was out of sight, Marix did something that, had Jyren done it, she would have yelled at him for hours about how stupid an idea it had been. Marix threw the rock right at the Vong’s head and then ducked out of sight.
Almost immediately, there was a loud, angry voice that uttered something guttural and likely a curse of some kind. Marix quickly pressed herself against the uneven structure behind her and waited...
Heavy footsteps alerted her to the Vong’s approach, but she had to wait until the Vong moved out of sight from anyone around. In a matter of seconds, the warrior stopped right next to Marix, where she had originally been watching the area from, and turned a scarred and tattooed face to look straight to Marix. The angry expression on the warrior’s face quickly shifted to shock and she immediately reached for something at her hip.
Marix didn’t give her a chance, however. Quickly, Marix grabbed the Vong’s arm and yanked her out of sight before slamming the warrior’s back into the building hard. It got a grunt from the warrior, but when Marix twisted the arm around suddenly and violently, the snap of broken bone was much more satisfying. Oddly enough, the warrior didn’t make any sounds of pain. Rather, her small, deep set eyes narrowed and she lashed out with what looked like a miniature amphistaff about the size of a vibroknife. Marix ducked under the bladed edge and brought her knee up into the warrior’s gut, forcing her back into the structure hard a second time.
Before the warrior could bring her weapon back around, Marix’s leg took her feet out from under her. The Vong’s head hit a protrusion from the building before her entire body crumbled to the ground below. Not sure the job was finished, Marix was immediately on top of the Vong and swiftly snapped the warrior’s neck.
She then waited a few short heartbeats...
Nothing else.
No one had seen or heard.
Good.
Picking up the small knife-like weapon, Marix slit the Vong warrior’s throat open. A disgusting smell rose up and black blood soon began to pool around the area. This was not the part she enjoyed at all, but it was necessary. And at least the blood wasn’t red. That colour just made her feel sick when it came to blood...
A few minutes later, a same Yuuzhan Vong warrior that had disappeared exited the area behind the two buildings and walked out into the open areas of the Vong base. Marix just hoped no one would see the body before she had done what she needed to.
