Star Wars: Heroes of Another Kind

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 35: No More Surprises

Shadow and Akan waited for nearly twenty minutes in the alley. Akan had gotten used to being Human again...which was odd, because one never thought that they’d have to get used to being themself in such a way. The biggest problem was balance. He’d never really understood how a tail assisted in this, but it obviously was something he’d gotten used to, as without it he was stumbling and pretty much unable to run. Shadow, who had adapted quickly, but she was used to this kind of thing somehow, had been forced to help him walk.

If anyone had been around to see, they would have most likely gotten a holo of it and displayed it in some local news as some kind of joke. Even part of Akan wanted to see what it looked like. Though he was smaller as a Human, Shadow was, too. In fact, the top of her head only reached just under his nose. This small, somewhat thin human girl with jet black hair and an uncomfortable look on her face was doing her absolute best to help a taller human who looked a good four or five years her senior. This was, of course, wrong, as she was nearly three times his actual age, but it didn’t detract from how she looked.

About halfway into the walk across the street to the entrance into the large warehouse, Akan starting walking on his own. He did his best not to look awkward, but decided to just try and walk and not care about how it looked. This proved a good strategy, as not thinking about it and just doing it seemed to be the best way. When they reached the entrance, Shadow punched in a short numeric code into a small console next to the door. A light went blue, and the door slid open. She stepped in, and Akan followed, looking around and not completely sure what to expect.

The interior was a large, open area. There was only one thing within it. A large, soft black and brown colored...ship? Had to be. It looked very similar in shape to the smaller one that they had seen on Garek V. The same, long, swept back wings that seemed to come off of the nose. However, these also looked to meld back into the large shape of the ship near the rear. Overall, the ship was teardrop shaped, tapering to a soft point at what he assumed was the rear. It was about eighty to ninety meters long in total. Akan hadn’t realized how large the warehouse was...of course, when he was running around, he wasn’t exactly measuring things or timing himself.

As Akan stood there looked over the large ship, Shadow walked over and put her hand on a section lower to the ground. [Loki...] when Akan heard her voice in his mind, he was sure she was speaking to him. He opened his mouth to ask what she was doing when something strange happened. Again. One day he’d make a list so he could just check things off instead of remembering them all.

[Marix?] another voice. Not Shadow’s. Now his. But masculine, somehow. It ‘sounded’ like a human about Akan’s age, with a somewhat more childlike tone to it.

Akan was walking over some and saw a smile on Shadow’s face. A real smile. It wasn’t like her grin that could make the Emperor wet his robe. [I’m back, Loki. I’m sorry for leaving you behind for so long...we’ve got things to do, though! Mind if I explain on the way?]

There was the equivalent of a ‘hmm’ sound in their minds, and then a small iris shaped hatch opened not too far from where Shadow stood. She looked back to Akan, and motioned for him to follow. The inside of Loki was generally ship like. Not the usual metal colours, but the same colours as his exterior. His? Well, from what Akan could figure, Loki was technically a he. Shadow showed Akan to a fairly large room with a nice sized bed and closet, but seemed distracted. She was speaking with Loki. Akan could hear it, but was tuning it out for the time as she was just explaining who he was, why she’d taken so long, and what they were going to do. Akan simply took this time to inspect the room. The bed was impossibly comfortable, feeling like it almost molded to him wherever he moved to.

[It does.] a cheery voice interrupted his thoughts. Not Shadow. Shadow’s voice would never be described as ‘cheery’. It was Loki, who had decided to be curious about this new person.

[Oh...um...anything I should know about?] Akan asked, not really sure of the kind of things one would talk with a ship about anyway. Especially one that had been in a warehouse for a while.

Another ‘hmm’ noise spread through Akan’s mind before Loki ‘spoke’ again, “Well...there’s extra clothes in the closet? Oh, but those are Marix’s. She probably wouldn’t want you messing with them.]

[Uh-huh...] Akan looked at the closet, then started over towards the door, which did the whole iris opening thing again as he stepped close an out into the long corridor. [Was that her room?]

[Ah...um...her room is next to yours.] Loki commented, doing a bad job at dodging the question.

Akan just ignored it, and followed a few directions to the cockpit. There were four large, Alraxian sized seats in front of a wide, unobstructed viewport. Lights, switches, and a few glowing things littered the area, and Akan was surprised that he found himself able to recognize a good amount of it. Strange...

“You might want to morph back,” Shadow commented from the front right seat, looking back over it. She was Alraxian again, and Akan was surprised to see she was about his height now. He hadn’t actually realized that last time he’d been...human. Again, an odd thought and one he was trying to avoid.

Taking a seat next to her, Akan shrugged. He didn’t mind being human. Once he’d gotten used to the no-tail thing, the ‘I’m not as strong’ thing wasn’t nearly as hard to deal with. He watched as Shadow was working out some controls. A small control yoke protruded from the ‘console’ in front of her, and in a moment, it lit up. She gave him a look, that dangerous grin on her face, “Hold on.”

Then, Loki started moving. Up. Straight up. Of course, there was a warehouse in the way. Akan wasn’t going to ask how Loki had been gotten INTO the warehouse, but he knew right away how she planned to get him out. After a loud crashing noise, a groan from Loki about being too rough, and a laugh from Shadow about Loki being a wimp, they were flying upwards into the atmosphere. After that, they soon entered hyperspace. It didn’t surprise Akan, as little did anymore. However, what did surprise him was that from the chrono on their time to Coruscant, Loki’s hyperdrive had to be at least twice as good as most. It was half the time he’d expected for the trip...

“Alright, time for work!” Shadow announced almost too happily. She got up out of her chair, grabbing Akan and starting to literally drag him down the corridors, “Going to teach you how to morph properly.”

“In just over an hour?” Akan asked, sounding both worried and surprised.

Again, that dangerous grin appeared on Shadow’s face, “Better learn quick.”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 36: Towards the Light

The day of waiting for Akan and Shadow came and went. True to his word, Voort was preparing to leave at dawn the next day. Jen had sat by the comm for a long while, hoping to hear something. Voort had waited an extra hour to appease her, but once they’d continued to hear nothing at all he’d said only once that he was leaving. Jen sighed, but got her blaster and a couple other things together anyway. She’d said she would go...and she was going to.

After getting an air cab to a smaller, but tightly populated area of the planet, Voort found a fast and inconspicious airspeeder to ‘borrow’ for the time being. Jen sat back in the small speeder, looking over the mess that was Coruscant. After the invasion of the planet, many of the buildings had been destroyed and clean up efforts had lasted for so long that many people forgot exactly how things were damaged. Though most of that was done with now, the more industrial areas weren’t nearly as crucial to be completely perfect. So, as the speeder passed out of the main city and along the smaller(but still very high up in relation to the planet’s actual surface) buildings of the industrial district, Jen started to worry slightly about being noticed. There wasn’t anything out there but them.

As they passed over a large conduit of sorts, Voort started to bring the speeder down. Voort seemed lost in his own thought, not paying attention to anything but his flying. Honestly, Jen couldn’t blame him. She watched out the viewport, trying not to think and just let herself be calm. She had no idea what she was really getting into here. She was just along for the ride...why, though? She didn’t know. All she did know was that she was going, and there wasn’t any turning back.

The speeder was turned onto its side as they dove down below the first level of the small buildings. Jen looked around, seeing how tight this really was. Voort had slowed down the speeder to more easily make it through many of the turns he was taking. How was he navigating like this, though? There were no landmarks of any sorts...memory, then? A good memory, obviously.

“Punch into the comm unit ‘four seven five alpha nine’” Voort said, suddenly interrupting her thoughts. Jen jumped slightly, then put in the number sequence with a smile on her face. She was getting nervous about this. She hadn’t even really had to deal with a long tension like this...its why she enjoyed being a scientist. Not a minute after she’d put in the code, a small hangar bay door not far in front of them opened. Inside, it was empty.

Jen raised an eyebrow at that, “He didn’t change the codes?”

“Oh, he probably did,” Voort said as he slowed the speeder and set it down, “But we’ve still got about twenty levels to descend. This was an old private hangar I used that Isard and Sadrak had no idea was so close to them. If they did, it wouldn’t still be here.”

He got up, and exited the airspeeder, looking around the small, dark, and long unused hangar. When Jen had caught up behind him, he started over to a turbolift, “This used to go all the way down...somehow I doubt it still does.”

Nodding, Jen stepped into the turbolift him and...waited. It was about the only thing one could do on such a long journey down. She wanted to say something about Akan and Shadow, but wasn’t sure that was the best thing at this point. Voort looked distant then, focused on something she wasn’t aware of. Part of her felt out of place in all of this. Voort had reason to go after Sadrak. Shadow especially did. Akan well...he seemed to be in the same ship as Jen at this point. Just going along with the others. Though, to Akan, it was likely that he’d go out of his way to get rid of an Imperial like Sadrak.

With a fairly loud noise, the turbolift came to a halt. Voort looked around a moment, then to Jen, “It took us all the way down...”

Jen took that as a bad thing, and drew her blaster pistol before standing out of the way of the door. Voort had his lightsaber in hand as he did the same. Then, the door slid open, revealing a long, dark corridor with a few emergency lights here and there. Empty. Eerie, too. Slowly, Voort stepped out into the hallway. He motioned for Jen to follow. Jen stepped out into the darkness, keeping close to Voort as they moved one step at a time.

They moved like this for what seemed like an eternity, turning corners and all the while Jen expecting something to jump out at them. Nothing did. Somehow, that made it even more worrisome. They didn’t speak at all, partly from worry that it might alert anyone to their presence. Voort knew that if Sadrak was here(which he was suspecting more so with each step), he was already aware of them. Jen didn’t know this, and didn’t need to. But she’d soon know they weren’t completely alone. If the light at the far end of the corridor didn’t tell that to Jen, nothing would.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Next Chapter to come later today...probably tonight as it will(hopefully) be a long one. Just noting here that attached to the first post is now a 'Cover Image' for the Story Hour.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

((Change of plans...going with multiple smaller updates for this one.))

Chapter 37: Laughter in the Dark

The light seemed to grow as the they approached. It wasn’t a trick of the eye. In fact, the light level was increasing. Jen was gripping her small blaster pistol tightly, a bit worried at the echoing noise of their footsteps. It was unnerving. Without a doorway to the room they approached, it was easy to see how large it was. Along the back wall was a set of tables, consoles, and large tubes. The ceiling was domed, at least twenty meters above them. At the center of the room, Jen looked all around her. The light level cast a strange white glow over everything, especially the tubes that seemed to line all of the walls.

Voort was still moving forward, slowly and cautiously. He stepped down five or six small stairs towards the end of the room, looking at a console near the wall. Approaching it, he noticed that someone had stopped in the middle of their work. A genetic structure was on the screen. Stopped, though...why? No, not stopped. Showing off. Titus turned around to see Sadrak standing behind Jen at the large open entrance to the room. He was wearing a heavy looking red and black set of armor. Or at least, clothes styled like armor.

“Ahh, Titus,” Sadrak smiled, the voice behind her causing Jen to nearly jump out of her skin, stepping back closer to the steps and aiming her pistol at him. The black haired man chuckled as a disturbing glow seemed to grow out of his eyes, “Now now. Patience. We can’t start the show without your pets.”

Voort had started moving forward, and it was obvious he was about to activate the lightsaber and attack. He didn’t get far enough to even hit the lightsaber’s switch. Sadrak’s arms was extended, and the lightsaber shot out of Voort’s hands. Sadrak caught it, inspected it a moment with an amused look on his face, then simply tossed it off to the side. There was a silence as the three of them stood waiting for one of them to move. But nothing came of it. In a moment, Sadrak’s smile returned and he tilted his head to the side, “Ah, good. A little late, but they’ve made it.”

The Inquisitor stepped to the side to allow Jen and Voort a better view. Sure enough, Shadow and Akan could be seen making their way towards them. When they caught sight of the situation, they stopped. Akan looked to be reaching for his lightsaber, but Sadrak easily put a stop to that, using the Force to yank the hilt of the weapon into his grip. After another amused inspection, Sadrak tossed the weapon away. When Sadrak reached down and pulled a small weapon from a holster on his belt, Jen and Akan both did the same thing. Jen fired her blaster pistol at Sadrak. Akan took another moment, seeing as he had to draw the weapon, but also fired. Sadrak simply held up his hand, both blasts absorbing in a bright flash.

A sudden invisible fist slammed into Jen, sending her sprawling back and down the steps. Voort had tried to stop her from falling, but did no good. When he moved towards Sadrak, another wall of nothing hit him, forcing the man hard against the back wall before he collapsed to the ground. Sadrak smiled, and turned to the two Alraxians, “Now that they won’t be a problem. Let us get this underway, shall we?”

In a flash of movement, Shadow started at Sadrak. She was half through a morph when Sadrak raised the weapon, and fired it. But not blaster shot rang out. Instead, a short wisp of air, and a gasp from Shadow as something hit her. She tumbled to the ground, body never finishing the morph and instead reverting back to her Alraxian form. Akan felt a sharp pain through his...mind. Not body. Then, nothing. It was like the link completely disappeared. Not like before with her so far away...but truly gone. He tried to run to her to do something, but an invisible force slammed him to the side into the wall.

With a quiet laugh from Sadrak, Akan felt blackness cover him.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 38: The Darkwing

When Akan’s eyes opened, he found he was looking up into the blurry form of...skin tone. Human skin tone. After a moment, he realized he was looking up at someone. His head was resting in someone’s lap, and in a moment his eyes focused enough for him to realize it was Jen. She wasn’t paying him any attention beyond that, though. She seemed to be watching something else...

A scream of pain mixed with a curse caught his attention. Turning his head slowly, he looked over to see a blurred form on the floor up higher than he was...it took a moment for Akan to figure he was down a small set of stairs. Behind the figure on the floor was a larger one, dressed in striking reds and black. Sadrak...where were Voort and Shadow? Another scream of pain and the first figure shifted across the floor. Shadow’s voice...that answered one question. Akan could feel Voort near, though he wasn’t in sight. Both answered then.

“Oh, good!” that was Sadrak. He had that happy ‘I’m doing evil and you can’t do a thing about it’ voice. Of course, that usually was the point where everything went wrong for the person speaking. This time, however, it didn’t. In fact, there wasn’t a thing that could be done. Not yet, at least. Akan was still having trouble moving. Sadrak had paused in speaking to allow Shadow another scream of pain, “Good to see you’re awake, boy. Just in time for your lesson in Alraxian history. Its about time you learned about your kind, isn’t it?”

Jen moved slightly, looking down to Akan. She looked a bit surprised to see him awake. There was a large bruise on her forehead and she looked about how he felt. Akan managed a weak smile, but it wasn’t returned. He didn’t blame her, either. Sighing, she turned to her left for a moment, then back to Sadrak. Voort...Akan tried looking that direction, but couldn’t bend his neck without it hurting too much. Instead, he just turned back to Sadrak, trying to conserve and gather what little strength he had left.

Shadow rolled over screaming again, this time down on her hands and knees and gritting her teeth, biting into her lip. Blue blood could be seen very slightly across her face. Sadrak took a step to the side and motioned to her, “Now, it’s a little slow but don’t worry the next ones will be simpler. Here is your first lesson in Alraxian history,” he paused to allow Shadow another scream, this time mixed with a disturbing growl, “Many thousands of years ago, not long after the first Sith discovered hyperdrive technology, they traveled into the Unknown Regions. Eventually, they ran into an interesting race of people. Alraxians. But they were dangerous creatures. Able to...change their shape. The Alraxians had a highly advanced civilization. Now, they were already using many of the biotechnology they use now. Something that intrigued the Sith. However, the Sith failed in multiple attempts to simply destroy the Alraxians and take what they knew. So...after forming a flimsy and overall fake alliance with a species known as the Mrrakesh, a rival species to the Alraxians, the Sith captured a single Alraxian. After years of testing and toying...they found a way to take advantage of the Alraxian’s ability to morph, as they called it,” another loud growl, turning into a more dangerous sound as it echoed from Shadow, “The Sith created a new creature from the Alraxians. But this first new creature escaped...the Sith were killed, as were the Mrrakesh who assisted them. The story after that...” he motioned to Shadow, who was convulsing violently, “After that, it is told by the Alraxian history. A great war...the greatest war the galaxy ever knew, and yet...no one in this part of the galaxy has any idea about it. The Darkwing Wars...” Sadrak smiled manically, “Now, I bring back the greatest weapon this galaxy has ever known.”

And right on cue, Shadow let out another mixed roar and scream. She tipped forward some, and in a loud and extremely painful sounding rip, two huge back wings erupted in an explosion of pain and blood from Shadow’s back. They were amazingly huge...leathery with black feathers along them. As she roared in pain again, her entire body seemed to rip apart. Or rather...explode from the inside. Her arms grew larger, and sharp claws exploded out from the palms. The same leathery texture spread across her body as her legs bent backwards in a horrible crack. Her legs grew into more powerful talons, and in a moment, her face extended into a long, black muzzle with impossibly sharp teeth and a row of plates down the spine.

Slowly, it pulled herself up onto all four, wings flaring out as the creature sniffed the air and emitted a low growl. It looked to Sadrak a moment, and he motioned towards the exit, saying to the others, “My new Darkwing. Now...before we all play, let me show you what I mean by weapon.”

Again, he motioned towards the exit. The Darkwing growled again, but picked itself up and shot out down the large hallway, flying at lightning speed. A small holo image appeared in the center of the room, to which Sadrak motioned to proudly, “Give it a few moments, and we shall see the handiwork. Then...” he turned to Akan, smiling horribly with those two white eyes, “...then, you die.”

Akan wanted to do something. Anything. But he couldn’t move. Paralyzed with shock. Fear. Everything. Consuming him in a horrible realization of what was occurring. He looked up to Jen, who turned to look at him, a similarly helpless and horrified expression on her face. Carefully, she rested a hand on his cheek, running it up through his hair a moment and stopping just over one of his ears. For a moment, she had thought about scratching his ear to try to make at least someone feel better. But she didn’t...just let her hand rest there. It provided no comfort for either of them. Only that they were both still alive. She looked to her side at Voort, who had regained consciousness in time to see the Darkwing transformation. He looked back to Jen, a strange neutral expression on his face. But he radiated hatred for Sadrak. They all did. But none of them could move...only watching the holo image displaying a largely populated residential district of Coruscant.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 39: One Final Light

Hundreds of people could be seen along the main street. Walking here and there, some standing near a balcony speaking, others simply taking in the sights of Coruscant. So oblivious to everything around them. The image flickered slightly, and a few of the people stopped, looking up beyond the image’s border. Slowly, more people seemed to take notice of whatever it was. A few of them, obviously the smarter ones in the crowd, ran. Of course, they weren’t that smart, as they ran in all different directions. This caused more people to run, chaos spreading quickly among all of the people within the view.

In a moment, a black form swooped down from the upper quadrant of the screen. It came down on a group of at least five people, tearing apart two of them with its legs as it landed, and clawing and biting at the rest. People scattered as the Darkwing tore a path of death through them, killing anything in its path. It was only a few moments before the walkway was filled only with bodies, blood, and the Darkwing. Within the talons of the Darkwing, was a small form.

Jen closed her eyes, not wanting to continue seeing it. Akan found himself unable to look away. Even Voort was stunned at the carnage. In the distance, airspeeders could be seen streaking across the sky towards the Darkwing. But that really didn’t matter anymore. In the foreground, it became clear what the form in the Darkwing’s talons was. A child. Human. No older than seven standard years. In one horrifying moment, easily topping all of the gore and pain up to that point, the Darkwing tore the child apart. Jen hadn’t watched...but the sound was impossible to miss, even from the distance that the holorecorder likely was at. She cringed as Voort and Akan did. It was a reaction that didn’t truly sum up any of their feelings on it, but somehow it was all they could manage. Of course, Sadrak was giggling like a happy child. Ironic and even more painful considering.

The Inquisitor smiled again, and Akan felt a ripple through the Force. Then, the holo image cut off, and Sadrak turned back to them, “A suitable demonstration, I believe. Now, the creature will return soon. Before that however, let us finish things.

By now, Akan had sat up. As Sadrak stepped over towards them, standing just at the top of the steps, Voort and Akan exchanged glanced. If you can, go at him now Akan sent through the Force. It was likely that Sadrak would detect the ripple that it caused, but not the details. That was all the mattered at this point. Voort’s answer to Akan wasn’t a nod, or a word. In a quick motion, the former Imperial was up on his feet, arm extended towards Sadrak. A bolt of blue lightning shot out from Voort’s hand towards the Inquisitor. Jen gasped slightly at that, but Akan wasn’t surprised. He was surprised, however, at Sadrak’s quick reaction of drawing a lightsaber from his belt and activating it just in time to catch Voort’s lightning on a bright red blade.

Voort had done the perfect thing, though. Not paying anymore attention to it, Akan got up and ran towards the side of the room, up the steps and past Sadrak. Of course, Sadrak took notice of this, and with a free hand, directed a large desk in Akan’s direction. Akan hit the ground in time for it to fly over, and the distraction this had caused to Sadrak had given Jen time to get to her feet and fumble to get her blaster pistol off the ground. Sure, it probably wouldn’t do much, but it would be one more thing for Sadrak to have to deal with. Voort was moving to. Holding the stream of lightning, he moved to the side and up the steps slowly. Sadrak was having to multitask so much that it was no problem for Voort to get past him and work towards where his lightsaber had been tossed to.

His eyes caught onto the metal hilt behind a large tube. Voort stopped throwing the force lightning at Sadrak, and instead reached out with the Force to pull his lightsaber to him. This moment left him defenseless, and Sadrak should have easily been able to attack him. But again, he was dealing with three. The moment Voort had stopped his attack, Jen had started her’s, a stream of blaster fire from over a chair she’d gotten behind. Sadrak had been forced to turn away from Voort and focus on deflecting the shots from Jen. When Voort had retrieved his lightsaber, a snap-hiss of the blade activating got Sadrak’s attention just in time to catch a low swing towards his knees. Jen stopped her firing, watching as the orange blade collided with the red blade in a blinding flurry.

By then, Akan had gotten to his feet again and retrieved his own weapon. As Sadrak parried a high swing from Voort, a second snap-hiss sounded behind him. The Inquisitor reached in time to spin around, parrying Akan’s blue-green blade. Jen watched in amazement as Sadrak parried blow after blow, from both behind him and in front of him, even managing to push an attack on both Voort and Akan every few seconds. But beyond them, Jen saw movement. The Darkwing was back. She stood up completely and tried to get a shot, but couldn’t aim beyond the three with lightsabers. Instead, she managed to yell a warning. All three of them turned. But Sadrak and Voort quickly went at it again, with Sadrak pushing Voort slowly down the steps. Akan back off, turning to face the Darkwing which was very obviously flying straight at him. He bent down slightly, holding the blue-green blade up in front of him and not wanting to have to use it. But there wasn’t going to be a choice. And there wasn’t any time.

Suddenly, the Darkwing was upon him, attempting a quick fly by while slashing at the Jedi with a sharp talon. Akan ducked and rolled low, swinging his lightsaber overhead and lopping off part of the feathered right wing. But the Darkwing managed to take a good section of Akan’s side with it. He didn’t get up from the roll, and the Darkwing spun around to land not far from him. Now, standing in such a way to block Jen’s view. Voort and Sadrak were too tightly engaged in a fierce sword fight to have time to even glance away anymore, each managing to just barely stay alive by quick parries and dodges.

Over the Darkwing, Jen caught sight of the blue-green blade again. Akan had stood up. She watched it move slowly to the right. Soon, the Darkwing moved to the side, opposite him, growling and watching for the right moment to strike. Somehow, through the clash of the two lightsabers, Jen heard Akan speaking, “Shadow...don’t do this...come on....”

But it got no response. Simply the same low growl. Akan risked a glance to the others. Jen watched him take a deep breath. Something changed within him. She could...feel it as well as see it. The lightsaber in his hand deactivated. Jen was about to call out to him when the Darkwing pounced. Jen saw the black form consume Akan’s, but not before a small, metallic shape flew across the air and landed not far from her. Akan’s lightsaber. He’d thrown it to her. I save her, or I die with her. Kill Sadrak. His voice rang through her mind.

Jen had never used a lightsaber before. In fact, she’d never use a knife...even for cooking. It was never something she was any good at. But now...she had to. Holstering her blaster, Jen ran over and picked up Akan’s blade. She took one last look to the form of the Darkwing, seeing the mass was struggling with something, then look to Voort. He was pushed back into the wall, though still defending himself well. Jen took a deep breath, thumbed the activation switch on the lightsaber, and charged at Sadrak’s back.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 40: Light of the Force

Akan had managed to throw the lightsaber as he was diving the other direction. He didn’t have time to see where it landed, as the second it was out of his hand the black clawed arm of the Darkwing was slashing down at him. Thankfully, he had been already moving, and rolled across the hard durasteel floor out of the way. Of course, the Darkwing was intelligent enough to not simply attack once and wait for him to recover. As he was getting to his feet, it was diving towards him again, this time with its large jaws open. Akan somehow managed to pull to the side, out of the way of the loud snap that could have easily included him.

The problem though, was that he’d moved out of the way of the jaws only to connect with a claw that was also slashing out at him. Akan’s eyes widened as he felt four claws dig deep into his gut, throwing him back towards the hallway. As he slid across the ground, Akan did his best to focus on remorphing as Shadow had taught him to. But it was harder to do when a huge black creature was about to land on you, taloned feet first. Quickly prioritizing, Akan decided to just live with the pain and move. He rolled to the side as the Darkwing landed where he’d been, talons digging deep into the durasteel and causing Akan to cringe at what could easily have been him.

Drawing on the Force as he did his best to get to his feet, Akan attempted a quick distraction to give him at least a moment of time. Behind the Darkwing, a figure appeared. It was him, but human. Holding up his lightsaber in a defensive stance and looking ready. The Darkwing had been suddenly confused by this, and spun around to pounce the illusion. It went through the illusion, hitting the floor in surprise. Akan had only that single moment he’d wanted. Why he wanted it, he hadn’t been sure of. Then he knew. Distantly...part of him could still feel Shadow. Somewhere in there. In a way he’d never imagined, Akan found himself drawing the Force in and around him. As he did this, he took the lapse in the Darkwing’s defenses to pounce on it. Landing on its back, between the wings, he gripped tightly and continued drawing as much of the Force into him as he possible could. A small white glow starting around him as the Darkwing thrashed around to get him off, but unable to do so.

Voort was too busy to take any notice of the Darkwing beyond a black blur moving quickly beyond Sadrak. He was doing well at keeping Sadrak’s blows away, but it was nearly impossible to get his own attacks in between. He parried a high swing towards his neck, attempting his own strike towards Sadrak’s leg. The Inquisitor caught the blade easily, taking a strong step forward as his red blade swept across empty air. Voort had ducked low, pulling back down the steps and took the short second to swing up at Sadrak’s lower torso. Sadrak twisted out of the way, swinging his lightsaber in a vertical circle to keep Voort back as he came down on even ground with Voort.

Another flurry of strikes consumed the two of them, red and orange blades colliding up, down, to the sides, and sometimes only catching air or a table in the way. All the while, Voort found himself slowly backing up from Sadrak’s heavy strikes which were nearly always combined with strong steps to push Voort back even more. After managing a series of quick and almost lucky defensive moves, Voort hit something. Not with his saber...with his back. A horrified expression flashed across his face for a millisecond, still long enough for Sadrak to see it and smile. Somehow, though, Voort was managing to defend himself, even placing a strong kick to the Inquisitor’s stomach to give him a little more room. Despite this, though, Voort knew he was in trouble. Sadrak was simply attacking too strongly, and no matter how dangerous Voort was with his weapon, Sadrak was even more so.

Suddenly, over Sadrak’s shoulder, Voort caught sight of a blue-green blade moving quickly. He didn’t have time to see anymore detail beyond blonde hair before catching the red blade far too close to his face. Jen closed in, and Sadrak started to turn what looked to have been too late. But Voort didn’t see what happened. Just seconds before Jen’s blade reached Sadrak, a blinding flash of light overtook the entire room. Not only did it seem to blind them all in a hot white colour, but it radiated with a feeling Voort knew well. The Force. He had not taken notice of the small glow growing over Sadrak’s other shoulder. From the black of the Darkwing, a purifying white had grown slowly at first. Then, in that sudden flash, consumed the Darkwing. There was an explosion of energy itself, and the blinding white spread out across the room in a second flash.

It lasted for what seemed like an eternity, but was likely only a matter of seconds. Vision slowly returned, and the world looked disturbingly different. Across from Voort, stood Jen, holding the blue-green lightsaber down and off to her left, the ending arc of her swing. On the floor in front of them, Sadrak’s clothes and lightsaber hilt could be seen. Jen’s eyes were wide open, though they were still trying to focus after the light. Slowly, she looked up to Voort, who still had his blade up from where Sadrak’s last strike had left from. Jen opened her mouth, asking quietly the question that was in his own mind, “What happened...?”

Voort found himself staring at the remains of Sadrak. Something was still wrong. He wasn’t there...yet...Voort could feel him still. Faintly. Distantly...moving. Not dead? How? Well...they hadn’t seen it. Hadn’t seen it. The light. What was that?! Without answering Jen, he looked beyond her to where the black Darkwing had been. He saw nothing. Lowering his weapon and deactivating it, Voort motioned beyond Jen. She raised an eyebrow, deactivating Akan’s weapon and turning to see the same absence of Darkwing.

Jen had started walking towards the steps and up to see what had happened first, with Voort not far behind her. She hadn’t even gotten to the top when she saw Akan. He was sitting with his back against the far corner of the room, blue colored blood smeared across his face and body. He looked a horrible mess, as did everything around him. But nothing looked as bad as what he held. Resting back in his arms, sprawled out and looking so torn up it was near impossible to recognize, was Shadow. She wore nothing but Akan’s jacket, and pieces of her morphsuit could be seen scattered across the floor. Her hair was singed in a few places, with scratches and cuts and bruises all over her. She was draped across Akan, eyes closed and in no way looking alive. But Akan seemed to take no notice of that, or of Jen and Voort who’d simply stopped their approach.

In the disturbing silence that had overcome the room in the last few moments, the two humans could hear Akan speaking quietly, “Come on, Shady...I know you’re in there...” his face seemed slightly glazed over a moment, a look Jen had come to recognize as the two Alraxians using their telepathic link. After it passed, a dismayed expression came over his face again, “Please...I’m not supposed to be here with you...remember? Its either both of us or neither of us...not just one. Please...”

Jen wanted to do something, but found herself unable to. Her mouth had opened, but no words came out. All she could do was watch. All of them watched Shadow, though Akan still had not noticed the other two. There was another long, eerie silence. Jen didn’t see when Shadow’s eyes half opened, looking up to Akan in a dazed way. She did see, though, when Shadow slowly reached a hand up to Akan. Shadow’s hand found Akan’s fringe, pawing at it almost playfully. Akan couldn’t help but laugh, a smile coming over him as Shadow continue idly playing with the fringe of his hair.

The same smile had come over Jen’s face, and she turned to see even Voort was smiling. She poked the former Imperial gently, speaking quietly, “Thought you Imperials didn’t have hearts.”

Voort’s smile grew and he laughed quietly, “Thought you scientists didn’t know how to fight.”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 40: Crash Course

It was nearly ten minutes until Akan noticed Jen and Voort. He looked up to the other two, who had simply stood their, consumed in their thoughts. Shadow still seemed dazed and not all there, weakly attempting a pounce at his hair when he moved his head up to look to the humans. Akan had an exhausted smile on his face, but the slowly faded as his eyes fell on Voort. The former Imperial met the young Alraxian’s gaze, both knowing what was to come but thinking two different things of it.

Jen soon realized the silent exchange between the two of them, and opened her mouth to say something. But Voort spoke first, “We should leave...” he trailed off a moment, and then started walking to the exit, “Sadrak isn’t dead.”

What he said wasn’t the real surprise. It was the order he’d chosen to say things. Jen had expected that his first statement would be on the fate of Sadrak, then it would have concluded the flimsy alliance of sorts between the Imperial and Akan. But instead, Voort had chosen to use the word ‘we’ again, and in an almost friendly tone. This had obviously caught Akan off guard at first, but when the second words were spoken, he simply nodded. In no way did it occur to Akan that perhaps Voort simply didn’t want to fight him.

Akan had turned down to look to Shadow again, the glazed look crossing over his face as he ‘spoke’ with her. With a sigh, he stood up slowly, picking her up as best he could. Managing a weak shrug to the two others, he said quietly, “She’s not exactly...herself yet.”

“What did you do?” Jen asked, stepping over to him and noting the amount of blood and cuts all over the two Alraxians.

Again, Akan shrugged, falling into step next to Jen and just a few steps behind Voort, “I...I dunno. I just drew the Force in...around me...and let it out.”

Over his shoulder, Voort said, “Its an ancient technique. Drawing upon the raw energy of the Light Side and releasing it. Palpatine...once mentioned it to me in passing. It simply purges the Dark from the target.”

“Then Sadrak should be dead,” Jen stated a little too confidently.

But even Akan shook his head. It had take a moment, but he could feel that Sadrak still lived. Not physically...but that was not the only way to live. But this wasn’t the time for dealing with Sadrak. Voort knew this easily, knowing that they would have to regroup and rethink everything they had assumed. Akan was still too consumed with what had happened to Shadow to care much about a bodiless Sadrak. The link was back...as strong as ever, and he’d been amazed at how used to it he’d gotten in such a short time. Jen was simply exhausted. Emotionally as well as physically. At least they were all alive...all of them. Even Voort.

Voort didn’t say anything on the matter of Sadrak, knowing it wasn’t anything that could be dealt with now. And staying here was likely a bad idea. He glanced over his shoulder to look at Akan, “How did you find this place?”

The Alraxian shrugged yet again, carefully so that he didn’t drop Shadow, “Loki took us down right on top of this place...Shadow said it felt right. I could feel something nearby, so we just explored until finding these tunnels.”

“That’s a good amount of luck...” Voort said, raising an eyebrow.

Rounding a corner, towards where the turbolift had been, Akan said, “I honestly don’t know. Shadow said she was feeling pulled here...so we both followed and then...then..” he trailed off, looking down to the still dazed Shadow in his arms.

As they approached the turbolift, Jen and Voort caught sight of a large hole in the wall to the left. Akan smiled and nodded to it, “This is where I get off. You two want to come with us?”

Voort had started to answer when there was a noise from the turbolift. The door opened. All three of them turned to look at the door. Four or so men in New Republic Security uniforms had blasters aimed. Not at the three, but just out in general. As there always was in the surprise of such a situation, both sides stood silent for a few long seconds. Then, the lead Security officer called out, “Don’t move!!”

Jen was the second to move, turning back to Akan, she said firmly, “Go.”

When he’d started to protest, trying to tell them to come with him, Voort shoved Akan(who nearly dropped Shadow) to the hole that had been cut with Akan’s lightsaber upon entering earlier, growling to the Alraxian, “Get out of here! You’ve done your heroics for the day!”

Akan had no real choice but to comply, running along the makeshift tunnel he and Shadow had made on their way in. He looked up, seeing where Loki had been crashed in through the higher levels of the district. With one last glance back to the main corridor, Akan could see bright red flashes. Hopefully Voort would get Jen out of there alive. Hopefully? No...no he would. Akan wasn’t sure of why he knew that, but there was something different. Looking down again to Shadow he couldn’t help a very slight smile. Many things were different.

It took nearly half an hour to climb up with Shadow in his arms, but he managed it. Loki had gotten slightly wedged in a few of the buildings he’d come crashing through, and when they’d first left him, Shadow had said not to worry about it until they were leaving. Well, they were leaving, and Akan was worrying about it.

[Loki, open up] Akan called, making the final step up onto the same level as the large ship. He felt a curious mind exploring his own, found something, and suddenly pulled back afraid. Akan knew what Loki had found. [She’s alright. We just need to get out of here...]

Loki said nothing, simply opening the hatch not far in front of Akan. He stepped in and started towards Shadow’s quarters. [Can you fly without me?]

It was an idea, at least. Really, Loki was alive...so, to Akan at least, it made sense that he wouldn’t necessarily need a pilot. Loki was silent while Akan made his way through the corridors, but then his voice said. [I can...but I haven’t in a very long time.]

[Look, I don’t know how to fly you.] Akan admitted as he stepped into Shadow’s quarters, noting the utilitarian emptiness about it. A room that looked like it never lived in that room. Arguably, Shadow hadn’t. But Akan could at least feel most of her memories out...and the emptiness fit her personality. It seemed that everything not considered ‘essential’ was simply useless to her. Ah well...carefully, Akan lay her down on the bed, trying his best to keep the jacket over her. Not as much to cover her(as, for some reason that should have been strange considering his age, the fact of her without clothes didn’t seem to be anything to worry about), but to keep her warm. She was shivering a good amount, and that reminded Akan what she’d told him about Alraxians. They required very warm temperatures, and without a morphsuit, it was likely they would freeze to death on most planets that humans considered temperate. So, he did his best to get Shadow under the large blankets of the bed.

All that time, Loki has still been silent, probably trying to figure out what to do. Finally, the ship said. [I’ll...try. But there are many ships above us...]

Akan sighed. Expected. Really, four Security officers out this far all on their own? Not likely. Carefully, he ran a hand over Shadow’s forehead. She’d fallen asleep during the trip to Loki. Closing his eyes, Akan turned and started towards Loki’s cockpit. [Hold on then. I’m coming up. You’re going to have to give me a crash course in flying you.]

A strange whimpering noise sounded through Akan’s mind. [I don’t want to crash again if I don’t have to.]

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 41: Last Thoughts

“Why again didn’t we go with Akan?” Jen asked idly as the turbolift traveled up to where the airspeeder had been left. It wasn’t much trouble getting past the few guards that had come down the turbolift, but the current worry was about how many were in the hangar.

Voort gave her a sideways glance, “Why didn’t we go? Why didn’t you go?”

There was a short silence as Jen had to think about that, then shrugged, “Someone has to make sure you don’t run off with my ship.”

“Your ship?” asked Voort with a slight grin on his face.

Jen laughed, “You think we stole that shuttle? Or worse, you think Akan actually bought it?!”

Voort’s only response was a smile, but that quickly faded when he looked up to the level indicator just above the door. Noting how close they were to the hangar, he stepped back against the wall and got ready to thumb on the lightsaber. Jen followed suit, backing up as much as was possible and holding her small blaster pistol up and ready. The two of them exchanged glances as the turbolift came to a halt, and the door slid open.

Voort didn’t stand still. The second the door was open, he ignited the orange lightsaber and moved in. Even if it had been empty, the move was a safe one. But, of course, it wasn’t empty. There were two other airspeeders in the hangar, larger transports that could hold at least ten men each, not including any pilots. With four of the Security officers having been dealt with already, that left at least sixteen others. And, with a quick look over as he moved in, Voort confirmed this number. Sixteen security officers of various species and sex all spun and trained their guns on Voort, who had stopped in his tracks upon realizing that rushing in was not a good idea.

“Lower your weapon!” yelled at least two of them. One voice was more obvious, being a Mon Calamari and sounding slightly fishy. Voort simply planted his feet and felt for Jen with the Force. Hopefully she was smart enough to stay as hidden as she could. If they thought it was only him...

Another of the security officers, a Sullustan, took a small step forward, his blaster rifle trained carefully on Voort, “I’ve seen his face before, sir!”

A human male with light brown hair tilted his head and also took a step forward, “It’s the escaped Imperial!”

Great. Now they’d identified him. Almost a little too convenient in Voort’s opinion. Extremely convenient. Of course, the next moment was one that Voort had anticipated. The security officers fired their blasters. Voort quickly backed to the turbolift again, using the lightsaber as best he could for defense, but mostly relying on his own instincts and reflexes. As he backed up, he called over his shoulder, “Maybe we should have gone with Akan!”

“It’s a little late for that now!” Jen replied, reaching out around the open turbolift door and firing off the best amount of covering power she could manage with such a small weapon. A couple of the guards quickly took notice of her, and Jen had to duck back against to avoid the blaster shots that were getting far too close.

Voort was back enough that he had one foot in the turbolift, “If its too late for that then I think we’re in trouble!”

Jen managed to reach over his shoulder and fire a few more shots, “You know, you are a lot like Akan. About as perceptive, if anything.”

“I try,” Voort commented before stepping completely into the lift and shutting the door. Blaster shots rang against it and he let out a sigh. With a serious look coming over his face, he looked to her, “We’ve got probably half a minute to figure out a plan.”

“You’re the soldier,” Jen said, pushing him back with her blaster, a slight grin on her face.

Voort smiled and shrugged, “You’re the thinker.”

“This may be one of those times where brawn is better than brains,” admitted Jen, the grin leaving her expression.

“Well,” Voort shifted to face the door, lightsaber still active in his hand, “Lets get to that speeder and get out of here.”

Jen took that as a signal of ‘let’s go’ and hit the switch for the door. Voort stepped out again, now face to face with three of the security officers. He didn’t give them a chance. In that frozen moment of surprise that had locked their bodies, Voort swung the saber in a long, horizontal arc. The three had no chance to even move, easily cleaved in two. Jen was surprised by the lack of emotion on Voort’s face, but yet again she had to remind herself that this man was...as he’d said ‘not a good person’.

As Voort started running to their speeder, Jen watched as the other security officers opened fire on him. Taking a deep breath, Jen stepped out behind him, firing her blaster pistol to those on her left as she ran as fast as she could. They were both moving fast enough to avoid being shot, as the security officers had obviously not expected them to come out running like they did. Of course, Jen wasn’t exactly hitting with her shots either, but it wasn’t like she got paid to shoot things. As far as she knew, these New Republic security officers were paid to shoot...and, from the looks of it, badly. The funny part was that these were the same people who’d commented on the inaccuracy and bad training that stormtroopers were given. Amazing how things eventually came full circle.

Voort got to the speeder, quickly hitting the switch to open up the main hatch. He ducked down behind the speeder, deactivating the lightsaber as it wasn’t really doing him any good anyway. Jen was right behind him, firing still as she ran and immediately jumped into the speeder. Voort waited a moment for at least a short break in the fire before also getting in, shutting the hatch and trying to ignore how the sound of the blasters hitting the speeder.

“This thing can’t possibly hold up to all that,” Jen commented as Voort started up the speeder and they shot off into the maze of tight buildings ahead.

Voort said nothing, simply doing his best to bring the speeder up and hoping that it would take enough time for the others to get going to give them a good head start. After nearly slamming into a building, Voort angled the ship up and they soon were out into the only ‘open’ air in Coruscant. Of course, it currently was littered with a very large amount of ships. X-Wings, Combat Airspeeders, and even a few older Z-95s criss-crossed the sky around them. Surprised by this, Voort quickly brought the speeder back down lower, hoping to not get noticed. Not likely.

Laser blasts hit around them, and Jen looked up and behind them to see two of the Z-95s angling around behind them, two lasers firing wildly at them. She said nothing, as the expression on Voort’s face seemed to warn against any kind of sarcasm or stating of the obvious. But as Voort wove the speeder back and forth to avoid the shots, something not far behind them exploded. It wasn’t a normal explosion...more like a huge crashing. Jen managed to catch sight of something coming out of a large hole in the tops of the industrial level. It looked similar to the Alraxian ships on Garek V, only a bit smaller and more streamlined. She mentioned this to Voort (albeit frantically), who spun the speeder to the side so they could at least see better.

As the ship shot out of the crack, blue energy blasts extended out from it at awkward intervals, and for the first few moments, fired wildly. Then, finally, it connected with one of the Z-95s after the airspeeder. Jen gave Voort a strange look, who said, “Well, he’s out. We don’t have time to watch this show.”

Jen only nodded as Voort pulled the speeder back into an angle to bring them to their shuttle. She got one last look at Loki, already up in the atmosphere and fading from sight. Akan and Shadow had made it. But what about Voort and herself? It was unlikely they’d even get to the shuttle. In fact, it was even more unlikely they’d make it to the main city district, as the fighters and other speeders were all starting to converge on them with Loki gone. Jen and Voort simply exchanged silent looks, saying nothing but both thinking the same things.

In the silence penetrated only by the laser blasts of their pursuers, the two of them only looked forward, though their thoughts rested years and years behind them as they ran through their lives. For Voort, it was not the first time it had occurred, and he knew where his thoughts would rest. On his lost wife...their unborn child...but strangely, they also found other things. Other people. Just as Jen’s did. Her family...but then, more recent events. More recent people. Things she wouldn’t have expected an would have doubted had it not been such a lost situation.

 

[Kangaxx]

I wandered over here a couple days ago from the Rokugan game, and I'm glad I did. Awesome story, keep it coming.