Star Wars: Heroes of Another Kind

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 123: New Ship, Old Name

If Shadow had taken the time to think about Hansen’s reaction to Akan ‘borrowing’ her ship, she wouldn’t have let him go. Either that or insisted to go with him and never return. To say that she was angry was like telling someone who had no concept of anything larger than a single room hut that a Star Destroyer was big. It was a gross understatement that would get one into serious trouble in any kind of important situation. Though Shadow wasn’t an expert on sarcasm or even humour, but every once in a while something would come to mind. For some reason, each of those times happened to be bad times to say such comments. Like right now, with Hansen screaming about losing her ship...it would likely not be a good idea to point out that Hansen had ‘borrowed’ it in much the same way, and at least Akan was planning to come back. No, not planning. He was coming back.

Mentally, Shadow stopped herself. The mental voice that had ‘said’ those words was the kind that people used to convince themselves of something they didn’t believe. Most people wouldn’t recognize that in such a matter of fact manner, but then again, Shadow barely understood emotions beyond the intellectual view that she could parse down those odd ones as what they really were. But not why. That annoyed her. This was likely a bad thing. Considering that Hansen was already starting to annoy her, still yelling on about pointless things. Hansen’s voice was starting to go hoarse, and Shadow had to force herself to wait in silence. With the confusion of why her mind was trying to convince her that Akan was coming back combined with Hansen yelling in her ears, Shadow was very close to that edge of snapping.

Titus saw it first. In a quiet voice of the kind perfect for being noticed through Hansen’s shouting, he said, “We get the point.”

Amazingly, Hansen went quiet. So her eyes became the part of her that fumed rage instead of her voice. It worked just as well, and didn’t give anyone else headaches. Seeing she was quiet, Titus started to ask the first calm question in the last...nearly an hour now? But before he’d managed to get the words out, Jen said exactly the same thing he’d tried to...in better words and a calmer tone.

“Shadow, where did he go?”

After Shadow’s much more sensitive ears adjusted to the lack of shouting, she went over the words that Jen had spoken them. Before saying anything, though, she remembered Jen’s penchant for feeling out people with the Force. Lying wasn’t going to do any good here. Looking past the fuming Hansen and over to the Voorts, she said, “Coruscant,” then, before they could ask the next obvious question, Shadow quickly added, “No, he’s not doing my search for me. He had...things that needed to be dealt with.”

There was a short silence in which Shadow got a surprise. Apparently, the three humans actually accepted that explanation. There was no feeling in the air of prying questions, distrust, or anything like that. Having prepared herself to explain more that wasn’t her’s to explain, Shadow was taken aback when Hansen grumbled, “He’d better bring the ship back in one piece.”

“And be smart enough not to ignore that bounty on our heads,” Titus said under his breath.

Another silence. They’d all followed those bounties, but Titus hadn’t mentioned the recent increase in the amounts. He didn’t plan on saying anything about it, either. It would just worry Jen more. Probably get the idea of going off and ringing him back into her head. Akan was a good kid, but she really needed to stop treating her like a reckless younger brother. The kid had made his choice to do this and they’d all have to just trust it. Trust that he didn’t get himself killed or tip the New Republic off to where they were. Thankfully, before any joking question about the price of the bounties came up, Shadow suggested that Jen get back to training.

Titus watched the two walk off into the forest. No matter how much he wanted to go and watch how Jen was doing, it would only distract her. Maybe he’d have to talk to Shadow about speeding things up for Jen...no, don’t think about that right now. He looked to Hansen(who still looked annoyed) and patted her on the shoulder, “Come on, lets get a drink. You look like you could use a few.”

“Have your ship stolen and tell me you look better than I do,” Hansen grumbled, but fell into step next to him as they walked back to the aforementioned ship.

At that, he laughed, “Not if I wear my uniform. Remember what the squad used to say?”

“That old suck up comment about every one of your kills making a comment on how perfect that uniform looks on you as their last words?” Hansen raised an eyebrow, a grin tugging at the edge of her face with those words.

Again, Titus laughed and nodded, “They were right, of course.”

“Oh, they were,” she grinned with an almost dangerous hint in her eyes, “But then again, we always made sure to keep quiet about how you looked when I drank you under the table.”

Memory returned to Titus, and his laugh faded into a politely embarrassed expression, “That was only one time.”

That grin was still on Hansen’s face as they walked up the ramp into the Alderaan II, and over her shoulder she said to him, “Only one that you remember.”

* * * *​

If there was one thing that Akan could say about the Starjumper, other than the cliched name, was that the ship was fast. There was no way that the hyperdrive on it was legal. Hansen couldn’t have been lying when she’d said it had been a Hutt’s ship. But then again, even the Hutts would be pressed to acquire enough credits for a hyperdrive like this one. Even though Akan wasn’t much of a gearhead, he’d found his way back to the engine room to have a look at the thing. It wasn’t hard for even his untrained eye to tell that there were tons of modifications to the thing. But how could their not be?! The ship was making a normally two to three day hyperspace jump in ten hours.

And now that ten hours was up. Akan checked a few of the gauges in the cockpit, glad that Corellian Engineering had kept a similar cockpit design through pretty much all of their models. Made things faster and easier. The chrono on the console off to his left reached zero. Akan’s hand was over to the three hyperdrive switched in the center console between the two pilot chairs and pushed them forward right on cue. The sound of the hyperdrive powering down echoed through the hull, accompanied by the rapid deceleration that Akan had always assumed he should feel. But instead, there was only that sound, a soft leaning forward, and the blue tunnel of hyperspace reverting into the real universe again. No one ever found hyperspace amazing anymore, even though it truly was...yet Akan felt it again now, but had a feeling that it was mostly because of the awe of the trip’s speed.

But this was Coruscant. This was the hub of the galaxy. No matter who was in control, the control was here. Everything was here. This was the place to be. That meant that one had to pay attention in their approach pattern. No matter how good safety systems were, how skilled pilots were, or how perfect sensor systems were, collisions happened in this place. So Akan made sure to pay attention to the space around him, bringing the ship onto a course in the only habitable planet in the system. Coruscant was easy to spot even from the distance one had to leave hyperspace from to avoid all the gravity wells from the planets and the star. It seemed like no matter how far away anyone got, Coruscant was still that metal ball in space, orbited by a thousand tiny dots of ships and stations and debris.

The YT-2400 hadn’t even reached the outermost Golan Defense Platforms around the planet when the comm started beeping. Now was the tough part. Just to make sure, he reached up and ran a hand through his hair. Encountering no ears in the way, Akan confirmed he was in fact, still in his human body. The voice would be different enough from whatever records they had of him as Akan.

When he reached over and hit the comm switch, a sharp, yet bored female voice immediately said, “This is Coruscant Docking Authority, identify yourself.”

Short. Simple. To the point...and with that perfect edge that said to anyone ‘We will shoot you down’. Obviously, Coruscant was still a tough planet to hold even with the Empire currently being more powerful in the Outer Rim worlds. Akan also knew that hesitation probably could be too suspicious, and made sure to respond quickly, “This is Captain Raan Maxwell, New Republic SpecForce. My operating number is 420571.”

There was a pause. In the pause, Akan heard a soft click. Changing frequencies. Alright, so far, so good. Step one was passed, but this next one was going to be tougher. It relied on the almost impossible hope that the New Republic had kept him in their files as ‘Active on Duty’ for the last three years. For a SpecForce member as he had been, it wasn’t completely improbably to lose contact for so long. But then again, times could have changed much more than he knew. Two more clicks across the comm channel suggested that at least a few people had no idea what to do about it. Again, that was good.

And then a voice returned. This time, it was gruff, grizzled, and male. He didn’t sound all that happy either, “Where the hell have you been, Captain?!”

Again, without missing a beat and doing his best to sound ‘military’, as Mare had always put it, Akan said, “Things got complicated.”

“Damn right, they got complicated,” the voice growled back, “Three years is a record for complicated situations.”

“That means I’ve got clearance to land?” asked Akan, doing his absolute best not to sound hopeful and to keep that military voice up. It’d been years since he’d used it, so he couldn’t help but worry it might sound a little off.

“If you can explain to me why you’re in possession of a ship stolen from Nal Hutta.”

That was an odd statement. So, Akan asked the only question he could think of, “Since when was procuring an escape something unexpected?”

“It isn’t,” commented the voice, almost off hand, “But then again, it is unexpected for one of our top men to disappear for three years and the reappear aboard a ship that’s the private property of one of the more influential Hutts.”

Ah. Akan was going to have to ask Hansen how she got this...from Nal Hutta, the actual Hutt homeworld that outsiders simply didn’t go to. That was equally because of the Hutts forbidding it and the fact that the place smelled worse than all the trash on Coruscant. There wasn’t much time to think, though. Akan’s mind was now forced to dig through those old buried memories, quickly and thoroughly enough to remember what his last mission had been. Somehow ignoring the emotions and pain that went with all of it, Akan found the right thing and made up the best story he could as he spoke, “Granin got off Balmorra after I found him. Tracked him all across the galaxy before catching his slip up on Nal Hutta during a meeting with the Hutts.”

Short, but hopefully effective enough. The less details the more likely it was to be true. Of course, it all relied on two very important facts. One, that the Imperial Moff Granin was dead. Two, that SpecForce hadn’t sent another mission to kill the genocide-loving man. In the silence that followed, Akan knew that whoever was on the other end of that comm was checking the data. He watched Coruscant grow closer. Traffic around the planet was more and more congested and Akan couldn’t help but wonder if he’d be in the planet’s atmosphere by the time this was over with. All around, transports flew all directions. He could even see a couple Skyhooks, tethered to the planet below by impossibly long turbolift tubes and resting in orbit. Couldn’t usually see those at this distance...then Akan realized that he wasn’t out as far as he thought he was. In fact, he’d gotten lost in his thoughts waiting for a reply and didn’t even notice that Coruscant was filling the viewport.

By the time he did realize this, the gruff voice was back, sounding as annoyed as ever, “The coordinates for the landing platform are being transmitted to you now, Captain. Once you set down, report to the SpecForce headquarters immediately,” a pause, then, “And since we’ve relocated, I suggest allowing the security team at the platform escort you without giving them any trouble.”

No, this was bad. Maybe making up an identity would have been a better idea. Too late. The comm was going to cut off soon...only one chance. He wasn’t good at this aspect of the Force, but there wasn’t any choice left. Allowing it to flow through his voice and knowing that there was the slight chance it might not work at all, Akan said in a very calm voice, “You won’t need the team. I know where to go. You can trust me.”

The voice returned over the comm in slow, monotonous tones, “You’re right...I don’t need to send the team. You know where to go...I trust you.”

And then it cut off. As Akan brought the Starjumper down through the planet’s atmosphere and towards the coordinates he’d been given, he allowed a sigh of relief. He leaned back in the pilot’s chair to reach up and flip a couple of the sensors switches, shutting the long and mid range systems off in preparing for setting down. He was going to need to get away from the platform as soon as possible after landing. The more that could be done before then, the faster he could be gone, and the less likely that there would be a security team arriving ‘just in case’. This didn’t solve the new problem, though. There was no way he’d be able to get off the planet in this ship. Once things were figured out, it was going to be impounded and he’d be hunted down. That meant finding another ship...no. Worry about that when its time. Right now, just get on the ground and then get away to do what needs to be done. This was complicated enough already, and somehow, Akan knew it wasn’t going to get any better.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 124: Old Bets, New Hunters, and Strange Partners

Apparently, the voice on the other end of the comm channel had been truthful. There was no security team to meet Akan once he set down on the landing platform. He had half expected to encounter twice the normal number security personnel, all with blaster rifles aimed right at the access ramp and firing off shots all around him just to show they meant business. Sure, Akan trusted in the Force and even in his use of it, but what he’d pulled was really pushing it. As he stepped down the ramp and then followed the single short pathway to the small, stark white building at the end, Akan couldn’t help feeling an odd sense of deja vu. Halfway down the walkway, he found himself looking up to the sky. A soft blue. Odd for such a polluted and industrial world. But that wasn’t what he was looking for.

Akan stopped himself. What was he looking for? Everything was normal. Ships and airspeeders littered the sky above, the distant star was shining softly, and even a few of the other buildings still rose up out of view. Coruscant. A normal view. Why did he expect it not to be? Shaking his head, Akan looked back forward and picked up a little speed this time. The longer he took to get lost in the city’s crowds, the more likely it was that a security force would appear, angry and probably confused. Reaching the large, white door, Akan was surprised that he nearly walked into it. The thing had a sensor like most every door did, but it didn’t open until he was so close that it worried him. Odd. Or was he shorter than he last remember? Why did that even matter?!

Getting control of his thoughts again, and at the same time trying to ignore the part of him wondering what was wrong, Akan stepped into the small room, heading straight for a young looking human woman behind the usual reception desk. He’d often wondered what these docking officers did when no one was there for them to question. He never saw any kind of viewscreen or anything that could provide them with entertainment. Maybe they just really were as boring as they came off as being. Boring people would tend towards boring jobs. Or, that was what they always joked about in the mess back on the Intrepid a lifetime ago. No, it wasn’t a lifetime ago anymore. Especially when talking with this docking officer who was just opening her mouth to ask the usual question.

“Can I see your papers, please?” she asked. Ha! It was that same voice. He’d sworn it years ago, in that mess on the Mon Calamari cruiser. Even put down money on it. Mare had bet against him on simple principle. Annoyingly enough, it seemed like the next few missions they’d been sent on were very much devoid of any docking officers. And the ones on the Intrepid didn’t count since half of them were in on the bets, too.

Akan’s mind caught up with the events and he realized he was getting a little too lost in memory. This wasn’t the time for them. So, trying to sound at least a little different than his normal voice, he said calmly, “You already saw them.”

The woman paused a moment, staring blankly at him. That blank look had been part of the bet, too. And then her face got a little confused, the voice changing from the usual flat, boring tones to a more ‘normal’ one, “I’m sorry, sir...I...um...what was you name again?”

Whew. Sure, that would have lost him the bet because it was normal, but at least she’d bought it. He’d have to actually thank Shadow for forcing a little more training on him in the less direct uses of the Force. Smiling politely, he nodded and said, “Captain Raan Maxwell.”

“Oh, of course!” she smiled(another thing that would have cost him twice the credits he’d put down in that pot), and motioned towards the right where the exit to the ‘real world’ was, “General Taran sent word for you to see him immediately. He said you know the way.”

“Yes, thank you,” Akan nodded and started to leave. Then he stopped. Something was still wrong. He had to check. If he didn’t, he’d never let himself live it down. Biting his lip a moment, Akan turned back around and said in a more friendly manner, “Excuse me, ah...ah...miss...miss...um...”

“Janna. Eleth Janna,” she finished without missing a beat. Akan nearly failed in his fight not to grin. The oldest trick in the book, and it had worked. Even on this docking officer. But now came the trouble of him having to make up a reason for mentioning anything else.

After quick thinking, Akan asked, “Do you happen to know where I can find a good place to eat somewhere near?”

Alright, so it was another old trick, but at least he wasn’t trying to use it as some cheap pick up line. Who in their right mind would ever use one of those on a docking officer, anyway?! But he’d at least confirmed that these people do, in fact, have names. That was actually one of the bigger questions among them all, and the one that all the guys in the ship’s hangar would laugh quietly to themselves about. It had made all the pilots feel like there was some kind of conspiracy or something among them. Of course, Akan wasn’t sure if he’d just confirmed or denied that with this new information.

He realized that she’d said something and he’d thought through it. Akan managed a polite nod and a short ‘thankyou’ before following the short corridor around the corner and off into the city. Time to focus and not toy with docking officers anymore. Putting those other thoughts out of his mind, especially the ones that brought that horrible pain every time he thought of the old squadron, Akan stepped out into the world and readied himself for a search for...for what? They the hell was he on this planet, anyway? A pull. A pull for what, though? You don’t just run off to the hub of the galaxy where both of your identities are likely to be hunted down and when you should be back making sure someone’s training didn’t go wrong on a whim.

It only took four steps out the door before Akan stopped. The literal reason he stopped was the small railing that was directly in front of him. The pathway went left, leaving him at a stopping point to look over the city below. And then he knew why he was here. Looking out, he saw the expansive Imperial Plaza. It was littered with thousands of people to the point where it looked like one huge mass of little things. Directly across from where he stood, was the Imperial Palace, lights even shining in the daylight. His eyes traveled right...and then up. They locked on a single building. It towered over the two next to it, and had a small platform connected to it. The latest dream suddenly shot right back into his mind. He had stood right here. Looked right there...and needed to go there. The why still didn’t make sense, but he also felt that need now. The need to know...more than just the new whys, but the need to know the old whys. The one’s he’d run from for far too long.

Shadow had told him he was going to have to confront his demons one day...he’d not thought it was going to be so literal. Tearing his eyes away from the view, Akan turned and headed down the walkway. Time to blend in with the crowd and disappear the old fashioned way. The way he still couldn’t get Shadow to understand with her ‘just morph, its easier’ attitude. But then again, when you’re a walking feline you tend to attract more attention than other races in this portion of the galaxy. It would probably take a while to reach that building. No matter how close it seemed to be from view, the streets and levels and people and everything of Coruscant just made walking from place to place near impossible. Yet, it was a good way to hide. So Akan decided taking his time was worth it, and started on that long maze to a building he only had a ‘feeling’ about. It was a normal day...and that was probably what worried him the most.

* * * *​

A figure sniffed the air carefully. The heavy robe and hood were causing trouble with the sense of smell, yet not so much as the crowds. All of these people distorted the smells and it was near impossible to pinpoint just one. But no...there it was. Distinct and new. It was strong. Easy to follow. This one obviously wasn’t too intelligent. It had been assumed that the Enai’la would have been much more cautious. Under the hood, the figure grinned, sharp and toothy, but hidden from the view of all the humans around. So easy...maybe too easy. Maybe a test.

The grin under the hood grew a little, becoming more dangerous. A test within a test, then? Such an interesting thing this was becoming. Faban had been right. It would be easy to find the prey here on this world. The most populated planet out here. Starting to carefully walk through the heavy crowds, following the strong scent, the figure couldn’t help but be very glad for wearing the heavy clothes. To walk on metal like this...to have it all around. This truly was a test of more than just skills in tracking. No matter what it was, the figure would be finished soon, and would return to Faban with exactly what was wanted. And then this task would be completed. Much honor would be gained by exposing the truth about the Enai and the Enai’la.

* * * *​

Sitting alone in that huge chamber at the top of his tower, Ket Halpak watched a figure approaching. Nine looked annoyed. The way her tail flicked violently back and forth as she walked gave that away. He couldn’t help but wonder why. No matter. She was going to tell him, even if he hadn’t wanted to know. So much like Marix, she was...

“Something is wrong?” he asked in a playful tone, leaning back in the chair and letting it bounce back. The wheels had gotten boring, so he’d found other ways to entertain himself. Currently, trying not to fall over had done quite well at that.

Nine didn’t say anything until she reached the single desk and stopped. She took a moment to just glare at him. Sadly, like Marix, Nine never really understood his fascination with ‘fun’. Marix had almost figured it out...but then...then...Ket ignored it and just looked to Nine. Her hard features and generally angry manner were the same as usual as she said sharply, “It is gone.”

“Oooh,” Ket smiled and leaned back in the chair again, “That was what we wanted, though. Why do you sound so...” he grinned, “...annoyed? Did you actually like the little brat?”

That got a dangerous glare and an almost growl from the two meter tall murderess. Calmly, coldly, and slowly, Nine spoke, “I nearly killed the brat,” she then motioned to a long, yet small, series of claw marks across her arms and the right side of her face.

Ket couldn’t help but laugh, leaning back just a little more and clapping his hands, “Perfect! He’ll do just fine! Hopefully he’ll find himself a ship and find our little friend! It will be such a wonderful family reunion!”

Nine just stood there glaring at him. And then, almost on cue, Ket leaned back too far. The chair toppled backwards, and the loud crash of him hitting the floor echoed through the empty chamber at least five times. And then there was another sound. A sound very foreign to Ket’s ears. Once he’d pulled the chair back up and sat down again, he saw the source. Nine was...laughing. Actually laughing! Sure, it was at him, but still! Obviously, these clones became something of their own. The real Marix would have probably stabbed him in that opening. He managed a growl and a sharp glare.

That only made Nine laugh more, and she slowly slipped around the desk. After a moment, she had a seat in his lap and looked down at him with the old predatory Marix expression. Her voice returned to ‘normal’, and she said, “This had better work, Halpak.”

“Oh, it will,” he said, idly wrapping his arms around her waist, “And you’ll get as much out of it as I will.”

So close to real, yet so different this clone was. Ket grinned. This is what the real Marix should have been. Would have been. If not for her damned idealistic streak that had come out of no where, everything would have been perfect. This clone was only so good. Every time he got close to her, he couldn’t help but wish for the real thing. But that didn’t matter anymore. The real Marix would never have cooperated this far. And she’d never betray the Empire. She had proven that when she’d taken his tail from him. Her family would pay for that. All of those damned close minded Alraxians would pay. And he would profit, as would Nine. So perfect. And really...if he just closed his eyes, Ket could easily convince himself that this Nine was really Marix...it wouldn’t be the first, and definitely not the last...

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 125: Red Blood

After a long hour of weaving in and out of crowds and tiny streets between buildings, Akan found the right one. It took nearly another hour to actually find a level with an entrance, and Akan couldn’t help remembering one of the only lighthearted discussions after they’d taken Coruscant. He and Rulae, the only other pilot in the squadron to survive, had been trying to find their way to a meeting in one of the nondescript buildings among the chaos of the planet. Even the assault on the planet hadn’t slowed down the citizens. One regime to another didn’t seem to be anything new to them. Akan and Rulae had been two hours late to the meeting because of getting so lost. They had even taken two aircabs with no success. This wasn’t just a place the two of them decided they wouldn’t want to live, but it sure as hell wasn’t any kind of place to visit either. Even the natives(if anyone was native to this planet anymore, at least) didn’t know where they were going. Why the New Republic hadn’t just left the Empire to get lost on their own planet, neither of the two pilots knew. It would have been easier...and less friends would have died...

But that was years ago. Obviously, not too much had changed on the planet itself. Seemed to be the way of things in the galactic Core. Akan found a spot that wasn’t bustling with people, next to a large column that, about twenty meters up, had some kind of statue on it that he couldn’t see. Leaning against it, he looked over to the building’s entrance. There was no evidence of what kind of building this was now. Sure, three years ago it had been and Imperial defense command center for this sector of the planet, but that could easily have changed. It could even be empty. No, that was wishful thinking. It would be full. Just like everything on this damned planet. So just barge right in and find out the hard way? That was starting to look like the only option...

There was an odd feeling all of a sudden. Akan raised an eyebrow and had a look around him. Why he looked, he didn’t know. The feeling wasn’t really from around him. Naturally, he checked his link with Shadow. Distant though they were, it was still as strong as ever. But no...she was...not really ignoring him, but dealing with other things. Good. Her focus was staying on Jen’s training. He suddenly wished he was there making sure things were alright. This was a mistake to come here and leave an opening for things to go wrong. Some part of Akan managed to get a hold of his brain and shut those thoughts off. But that wasn’t where the feeling was from...

Again, he had a look around. Nothing. Well, more like everything with nothing important in it. People went back and forth, talked, somehow managed to stand still in the center of the mass of people, and just doing whatever they were doing. Nothing to account for that odd...something. Maybe it was just that building. He looked up again. Looked up so far that his neck cracked and cringed slightly at the noise. No use waiting around like this. With a deep breath and stealing himself to the current course of action, Akan made his way to the entrance. When he got close enough, the main door, which reflected his image and made it look like he was about to walk into himself, slid open to reveal a large, yet boring, lobby. Akan stepped in to find six turbolift shafts, three on his left, three on the right. There were a couple of desks and tables off to the sides an opposite end of the lobby, but no sign of people.

Six turbolifts. So...which one? Akan walked to the center of the room and looked to his right. Then, to his left. He sighed and closed his eyes. There were two ways to do this, and each required a very large amount of faith. Either he had faith in his ability to guess, and just randomly picked on, or he put his faith in the Force and let it pick. Both ways was arguably putting faith in his own lack of wanting to go up and down six times until he found the right one. When that thought came to mind, he decided to let the Force guide him. Without thinking, and just allowing himself to be moved to the ‘right’ place, Akan found himself walking to the center left turbolift. Out of an odd feeling, Akan buttoned up his old military jacket. Sure it didn’t have anything but ‘Captain Maxwell’ on it now, no real rank insignia, department marker, or even anything to really prove it wasn’t just a little joke. But something told him it was a good idea to look like he was part of the military again.

Before he reached the turbolift, it slid open. He nearly panicked and ran off as quickly as he could when he saw three New Republic security agents step out. They eyed him, but seemed to notice the uniform(without really noticing it at the same time), and just walked past. In a staggered and still somewhat nervous way, Akan stepped into the now empty turbolift. He had the sanity to wait until the door slid closed to let out a sigh of relief and slump back against the wall. That had been a little too close. Trusting the Force was most definitely a better idea than trusting his random guessing. Otherwise, he might not have buttoned up the jacket...then they just might have stopped him to comment on him looking all unkempt.

Then...then...well, then he would have been running. Opening his eyes again once the relief had passed finally, he looked to the panel on the side of the tube. It listed a map of the building. Thinking on it, he then reached over and hit the small button to take him to the very top of the tower. No use in waiting around. It would be best to just get this over with and get right up there.

Looking at how many levels this place had, even at the speed this turbolift went, it would probably take a couple minutes to reach. Akan could feel his heart racing. So here he went. Confronting demons of old. He couldn’t help but wonder if demons got stronger when they were buried for so long. What was he going to find up here? Why was he really here? Part of him felt like it was more than just facing his past. Facing his fears. It couldn’t be just that...that was too simple. Too...no, it was perfect. Exactly the kind of thing any student of the Force, Jedi or not, would eventually have to do. Akan knew that he was no Jedi. Not anymore at least. Probably never was. It had been a nice thing to pretend for a while, but that was childish. This was really about confronting what he feared the most. His past. It was about growing up and accepting that one couldn’t change the past. But that was all only intellectual thought. Even Akan knew that when he got to the top, no matter what it was that he found up there, all intellectual thought and idea was going right out into hyperspace without him.

Things in Akan’s life always seemed to happen on cue. It was never something he’d wondered about, and in fact something he just thought of as normal. If anyone else had mentioned that things like that only occur in old holodramas, he would have given them the same confused look that Shadow always used when someone made a sarcastic comment. Complete lack of understanding. Therefore, it wasn’t any surprise to him that the second his thoughts had ended, the turbolift door slid open. It also wasn’t a surprise when he saw a familiar place.

He stepped out of the corridor and looked both left and right. One long corridor. Now he knew exactly where he was. Down the right would be the old control center. He and Mare had planted six charges in there to disrupt the orbiting Golan platforms’ targeting systems. There would also be another corridor branching off to reach where the old turbolaser batteries had been. The five they’d taken out. The sixth....the one...the one that had shot down Mare was back towards the left. Towards the landing platform and the small guard room. Doing his best to ignore the mix of pain and nostalgia, Akan allowed his feet to lead him. They went left. In fact, his eyes didn’t even look back to the right. Back there he’d succeeded. No, they had succeeded. It was this way that he had failed.

Following the grey, boring corridor, he remembered where the blaster scorches had been on the walls. He remembered where his shots had missed and struck...where her’s had gone...where the stormtroopers and the other Imperials had fired. And then, before reaching the turn that would take him farther down to the platform and guard room, he saw it. Just to the left, branching off back at an odd angle, was the corridor that led to the turbolaser battery they had missed. He had missed. This place would be new to him....and it was where his feet were taking him. Turning, pivoting around that corner on one foot and following it to the end. To the open. A small, narrow pathway without railings jutted out from where the actual corridor ended. The pathway was open to the air, providing anyone that wasn’t accustomed to such heights with sudden and likely fatal feeling of vertigo. Four meters out, was the large, metallic grey box of a turbolaser battery. The access door for the gunners was just at the end of the pathway. It was still there. Still there...after all these years, it was still there.

Akan stood at the edge of interior and exterior, staring at the turbolaser battery with a horrid sense of reality. Part of him had expected it to be gone. Hoped. Needed it to be. But it was still there. As strong as ever...his first real failure in life that had cost the life of another was still in one piece. Shock faded, giving way to something else. Something more dangerous. Slowly, Akan undid the buttons on his jacket and reached inside one sleeve to retrieve his lightsaber. Looking at the hilt of the weapon, he remembered how this had helped them to plow the way in. The sheer intimidation that this weapon provided had been enough to get them moving forward and open the Imperials up for some easy shots. But he had missed four Imperials. This weapon had missed four. Shadow had mentioned once that an Alraxian should never draw a weapon without taking blood. This weapon had been drawn years ago. But somehow, it had taken no blood.

Gripping the weapon tightly in his right hand, Akan walked forward again. Three short steps took him from the interior corridor to right in front of the entrance to the large weapon. He wasn’t even phased by the bottomless oblivion on both sides of him. His free hand found the switch to open the hatch. There was no access code. The Imperials, arrogant bastards that they were, never worried about that. No surprise that the new owners were getting the same way. Very slowly, and almost resisting the urge to do it, Akan pressed the switch. When it opened, slowly and with a fairly loud scratching noise of an old door, three faces turned in surprise.

Though he didn’t truly see the faces at the time, Akan would remember them in horrifying detail later on. One of them had opened their mouths to say something, likely a ‘who are you?!’ type of comment. But it was cut off very quickly, by two distinct and equally dangerous sounding noises. The first, was Akan’s voice, growling in tones that most human’s couldn’t reach without actually hurting themselves. Akan would realize later that his throat hurt, “Traitorous Sithspawn!!”

The second sound the three gunnery officers heard was not Akan’s footstep that brought him that much closer to them all. The second sound, somehow more terrifying that the first, was a snap-hiss of which none of them had heard before except from Holonet reports on the Skywalkers or the old Jedi. Two of them had a chance to manage a cry of terror. The first, closest to the blade of the lightsaber, had his head cleaved into two at nose level before his eyes had even managed to widen. The sweep of the blade ended a half second later, and three mutilated bodies slumped down over the destroyed consoles and systems all around them. Breathing heavily, with the only sound an odd mix of the lightsaber’s hum and the sparking and crackling of the consoles within the turbolaser, Akan stared ahead without blinking.

Mind caught up with action, and he nearly stepped off into the oblivion. Hands...arms...everything shaking, he stumbled back to the safety of the corridor and fell to the ground on his backside. The lightsaber remained loosely held in his left hand, cutting gently at the surface of the corridor where he now sat. Staring forward. So much blood. Lightsabers never did that...they always created clean wounds. But that turbolaser gunnery station was red now. Somehow, his eyes managed to tear away from the carnage a few meters away to look down at his shirt and trousers. Blood. A splattering of it all across that old, already dirty shirt. His trousers had it, too. And his hands. And...and there was a short path of it from his boots. How was there blood? Why the hell was that his problem?! Of course there was going to be blood! He sliced the man’s head into two pieces! And the others...what had he just done?!

“Hands in the air!” echoed a shaky, young sounding voice from behind him. Very slowly, a look of shock still on his face, Akan turned to look over his shoulder. He saw a young man...boy fit better. The boy wore a New Republic security uniform, and Akan couldn’t help but be amazed at the resemblance to an old holo he always kept...sure, the hair was a bit cleaner, but he looked so much like a young Raan Maxwell. How far had Akan gone from that kid? Was he really so different now? Raan wouldn’t have murdered those three men like that...but...but how had he gone so far?! What had happened in those three years to turn him into this? What had he allowed himself to do? Was there more than this that he saw?! Maybe Jen wasn’t the problem...maybe he was...maybe...

“I said hands in the a—“ the last word was suddenly cut off in a loud gagging noise. Akan’s eyes hadn’t been focused enough to actually see what had happened until the loud thud of the body hit the ground. Standing over the body was a tall, heavy robed figure. Blood dripped from a clawed, left hand, and Akan’s mind put together what had happened even from the unfocused images. His mind or the Force? Or both? Either way, in a flash that took no amount of time he saw the young kid standing there, blaster aimed right at Akan. Then, in a lightning fast movement Akan had only seen from one other person, the heavy robed figure dashed up behind the kid, slid a clawed hand up through the back of his neck to the point where Akan could see them exit in the front, just under the kid’s chin, and then pulled out. That’s when Akan’s mind reverted to the moment, with the kid falling to the ground and the figure just standing there watching him for a long moment.

Akan would have opened his mouth to say something if he hadn’t felt just slightly grateful. That, of course, made him feel even worse. Of course this figure wasn’t here to help him. The only person he’d seen move like that was Shadow, and this wasn’t her. She wasn’t here. It couldn’t be her. She wouldn’t kill like that, anyway...leaving such a mess...such a...his eyes tried to tear back to the scene within the turbolaser battery that he had caused. His eyes didn’t make it, though, as the figure spoke up.

The voice was soft, cool, and impossibly dangerous. It was the voice of a casual killer. The voice that Akan worried his was going to sound like if he responded. The voice was also sexless, which was an odd note that didn’t escape him despite everything else, “Where is the Enai?”

Something else about that voice. It sounded like it wasn’t accustomed to speaking Basic. In fact, the Basic was stilted and forced out. This time, Akan managed to open his mouth. No words came out, though. Enai?! What did that mean? The word sounded familiar in the way that he knew he should know it somehow in an oddly distant way...but didn’t at the same time. It didn’t make sense to him, and neither did his rationale of trying to figure it out. Nothing made sense anymore. But the figure seemed to catch on to his lack of ability to find words. It flicked the bloodied hand slightly, sending a splattering of the red liquid off against the wall and the ground. A moment later, the heavy robe was shrugged off and Akan nearly choked from surprise.

Taking a few steps over to him was a near two meter tall lithe Alraxian. The creature wore a tight morphsuit, with no weapon anywhere. Two deep, piercing silver eyes beared down on Akan, drawing his vision from the strangely soothing tabby-like markings in the hair and tail. The Alraxian’s skin was darker than his and Shadow’s. Stopping a few meters away from Akan, the Alraxian just glared down and said in the same type of voice, “You coat yourself in that disgusting substance. It will not hide your scent...neither will that weak form,” there was a slight pause before the figure took another step and said, “I will not kill you like that. I will not kill a coward.”

Akan never asked himself why he morphed back to his Alraxian body then. It was almost like a strong compulsion had forced him to...yet he knew deep down it was his own will that had done it. His own choice. Ignoring the pain of his tail being both sat on and confined with trousers not designed for such things, Akan looked up into the other Alraxian’s eyes. Silver eyes locked with ice blue eyes. Later, when Akan ran this situation through his mind again, he would realize that there was a slight twitch from the other’s tail. And then, without anything but an almost invisible nod to him, the Alraxian sprang into action, diving forward with claws extended, faster than Akan had ever seen.

Akan was not in a good position. Looking over his left shoulder, sitting back in a near sprawled out position, and exhausted with shock. Yet somehow, his body moved in the short half second it had before claws dug into the back of his skull. But Akan still had one thing, and if not for a sudden focus on that soft hum to his left, slowly realizing that there was a metal cylinder in that hand, even moving would have ended both his and Shadow’s life. He didn’t move to his feet. Instead, pulling up with the lightsaber and spinning to face his attacker. The Alraxian was surprised by the sudden, bright flash of blue-green movement. Both of the extended arms, from the elbows up, were hacked off in one sweep. A second later, the blade was out of the way enough and the Alraxian’s body crashed into Akan’s face first. Forced onto his back, he didn’t see as much as feel that the attacker was already remorphing his hands and striking with the unfinished body parts. No doubt they’d be finished and sharp when they hit.

So Akan’s body reacted again. First his knees shot up, slamming into the Alraxian’s gut but not knocking the wind out of him at all. But Akan rolled back just enough to kick his entire legs up, glad for the extra strength this body had. It sent the Alraxian up and over him, rolling off and over the edge of the open corridor and out of sight. Akan’s momentum brought him back up like a pendulum, then to his feet. The lightsaber was still in his off hand as he looked back to the opening. His eyes shot past the blood covered turbolaser and saw no sign of the other Alraxian. Without another thought, Akan ran. He ran down the corridor, around the dead kid that was another casualty brought on by Akan, and out the main corridor towards the platform. Why that way?! There was a guard room(which was obviously occupied), and a dead end! Yet his feet took him there anyway. Rounding a corner, the lightsaber was switched back into his right hand. That was the same time that he saw the open air platform from so many years ago. For the second time, he nearly stumbled to the ground from shock.

This time, because of the familiarity of the scene. On that platform was an X-Wing. It wasn’t just like his...but so close that the image hit him just as hard as that Alraxian’s skull had. A moment later, three young looking security officers exited the guard room next to the exit of the corridor and the opening to the platform. The looked at each other. They looked to Akan. They saw the blood all over him. They saw the lightsaber. They saw his shock. And then, at the same time, they all drew their blasters and started to pull the triggers. Before they could, Akan reached out with both the Force and his free left hand. An invisible hand latched onto the blasters and he physically yanked his own hand back. At the same time, the three blasters were yanked out of the security officers’ hands, forcing Akan to duck not to be hit by the projectiles flying his direction. The three men didn’t have a chance to look surprised.

Right behind them, Akan watched a small, yet oddly coloured, bird drop from the sky. As it dropped, the body changed and he saw that same Alraxian. Why he’d thought it would be so easy to kill was a mystery now. Of course it wouldn’t be easy. Still in the air, the Alraxian’s left foot shot out and kicked one of the guards hard across the neck. There was a snap from his neck, and a sudden blank look appeared on his face before the body dropped. Just as the Alraxian’s feet hit the ground, a free, clawed hand slashed out at the second officer’s face. Four long, deep claw marks marred his face, blinding him and taking the ear in the same strike. He managed a scream, but even that was cut off when Akan saw a familiar yet horrifying attack. The second clawed hand shot up through the man’s neck, one end to the other, going all the way through and making a good mess of it while silencing the newly created corpse. The last security officer had a chance to strike, and even took it. However, his punch was caught without even a look from the Alraxian. The fist was crushed with a gruesome cracking noise, and then the Alraxian yanked the man’s arm around in a long, circular motion that took the arm completely out of its socket and off of the body. A scream of pain and horror from the man was ended when his neck was stabbed.

And then, the two Alraxians stood opposite each other. Eyes locking again. For the first time, Akan really understood how much stronger Alraxians were compared to humans. But that, like many other things, was not something that came to mind at the moment. What came to mind was analyzing the situation in a way that only an overloaded mind could. Behind that Alraxian was his way off this hellish planet. But that was the problem. Behind the Alraxian. Akan was going to have to go through this monstrous warrior. This monstrous warrior?! Akan was no better. One monster against another, then. Killer to killer. They both knew it. They both felt it. And they both dove at each other at the same time.

Akan’s lightsaber strike sliced off the hand that had meant to ruin his face, spinning off to the left and leaving the attacker to spin the opposite direction. While one hand was remorphed, the other lashed out at Akan’s back. But Akan wasn’t going to turn and fight. He was going to get to that ship. It was an odd, and completely unhuman motion that got the lightsaber where it had to be again, chopping off another hand in mid spin, but Akan didn’t know it. His body was moving. Reacting. Stepping forward and at the same time, around this attacker. He defended the random and constantly dangerous strikes, each time taking a limb as payment. This didn’t phase his attacker, who would simply remorph it and be back for another attack. It was a long, series of the two of them spinning in circles around each other, with Akan’s attacker nearly finding an opening each time, and losing a limb each moment, and a bright blue-green halo like image around Akan, spinning back and forth as fast as they danced around each other that brought them to within only a couple meters of the X-Wing’s two closed wings.

It was Akan who had been backed into it. But that was only by luck, and they both knew it. The circular dance around each other was so random and had reversed direction so many times that it was impossible to predict which one of them would be trapped. And it was Akan. But he wasn’t about to die on this planet. He wasn’t about die like this. A strike towards his face was the first that didn’t result in a lost limb. Instead of lopping the hand off, Akan ducked low and swung his lightsaber back across the lower end of the wing behind him. This change in ‘pattern’ had caused a millisecond of surprise in the other Alraxian. It was enough time for Akan to pull back, rolling under the wing and grabbing the small piece of the wing that had fallen off onto the deck below. His attacked slid in with a heavy kick across the deck, and again Akan rolled out of the way. This time, bringing him up out from under the wing and a good distance back to his feet. His right hand finally stopped the spinning defensive movements of the lightsaber, and the blue-green glow just sat in front of him. In his left hand, he palmed the real weapon. Waiting. As Shadow had taught him, he turned the predator into the prey. His prey.

And his prey moved exactly how he wanted. It followed his roll, launching up to its feet and diving at him to create another series of even more vicious attacks than those that had brought them to this point. Akan swung his lightsaber in a long, vertical arc, taking off the entire arm this time. As he did so, he took a heavy, firm step into the Alraxian’s chest. Just before the other lost its balance, Akan shot upward with his left hand. A clawed hand from the attacker was also coming at him. They were face to face. Eye to eye. Both eyes widened at the same moment. Both of them took in a sudden rush of air. But the attacker shook violently before completely retracting its claws from Akan’s torso and stumbling back. The small, metal piece of the X-Wing’s wing was dug deep into the Alraxian’s stomach. There was a short amount of blue blood that seeped out of the wound before the Alraxian attempt to remorph. Everything in the face of Akan’s attacker showed realization of what had happened. Panic shot across the doomed creature’s face as a metallic sheen began to spread across its body. Spreading up and out through that wound like a horrible virus engulfing the thing. In a matter of seconds, it was over and the Alraxian was frozen in shock. Akan felt the adrenaline rush subside, and found his mind kicked right back in to take its place.

It was on instinct that he took the Alraxian’s metal body and stuffed it into the X-Wing’s cargo hold under the cockpit. That was the only action he could really pinpoint, as the rest of it was a blur. He didn’t remember climbing in and realizing the ship had two seats, one behind the other. He didn’t remember powering the ship up and taking off. He didn’t remember blasting his way through a defense platform to get to hyperspace range. Akan didn’t even remember ever deactivating his lightsaber. All he remembered were those three faces. The three innocent men in that turbolaser battery the second before he had murdered them. The second before he’d truly failed. Not only Shadow. Not even just himself. But Mare. He failed her again. And he sat in that cockpit alone in hyperspace, on his way back to Endor with a dead Alraxian in the cargo hold, knowing how much he’d messed up. Knowing that it was impossible to take it all back. Knowing that he’d not confronted demons at all...but instead found another way to run from them. A terrifying way. All of the blood was with him. On him. Its smell filled everything. And it terrified him even more, knowing that he had caused it. Even almost enjoyed it...

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 126: Together Again

Jen looked across the forests in front of her a long moment. Shadow was resting, though it was beginning to seem like the Alraxian was having trouble figuring out what to get Jen to do. It was becoming obvious to all of them, even Hansen, that Jen was moving much faster through the training exercises than had been expected. She was adept at moving objects through the Force, a task that had given her trouble not long ago at all. Shadow had even worked with her on basic combat training. It was odd at first, a blend of mental discipline with physical prowess. Apparently, Shadow was doing her best to adapt Alraxian techniques to a human learner. Maybe that was the problem.

But the details and why didn’t really matter to Jen anymore. Having gotten so used to a strict daily routine, this sudden shift to constant relaxation was odd. Though complaining wasn’t really worth it. That provided for more time with Titus, which was never something for complaining about. The two of them had decided that, once there was enough time, they would escape for a few months on their own. Neither had any problems with Akan or Shadow, but time alone was just something they both really felt was needed. And then there was Hansen. Jen did dislike that woman. It was from a childish jealousy, but more a basic difference in point of view and personality. The woman was annoying, closed minded, and had a habit of not getting the hint when it was politely suggested she leave.

Sighing, Jen used a mix of older and newer techniques to push those thoughts away. Not right now. The last thing that was needed was getting angry with Hansen. That woman was already annoyed enough as it was and encouraging her wasn’t worth it. It would also force Titus to take sides against his friend. Jen knew without a doubt that Titus would support her, but driving a rift between him and Hansen was probably not the best idea. Everyone needed their friends. Someone they could talk to. Old friends were the best. Jen didn’t have those anymore...well, no, that wasn’t true. Smiling slightly, she thought of one. Not that old, really, but the oldest so far. Akan listened in that way where you could tell he had no idea what to do but really did want to help. It was a childlike quality that was cute in may respects, just adding to her seeing him as a younger brother. Maybe that was why she was so concerned...

Ever since leaving that horrible planet, Arranis, Akan had seemed to be avoiding her. Sure, he would stay around and have distant conversations, but he’d never look her in the eye. Always darting here and there, making sure to avoid eye contact. It was slow, but obvious to her. Whenever she asked him what was wrong, Akan would just look worried, panicked, a little terrified, and then find a way to escape. Not always in that order, either. Jen had a look up to the sky above. From where she stood in front of one of their small huts, she could only catch small glimpses of the sky. The tree cover was heavy all over. That wasn’t a bad thing, but it was getting a bit...closed in. That got a grin on her face. Couldn’t seem to pick anything positive to think about anymore.

Her ears, while not as sensitive as the Alraxians’, picked up a soft sound not far off behind her. Turning, Jen saw Shadow. The Alraxian girl looked exhausted. So maybe she hadn’t been sleeping at all. It was only another moment before Shadow saw Jen. Slowly, she walked over to the human woman. Once getting within earshot, Shadow said, “Something’s wrong.”

Short, straight, and to the point. No actual referring to what was wrong, but then again, that wasn’t necessary. Jen managed a slow nod before saying, “Its been four days, of course something’s wrong. I told you that two days ago.”

Shadow managed a nod, looking off to the forest and then back to where the two ships were. She didn’t say anything, but Jen could feel that there was a at least something going through Shadow’s usually quiet mind. Moving so that she could look Shadow straight in the eyes, Jen asked quietly, “What’s happened?”

It was odd seeing Shadow look so helpless. Having all her defenses beaten just like that was just one thing to add to the pile. Her ears flattened and her entire body slumped forward, “I don’t know. I should know...” sighing, she tapped her forehead, “He’s...there. But not. I shouldn’t have let him go. He wasn’t ready yet.”

“You said he was ready,” Jen said quietly, picking her words carefully and making sure to avoid any kind of confrontational tone.

Shadow mumbled something incoherent before saying, at a level just above a whisper, “I was wrong.”

“We all make mistakes,” responded Jen, reaching up to put a hand on the Alraxian’s shoulder.

With a short growl, Shadow batted Jen’s hand away and took a fairly large step back. Glaring, though Jen could tell it was more from panic and worry than real anger, Shadow spoke quietly, “There are different kinds of mistakes. I let him go alone to do something he couldn’t handle. If I can be wrong in such a critical choice once...then...”

Her voice trailed off, and Jen knew what the rest of that was. Then she could make other mistakes. Then, maybe those worries about Jen’s training might just be true. No. No, she didn’t believe it. In fact, only Akan seemed to be worried about it. But now Shadow was doubting herself and all the choices she’d made...yet...yet... “But he’s still alive, Shadow.”

“That may be the problem!” the Alraxian snapped, a mixed look of both anger and pain crossing her face. She made an almost whimpering sound, which was odd from a feline creature, and spoke more quietly, “He...he was there...I could feel him there...but...the last few days. Nothing. No, not nothing...just...not right.”

Though Jen had never really understood the link between Akan and Shadow, she had a feeling asking the details probably wasn’t the best thing to do right now. She managed a polite nod, and thought about asking ‘How is it not right?’ but then decided against it. From the sound of it, Shadow couldn’t even figure it out herself. Describing it to Jen would likely be even more complicated. So there wasn’t much she could really do except stand there feeling a bit useless. When she noticed that Shadow was looking to her with a look of helplessness, Jen said quietly, “I’m sorry. I wish I could do something.”

Shadow nodded slowly and her ears rose a bit more, “I...I wish I could, too.”

* * * *​

Titus didn’t like the huts. Not that they weren’t comfortable, but there was just something about being on the ship that made him feel safer. Especially in the last couple of weeks. Ever since that price increase in their bounties, he’d made sure to sit much closer to the sensor systems. Out in the huts, that was impossible. Not that he would just stay in here all the time, but even Jen had mentioned more than once that they sleep in here. He sighed and leaned back in the large chair. Alone in the ship. Hansen was off fuming again. Seemed like she wasn’t ever going to get over losing ‘her’ ship. Honestly, Titus didn’t have that much of a problem with what Akan had done, especially after having heard Shadow’s reasons for letting him go.

A test. Titus had gone through a test not so different twice before. The first time was from the Emperor. That test was one Titus still did his best to forget. It was in his past, and something couldn’t change anymore. Dwelling on it was pointless. That was what Akan needed to learn. Titus had seen Akan come very close more than once, yet every time that kid just pulled himself right back into old routines. Perhaps seeing the place where he’d lost that girl would kick start a bit of rational thinking.

He grinned. Hadn’t worked for him, years ago when Landau had convinced him to go back to where Calina had been killed. In fact, it had only made him more vehement in clinging to the past. A short laugh at his old foolish self was something he couldn’t hold back. No matter how much credit he gave Akan, that kid was still just that. A kid. Titus had been an adult and couldn’t deal with it. But it would probably be good for him. Maybe it wouldn’t kick start exactly what it was that everyone(Akan included) expected. Titus at least hoped that maybe Akan would realize how similar their situations really were. And then maybe...just maybe, that kid would listen to some reason.

Akan was a person that Titus wanted as a friend. Not just because it would ease one of the only tensions between him and Jen, but because he really did like the kid when it came down to it. It was like looking back at himself, years ago and experiencing the same things. He could help Akan. And he would...but not without being asked. With matters as sensitive as those that Akan was dealing with, it wasn’t something to push. Titus knew that well. Especially since he’d been pushed and broke Landau’s hand out of anger. Akan was just a bit more unstable than he had been.

There was a beep. Or rather, more of a mechanical screech. Either way, it got Titus sitting straight up and getting to his feet in a haphazard way. Quickly, he ran through the short corridor to the ship’s cockpit and jumped around one of the passenger seats into the pilot’s chair. As he was sitting, his right hand brushed against the sensor unit and stopped the annoying noise. He then quickly turned in the chair to look to the small sensor screen off to the left console. When his eyes fell on the screen, they widened and he nearly fell back out of the chair. Resisting the urge to run off and find Jen to warn her and get the word to the others, he stayed put and made sure this wasn’t a joke. Or a random stroke of coincidence.

According to the sensor readings, a small object had entered the planet’s orbit a few minutes earlier. It completed one full orbit before scanning the surface. This was half the reason that the alarm went off. The other half was that the ship was coming in towards them. And it was now close enough for the computer to identify what the ship probably was. That was what had Titus wanting to run off. Instead, though, he powered up the weapon’s systems and prepared to get the top turret charged up and ready. The ship was an X-Wing. Or at least, close to an X-Wing. It was just slightly larger than the normal model and was moving a little faster, too. But it was alone. And something stayed his hand from the turret controls. Seeing that he wasn’t going to shoot the thing down, Titus spun around in the chair, stumbled to his feet and ran off to find Jen.

He found her by nearly running into her. Jen and Shadow had heard the obvious sound of the X-Wing’s engines echoing not far from them, and were running to it. There were no words beyond sounds that had probably been thought of as words between them before the three tore off between trees back to the only clearing anywhere near them. Back to the ships. When they arrived, they watched the X-Wing setting down just behind Loki and a little off to the right of the Alderaan II. The three of them ducked and ran around the larger form of Loki, who was pounding Shadow with questions of all sorts, and stopped so as not to be crushed.

The ship was larger than the normal X-Wing. It had the normal shape and build, except that the underside near the rear had a slightly larger, fifth drive unit attached. The only other visible difference was that the pilot was sitting very far ahead of the back of the ship. It had a gunner’s seat. Interesting...

The second that the ship was down and stable, Titus watched the two females charge forward as one. He couldn’t help a slight grin at that. Surprise had faded from all of them to a sense of worry. In the pilot’s chair was not the usual orange and white uniformed pilot. Instead, they could see a dark brown shoulder, scruffy and slightly red tinted white hair, a large brown ear, and Akan’s profile. He didn’t look down to them. In fact, Titus noticed that the kid wasn’t really doing anything but staring forward. The canopy hadn’t opened, either.

That helped Titus to the decision of following both the females, who were already working on getting up onto the ship. Jen put her hands together, cupping them low so that Shadow could use them as a footstep. Though the Alraxian probably could have jumped up herself, she nodded to Jen and took the boost. A short moment later and Shadow was on the long nose of the ship, clawing at it just slightly for fear of sliding off the other side and landing on her tail. Making sure her balance was fine, Shadow then looked forward into the cockpit.

First, she noticed his eyes. Open and blinking, but not aware. He just looked forward. How that assisted in landing this pile of metal, Shadow had no idea. But the eyes weren’t what got her attention. What got her attention was all the red. She had first noticed it in his hair, then seen that there were much darker patches all along his clothes. If the canopy wasn’t sealed, she would be able to smell it and identify that as what she had a feeling it was. Extending her claws, Shadow tried to pry the canopy open. It wasn’t working. Growling, she punched the thing and yelled, “Open the damn canopy!”

Though she didn’t see his hand move, there was a short pause and then a short hiss of air as it snapped open. Shadow quickly shot back so as not to be carried up with the canopy, but was suddenly overwhelmed with a heavy smell of blood. Red blood. She couldn’t help a shudder. Red blood was disgusting.

“Akan!” Jen said, who was now being help up at level with the cockpit thanks to Titus. When she noticed that he was staring forward and not reacting, she instead turned to Shadow, “What’s wrong with him?”

“Shock,” Shadow commented, climbing half into the cockpit to start undoing the straps holding Akan into the ship, “I think.”

“You think?” that was Titus, shaking slightly but not having too much trouble holding up Jen. She didn’t weigh all that much, and was also using one hand on the edge of the cockpit to lift her up just a little more. The other hand was helping Shadow with parts she couldn’t reach.

“I’m not an expert in these things,” grumbled the muffled voice of Shadow. She had thrown the straps off over Akan and then looked at the current problem. Getting him down was going to be interesting. But that wasn’t going to be all that much trouble. The trouble, Shadow figured, was going to be getting any information out of Akan. Before starting in suggestions on how to go about lifting him out, she sighed and rested her head on the forward console of the cockpit. Once this was all over and done with, she was going to hit him. Hard. Seemed like no matter what he did, it always ended up in more work and trouble. Why couldn’t he have just stayed in bed?! And what was that other smell the blood was masking? Too many questions...

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 127: No Breaks

“What did that little sithspawn do with my ship?!” growled Hansen, charging forward to get into the hut where Akan had been taken. Shadow was inside, ignoring the humans, who all three stood outside. Titus just stepped back slightly, not really sure what to say but at the same time not wanting to cause any more problems. This was already looking and feeling like trouble.

That was why it was Jen that stepped forward, putting herself between Hansen and the hut. She didn’t say anything, but instead stared straight into the other woman’s eyes. There was a dangerous look in Jen’s eyes, but Hansen didn’t seem to be paying attention to it. She instead just tried pushing the smaller woman out of the way. This, almost surprisingly, didn’t work. Jen held her ground, feet planted strongly but still not speaking.

Hansen stepped back just slightly, glaring down at Jen and speaking slowly, “Get out of my way.”

“No,” replied Jen, calmly and patiently.

“He stole my ship!”

“You stole it first!” Jen snapped back harshly, taking a short step forward before calming her voice again, “And there are currently more important things than your possessive streak. My friend is back in there, and I don’t know what the hell is wrong, but I can promise you that he’s got a damn better reason for not having that ship than you did for stealing it in the first place.”

That was too far. Cursing sharply, Hansen stepped forward and swung a heavy, very militaristic punch aimed at Jen’s head. To both Titus’ and Hansen’s surprise, Jen simply ducked low under the swing, and then send an open palmed strike up at Hansen. It caught the other woman hard in the lower chin, sending her up slightly and then down onto her back. She didn’t move. Jen looked down at the now-unconscious Hansen and then glanced to her palm. That had hurt...Shadow never mentioned how much it actually hurt.

A hand came down on her shoulder and she nearly swung around to break the arm. The reactions that Shadow had taught her were quickly fought back, and instead Jen just turned to see Titus with a bewildered look on his face. Grinning slightly, Jen shrugged and mumbled, “Shadow taught me a few...other things.”

“So she did,” Titus grinned too, drawing her into a hug before whispering, “You know she’s going to be very angry when she wakes up.”

“Angry with a bad neck ache,” Jen added, wrapping her arms around him and allowing the adrenaline rush to fade away.

Within the hut, Shadow hadn’t even heard the yelling. She sat on the small bed next to Akan’s chest, cross-legged and concentrating. A hand rested on his forehead, though it was more for her own encouragement than real assisting in what she was doing. They had been there for about an hour. From what she could tell, Akan was asleep now. Or at least, his breathing had slowed and brain had fallen into the usual feelings she associated with him being asleep. The more calmed state had allowed her to access his mind through the link with a little more ease. But just because she could feel his thoughts didn’t mean she could understand them. Long ago, she...or maybe it was Marix...had learned that everyone had a different pattern and rational to their thought processes. Sure, you could probably get used to someone else’s way of thinking after years and years of work, but even then there would be translation problems. Currently, translation problems was what Shadow was encountering. Or at least, she had been. Now she had simply decided to wait on him.

At first, she felt a slight ripple through the link. It could be described as a ripple of consciousness, but that was only partially correct. The second was most definitely more than a ripple...almost a wave. This, she had identified long ago as the odd way that Alraxian’s woke up. It was essentially the mind kicking back in from whatever dreams were currently occurring. After another few moments of odd feelings and jolts through the link, Shadow opened her own eyes to watch him. Quickly, she pulled her hand away from his forehead and watched for any sign of movement. The first sign of that was an ear twitch. Shadow didn’t actually notice her own ear doing the same thing. The sound they’d both noticed was of Jen and Titus moving over towards the edge of the entrance, watching quietly.

Then, quietly, Akan groaned. It sounded more like a soft growl, but Shadow knew the difference by now. Before even an eye opened, Shadow prodded him in a quiet manner. [You awake in there, Akan-jai...?]

That got a mental groan from him. If there weren’t so many questions that needed to be cleared up, she would have laughed at that. The link had become so natural at this point that both of them found themselves making natural sounds like groans and yawns mentally. Whether that was healthy or not wasn’t something she thought about. It was obvious that it wasn’t normal, at least...but then again, what was normal about any of them? Sighing, she attempted a small mental poke. That was impossible to describe to anyone that hadn’t experienced it, but Shadow knew what it was and that it usually worked.

The fact that it got a physical groan out of him helped to enforce that it did work. Also, he opened his eyes...slowly, only halfway, but that was still open. Slowly, Shadow leaned over him and looked down into the half open eyes, curious if there was any life in there. They widened suddenly, and he nearly jumped back off the bed, sending her off on her back to the ground. After the initial panic of seeing a huge, silvery-purple eyed face, Akan’s breathing slowed again, and Shadow gave him a chance to wake up normally. She didn’t miss the slight chuckle from behind her. She couldn’t tell which Voort it was, but one of them had found that jump from both Alraxians very entertaining.

When she was fairly sure that he could hear and mostly likely understand, she said quietly, “You alive in there...?”

Akan shook his head slowly. That got a raised eyebrow from Shadow, “Not alive?”

“Uh-uh,” he mumbled, nodding this time, “‘m dead.”

“Guess we should just go bury you then,” Shadow trailed off, turned and started to get up. There was a loud noise of Titus clearing his throat. She shot him a slightly hurt look, but nodded and turned back to Akan and asked, “What happened?”

With a little effort, Akan managed to sit up next to her. She watched him blink a few times before turning to her and placing both his hands on either side of her face. He then leaned in and rested his forehead against hers. She knew what he was attempting. In fact, it was a little technique she’d taught him that would strengthen the link through the Force. It only took a couple of moments before she saw. When he pulled back and then hung his head, she just nodded without saying anything. Of course...he hadn’t shown her the Alraxian, but what he’d done to those three humans was enough for her to see and understand.

In a quiet, almost hoarse voice, he said, “I screwed everything up...I just made things worse.”

“Its my fault, Akan-jai,” Shadow mumbled, closing her eyes and getting back to those things she wasn’t all that good with, “I shouldn’t have let you go.”

There was a silence between them. It was long, thick, and filled with the two of them feeling lost and useless. But then, Akan’s mind seemed to catch up with the rest of his surroundings. Or rather, his very immediate surroundings. His face went red...then all of his skin followed(an Alraxian trait he’d not seen that much just yet), when he asked very quietly, knowing that Jen and Titus were just beyond Shadow, “What happened to my clothes?”

Shadow couldn’t help a slight grin, “They were covered in...you know...they’re out drying.”

“Drying...”

“Dunked them in the river,” Shadow said, the grin still on her face. It had also gotten rid of the horrid smell on those things. She couldn’t help but wonder if he’d ever washed those at all.

Akan looked down, seeing his entire body was a light red color. He then frantically looked around for the blankets. Diving across the bed, he grabbed them and pulled them up over his body, whimpering a little and curling up just slightly. If she’d been feeling cruel, Shadow would have laughed at that. For some reason, these humans were so nervous when it came to a lack of clothes. It wasn’t like there was anything wrong with it. But then again, she’d learned to just live with it...and of course, have a little fun in the process.

Noticing his thoughts were fading back to those that forced him into that odd state of frozen shock, Shadow said, “Don’t...don’t think about it right now. You can’t always succeed at everything you do. It could have been much worse, Akan-jai.”

She shouldn’t have been surprised when he shook his head, but somehow she was. But she did get slightly worried when he said, “It is worse...go back to the X-Wing...open up the cargo hold.”

Hesitating a moment, Shadow nodded and got to her feet. She then turned and walked past the Voorts, giving both of them a raised eyebrow look before heading out to where he’d set the X-Wing down. After stepping over the unconscious form of Hansen, Shadow heard the sounds of footsteps behind her. She only had to focus on her hearing a moment to identify Titus’ footsteps. He planted his feet strongly and firmly with each step, very sure of what he was doing. She didn’t turn, but couldn’t help wondering why Jen had stayed behind. But all of those thoughts suddenly disappeared when Shadow got to the X-Wing and opened up the underside cargo hold.

It slid open, and even before completely finishing, a large metallic object fell to the soft ground with a thud. At first, Shadow didn’t know what it was. Then, her nose connected things. That odd, second smell on Akan...just hidden under the thick smell of blood. This thing reeked with it somehow...and then she knelt down to look directly into a metal face, frozen in a painful yell. There were two large, feline ears on either side. It was an Alraxian. Things started connecting, and Shadow stumbled back with a shocked look on her face. An Alraxian. Dead. This one had tried to morph but...Shadow’s eyes looked all over and found a small protrusion near the stomach. A small piece of metal. And Akan had brought it here. Akan had killed this Alraxian.

“He’s dead?” Titus asked quietly, who was currently kneeling behind Shadow a short distance to her left.

Shadow turned to look at him, shaking her head, “Not he...she. And yes, she’s dead.”

“She?” he raised an eyebrow,” She’s over two meters tall and doesn’t even look...well...female.”

“Do I?” Shadow asked with a slight grin, motioning to her own somewhat androgynous body.

“Good point,” he said with a nod, “Though I thought I remembered you...um...Marix once saying that only adults get that tall.”

Shadow, slightly surprised at his knowledge of Alraxians, gave him a curious look but then said, “I’d wager she was a Blackflame. I’ll need to talk with Akan for the...the details, but if she was a hunter then she was probably fed very well her entire life,” she was silent a moment, then said more quietly, “Can you help me move the body? She deserves a...proper burial even out here.”

Titus nodded and assisted her in carrying the extremely heavy body off deeper into the forest. But he couldn’t help noticing a slight protrusion on the underside of the X-Wing, just near the nose cone. Though this X-Wing had a few modifications, something about it was bothering him. Once they had finally stopped in the middle of the forest, realization and horror passed over his face. It was right as they set the body down, and Titus said very quietly, “That X-Wing has a tracking device on it.”

“What?” Shadow asked over her shoulder, already working on digging a large hole in the thick ground.

He sighed heavily and stepped closer, putting a hand on her shoulder and turning her to look at his face, “The ship Akan brought back has a tracking device fitted under the nose cone.”

Shadow opened her mouth, then closed it. Biting her lip a moment, she then tried speaking again, “You don’t think...”

“I do,” he said flatly, “And I think we’d better get out of here as soon as possible.”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 128: Good News for One, Bad Feeling for Another

Ket Halpak sat forward in his chair, leaning over his desk like a predator. Both hands were cupped around a small object that had been on the desk for as long as he’d had the thing. What the little object was, Ket had never actually figured out. However, it had provided hours of entertainment in times of boredom. But it seemed those times of boredom would soon come to an end, as there was much to do. So he sat at his desk, idly batting the small half-spherical object back and forth. Waiting. Nine should be stepping in anytime now. What she had to report, he didn’t know yet. It probably wouldn’t be good. Problems were bound to pop up soon, as everything had been going far too perfectly for too long.

There was a soft, echoing swishing noise off in the distance. Right on cue. Smiling to himself, Ket pushed the little object back to its spot on the corner of his empty desk and sat back in his usual business appearance. It took Nine much less time than usual to reach his desk. Only a minute later, she stood in front of the desk, staring at him with her usual emotionless, soul-eating look. He managed a smile and met her eyes, having never had trouble ignoring the Marix-glare, as he’d once called it. Knowing that Nine was not one to speak first, he smiled softly and asked, “What’s gone wrong?”

Surprisingly, that got a slightly curious look on Nine’s face. It was wiped back to the usual empty slate a second later, and she just leaned forward into a more comfortable position, saying, “Nothing has.”

Ket’s smile became a grin. He couldn’t help it. It just felt good to be wrong about certain things. And so, there was only one thing he could ask, “Oh really? Then what is it?”

If Ket could have found a way to record the look on Nine’s face, he would have. It was the first time that he had ever seen a smile on that face, save the one on the real Marix’s when she’d taken his tail...but what could he say? She was smiling. Smiling! Sure, none of the Tam-Day-U had ever really expressed emotions, but Marix had been the top of the class in that respect. But here was the Ice Queen, smiling without even being provoked! She didn’t even look like she was about to maul him! The smile became the old grin when Nine saw his shocked look, and she half sat on the desk before speaking in an almost too happy voice, “It seems that some interesting things have occurred on Coruscant. Our contacts there have heard reports of...I believe it was ‘Cathar’, that killed a security group and have stolen a prototype ship, blasting their way off of the planet.”

“Cathar?” Ket raised an eyebrow. It was not the first time he’d heard that, and knew that Nine was not knew to this either. The times that the two of them had been seen and identified had always been as this isolationist feline species. This had been encouraged, so much that many people that he did business with truly believed he was Cathar. But Ket just shook his head, waving a hand at her, “It could have easily been real Cathar. They aren’t just some myth.”

Nine caught his hand, grabbing it in mid air and squeezing it roughly. She glared at him with an accusing look before speaking slowly, “There are security holos. I saw them. The two were Alraxian.”

“The clone and her little friend, then?” Ket asked, not trying to pull his hand away. She would likely break it anyway, but it wasn’t best to encourage her when she was in such a mood.

“No,” Nine corrected him sharply, “The boy was there, and another. I did not recognize the other...but I believe she was Tam-Day-U. Blackflame from the way she fought.”

“The way she fought?” Ket was getting even more curious. Another Alraxian here. But why would a Tam-Day-U be sent here? Something was going on back in the Hidden Worlds. Something Ket would need to discover for himself...possibly find a way to use.

This time, though, Nine let go of his hand. She left him a moment to rub the feeling back into it before sitting more comfortably on the desk and saying more quietly, “Yes. She attempted to kill him. I would assume that it was an attack meant for the clone herself. That would mean that someone else knows of their connection and sees him as the weaker.”

“They aren’t alone,” mumbled Ket, smiling to himself.

But Nine didn’t seem to hear his comment, continuing on her own, “The boy killed her. His fighting technique was very unorthodox, and I expect it surprised her. She was young. It was likely her first real mission. However, the fact that he killed her shows that we have underestimated him.”

“You don’t sound surprised,” Ket said, louder so that she would actually hear him this time.

Nine raised an eyebrow, but shrugged, “Why should I be? Three and I are, of course, alike. She would not choose a weak human for her Nothlit. But that is not my point. The real point is, the ship that the boy stole had a tracking device on it. The New Republic dispatched a task force to follow the ship two hours ago.”

Ket smiled. That would force the little brat out of her hiding. And if he knew her well enough, which he did at a base level, she would find a goal to run for. Marix would never, ever run from something. Running to, however, was completely different. How else could she have justified her exile? But what would this clone of Marix run to? He looked down at some movement, Nine’s tail was flicking, and thought about it. Once, not long ago, Nine had been a bit more than just obsessed with finding the real Marix. Killing her was the original goal, but it was still a fierce need. Would this clone do the same? Why not? Why wouldn’t a copy be curious if they were the same as their original? That was the base reason for the hatred of clones among the Alraxians. If a clone could be a different person, then killing it could not be justified. Then...then it wasn’t a real copy anymore. Nine had been forced to prove that she wasn’t just a copy. This young Three would likely be feeling something similar.

Quickly, he came to a decision, “Its time to change plans. Go to Coruscant. Go to that facility where the rest of the clones are and wait. Change the labels if you must, but you know what to do.”

“Yes,” Nine smiled again, “What would that little brat do if she found the real Marix was me?”

“Exactly,” he nodded and motioned towards the exit, “Go as quickly as you can.”

* * * *​

Not long after Shadow and Titus had gone off, Jen found her way into the hut. Akan was lying back again, eyes closed but obviously away...and also a little red still. She grinned slightly and stood next to the small bed, “You going to keep acting dead like that?”

That got his eyes opened. Somehow, it seemed he hadn’t even noticed she was there. Akan had nearly jumped out of the bed in surprised, but managed to cling to the small blanket instead. Seeing who it was, he looked over her and mumbled, “I’m fine. Don’t need anything.”

Jen sighed, “Akan, stop that. Besides, there is something I’d be willing to bet you’d like a lot right now.”

At least he looked slightly interested, almost looking her in the eye but managing to look more through her than anything. Quietly, almost worried about what she could mean, he asked, “What...?”

“These,” with a grin, Jen tossed Akan’s clothes onto him. They were still slightly damp, but she knew that he wouldn’t really care. Especially considering how red he’d been the last few minutes. No matter how funny it was, he deserved at least a little help from someone. And maybe it would ease his mood with her...maybe.

Akan caught the pile of clothes, clinging to them and then pulling the jacket off of his face to give her a meaningful look. Laughing slightly, Jen figured out what he wanted and nodded, patting his shoulder gently and then stepped out to let him change. Part of her wondered if it would be too cruel to step in a few seconds later just to start asking a question. Well, it would be cruel...but might lighten his mood just a little. But just as she’d thought about doing that, she noticed the spot that the unconscious Hansen had occupied was now empty. Instinctively, she looked around for the other woman. No sign of her. Footprints were impossible to see in the thick brush and such all over the ground.

The thought of stepping in on Akan returned again. Yet again, though, something else got in the way. This time, it was Titus. He came running around a couple of trees, jumping over a large branch on the ground that would have easily tripped him if he hadn’t payed attention, and then stopping right in front of her. By now, Jen wasn’t surprised that he hadn’t even broken a sweat. That man had some serious stamina. Normally, she would have grinned at that thought, but something in Titus’ expression showed that there was a problem. And she knew how to read him by now.

“We have to leave,” he said, without even a hint of heavy breathing in his voice.

Jen gave him a confused look, but didn’t have to ask why. He had been expecting the question, and had already decided on the short version of the story, “That X-Wing Akan brought has a tracking device on it. I’ve got a bad feeling that he may lead our friends out here.”

At hearing that, Jen got a worried expression on her face. And it brought up a question, “How high are those bounties, anyway?”

“You don’t want to know,” Titus grumbled, and then turned his head sharply to look off left. A moment later, Jen heard the same noise of footsteps. Hansen appeared out of the brush, looking more panicked than annoyed. The other woman didn’t even look at Jen, and stopped a good few meters away from the two of them, motioning off towards where the three ships were set own.

“Three New Republic ships just came out of hyperspace,” she said breathlessly, obviously not in as good a shape as Titus was, “They’re broadcasting on all channels that they know you...we...whatever. They know we’re here. Sensor readings show they’ve already launched a few transports. That sithspawn in there led them right to u—“

”Its too damned late to start throwing blame around!” Titus growled, surprising both women with his swift and harsh words, “We just need to get out of here now.”

Akan appeared in the doorway, obviously having heard them speaking. He and Titus exchanged looks, and a quiet decision seemed to be made between them. Talk later. Get out now. Akan nodded, saying quickly, “I’ll go get Shadow. You get out of here and we’ll catch up.”

“I’m going to pry that damned tracking device off of your little ship,” Titus called to Akan as the kid ran off, following the smell and the link to find the other Alraxian.

Over his shoulder, Akan yelled back, “I’ll buy you a drink once this is over!”

The two Voorts exchanged looks. That was odd. He seemed...happy. Jen grinned after a moment, then whispered to Titus, “He’s got an excuse to get out of bed.”

Titus laughed and nodded, looking to both Hansen and Jen, “Come on. We’ll pry that thing off of the X-Wing and then get to the Alderaan. I’ve got a bad feeling we’re going to need that little fighter.”

As the two women followed him, Jen couldn’t help but saying, “You need to stop with these bad feelings. They’re always ending up right.”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 129: Out of the Forest, Into the Void

Shadow sat over a small patch of branches, loose earth, and other muck of Endor. In front of her was a pile of rocks, mixed in with the rest. She had just watched for a short time, but soon found that emotion of all things was beginning to cloud her ability to meditate. Five minutes passed before she got to her feet and looked up to the canopy far above. Birds and other creatures moved here and there, of which she could both smell and hear, but not see. However, that didn’t change the body buried at her feet. It didn’t change anything. It didn’t effect anything at all.

In a sudden bout of rage, Shadow screamed a curse and kicked at the heavy pile as hard as she could, “You damned fool! You should have known! You should have just stayed home!!” slowly, her voice trailed off and she stared down at the still covered metal corpse. Her voice returned, speaking in a near whisper, “You should have stayed home...we’re not supposed to kill each other. You deserved better than this. We all do.”

Akan had been standing behind her for only a short time. He kept quiet, not really sure what to say. Something about how she said ‘we’ didn’t seem to include him...or all Alraxians for that matter. He waited a little longer, watching as she knelt down again and just watched the pile. Through the link, he could feel her mind was racing through a million thoughts, but it was near impossible to understand any of it. Except for one thing. It was like he was sneaking into a place with the enemy’s hand on his shoulder the entire time. Shadow knew he was standing there. She also knew he was listening in on her thoughts.

Without turning to look at him and using that classic Shadow voice, she said, “So you’re walking now. Quick change of moods, too.”

“We have to go,” Akan said, ignoring her lighter comments. Outwardly ignoring, at least.

Shadow turned around to look at him, picking out the necessary information through the link(he either wasn’t good at hiding his thoughts, or didn’t try) and then nodding. She got to her feet and then started off towards Loki and the other ships, Akan right next to her. As she walked at a quick, yet still comfortably patient pace, she called out to her ship. [Loki, going for a little ride. Get yourself ready to go.]

[Oooh, finally!] the ship responded in his usual happy-to-be-flying mood. [Better get here quickly or I’ll leave without you!]

Even Shadow grinned at that. Somehow, it was just impossible to not love a ship that threatened to leave you behind. Sure, he didn’t have weapons. And even if he did, they wouldn’t pack that much of a punch. But that just added to Loki’s thirst for adventure. Shadow couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened with him if he’d not been given to her...Marix. Or maybe the adventurous attitude had been learned. Either way, he was the best ship she’d ever known.

Not too far away, but at the same time an entire galaxy apart from the Alraxians, the three humans crouched under the nose of the X-Wing. They had been there for about five minutes, trying to figure out how to get the small tracking device off. Simple pulling had failed, as had some more technical and probably less dangerous ways. Titus had mentioned that he could cut it off with his lightsaber(though that would require getting it off the Alderaan), but Jen had shot that down very quickly. Apparently, the thing was just too close to the main sensor array in the nose cone. Hansen had then asked about why they even cared about the X-Wing.

That had got the woman a glare from both Voorts, who knew Akan far too well by now. Especially Jen. New toys were bad enough with most males, in her opinion, but a new starship for a starfighter pilot? There was just no comparison to that. Of course, if they didn’t get the tracking device off the ship, then there was no way it could leave the planet with them. As she sat and stared blankly at the small, cylindrical object, Jen noticed that Titus had stood up.

Before she could ask, he motioned for the two women to get out of the way. Jen opened her mouth to protest, not liking that he wanted them to move. She did not, however, have a chance to speak before he acted. Titus planted his feet and then, after a deep breath, delivered a strong kick to the device. On instinct, Jen closed her eyes and shielded her face from what would have to be an explosion. But all that came was a loud metallic clank, a horrible ripping sound, and then a soft thumping and crumbling noise. When Jen opened her eyes again, she saw the small object on the ground on the other side of the X-Wing.

The two Voorts exchanged looks, and Jen shrugged, “Brutes will be brutes.”

“Quiet, brains. It worked,” Titus grinned and hugged her.

And then, a sound rang out through the clearing in the forest. All three of them knew it, and all three reacted in the same way. Dropping to the ground and reaching for weapons didn’t stop the blaster shot from nearly taking off Titus’ face. It did, however, prove to him that he should have been carrying that lightsaber with him. He didn’t even have a blaster. But that didn’t matter. They were in the open, just under the X-Wing. None of them had weapons on them from the look of it. And they were being fired on. That single shot was soon joined by many others, and all three of them caught sight of a group of soldiers emptying into the clearing just beyond where the Alderaan was positioned. In a moment, they would be between the three of them and the ship.

“Straight ahead,” Titus said, yanking Jen onto her feet and making sure Hansen was alright. She didn’t need help up. Probably didn’t want it, either. Everyone on their feet, the three started running, and Jen heard Titus quietly saying, “Focus on the ship.”

It was a twenty meter run from the X-Wing to the Alderaan II. The world was a blur as their feet, and Titus’ arm in Jen’s case, pulled them across the uneven ground to the small access ramp of the shuttle. Distantly, they heard the sound of a yell from one of the troopers on the ground, and a moment later blaster fire started. It was a barrage of red coming at them, but somehow Jen focused on Titus’ words. Focus on the ship. Straight ahead. The ship. Ignore the death coming at you. And then Jen heard a noise that made her heart jump to new heights. The sounds of footsteps on ground changed. They clanked. Metal. The ship! Her eyes had somehow missed the fact that they were heading up the ramp now!

As the last few steps were made up into the ship, the ground and trees of Endor were cut off by the sleek metal panels of the Alderaan II. Adrenaline faded and minds calmed down to focus on the next task at hand. And then another sound rang out. Or rather, a series of sounds. First, over the constant noise of the blaster fire, the Voorts heard a cry of pain. Both of them spun around at the edge of the access ramp to look down. They saw Hansen, a large black mark on the side of her right leg, spin slightly and then tumble back down the ramp in a series of painful cracks and bangs. Blaster fire followed her, and in a moment she was silenced. The smell of ozone and burnt flesh rose up into the ship’s cabin.

Out of both necessity and anger, Titus slammed his hand on the switch to bring the ramp up into the ship. Jen caught his eye, managing to speak, “Shouldn’t we—“

”There won’t be time to mourn if we’re dead, too,” Titus said sharply, though his face showed a mix of grief and sympathy. He then turned and started off to the cockpit to get the ship into the sky. Jen was right behind him, dropping into her seat at his right and helping him to get the ship ready. With the two of them working together, they had gotten it down to an art. They could half the usual warm up time for the engines, though the shields and small weapon systems would still take a little while longer. Right now, engines were all that mattered. As they started the ship rising into the sky, tiny tremors arced through the ship. Blaster fire. Personal weapons hitting the still unshielded hull. It wouldn’t do any permanent damage beyond some blaster scoring on the underside of the ship, though it was unnerving.

“Plot a course to ahh...” Titus paused a moment to look over the star charts while Jen piloted the ship, “Anoat’s far enough away that it would be tough to track us.”

“Why would we ever go to Anoat?!” Jen gave him an are-you-crazy look but started keying in the coordinates anyway. At the same time, he took over the piloting.

Titus also grinned as the ship started through the atmosphere, the shields finally coming, “Exactly. Good place to stop and think.”

“What about Akan and Shadow?” Jen asked the question before she’d realized that she was speaking.

“Ah, right, almost forgot,” he then reached over and flipped a couple other switches to his left, “Once you’ve finished getting the coordinates ready, transmit them to Loki.”

The sensor system started beeping, and both Voorts looked to the screen. Two Nebulon-B Frigates and a small Corellian Gunship. They were orbiting the planet not far off, and all three were trying to get targeting locks. But no fighters. That seemed odd. Or at least, out of character for the way the New Republic usually worked. Unlike the Empire, they were very fighter oriented instead of capital ship based. The coordinates plotted in, Jen turned to fire up the meager weapons system on the shuttle. She did it more out of habit than anything. There wasn’t any good that the small weapons could do against capital ships, but it was comforting somehow.

Titus banked the ship off to starboard, putting more power to the engines and hoping to get out before finding out why the ship’s were trying to lock onto them. The problem, which Titus knew and had a feeling Jen knew nothing about, was that Gunship. Those things had strong engines, and would likely be able to catch up with them before the two frigates. And, per its namesake, the Gunship was much better armed. He managed a short look to Jen, who was focusing off in space and not noticing him.

Then the ship rocked. She turned to him with a surprised look just before it shook again, more violently. Titus pulled his eyes away from her to try putting more power into the engines. The third shake nearly threw them into the forward consoles. With a curse, he gave up and cut the power to the engines. He sighed heavily, and sat back in the chair, “Tractor beam. Strong one.”

“And we aren’t fighting it...why now?” Jen asked, leaning over and giving him a critical stare.

He motioned to the console in front of them, “Fight it too hard and we’ll blow the engines. We could try that, but this is a new ship, and I thought you liked it.”

Her looked became more understanding, and Jen nodded slowly, “Guess that makes sense. Now what?”

“Now we wait,” Titus said quietly, reaching over to put a hand on hers. He said nothing else, but Jen could tell he was worried about this. Obviously for her, not for himself. She squeezed his hand gently and wished there was something useful to say.

Eventually, after only a couple of minutes of being pulled in, she smiled and said, “The kids will come and cause some trouble.”

That even got a smile on Titus’ face, and he leaned over to kiss her cheek, “Wish I could be more useful. Am I so old now that I can’t cause some trouble with the kids?”

Laughing, Jen returned the kiss, “Save the best for last. You can show those two up when they least expect it.”

It was amazing how they had completely forgotten about Hansen. For the moment, at least.

* * * *​

Back on the ground, the two Alraxians stood at the edge of the clearing. Between them, they’d counted ten troopers on the ground. All had heavy blaster rifles and actually looked to be well trained from the way they examined the area before starting to move in to the two remaining ships. The X-Wing was being ignore, and the troopers were focusing on carefully inspecting Loki. Both Shadow and Akan had convinced the ship to ‘lock up’ as it were but do nothing else to give himself away as being...alive. But it was lasting a little too long. And then, Loki said something worrying to the two of them.

[An orbiting ship is attempting to attain a lock on me.]

Shadow and Akan exchanged looks. Then, Shadow quickly said. [Can you throw the lock off...or...something?!]

Akan was surprised at how nervous and panicked she sounded. Those were desperate solutions, and the ship responded with a definite ‘no’. An idea came to Akan’s mind. Earlier, the ship had reported that the Alderaan II had been brought into the hangar bay of one of the frigates. Before then, though, a set of coordinates had been transmitted to him. He knew Shadow wasn’t going to like the idea, but Akan suggested it anyway. [Loki, can you get yourself out to those coordinates without us?]

Shadow shot him a horrified, angry, and all together ‘I will maul you’ look, but said nothing. There was a short pause, then the ship responded in a more careful tone. [I...can. But I do not want to go...go alone.]

[There’s no other choice] Akan said back, slowly and as kindly as he could manage while trying to ignore Shadow’s death glare. [Send the coordinates to the X-Wing’s computer. Its offline now, but should be able to receive them. We’ll be right behind you, Loki. I promise.]

In the short time he and Loki had known each other, they had developed a very strong friendship. Perhaps it was because of Akan being a pilot. It wasn’t that Shadow wasn’t a good pilot for Loki, and in fact she was still the closest thing Loki had to a sister. But Akan was new. Interesting. And a well trained pilot. Between them, they had developed an interesting trust along with the friendship. One very unique thing that Akan had learned about the ship was its devotion to promises. According to Loki, one never made a promise if they couldn’t go through with it. Shadow said that Marix’s dead brother, Tobias, had taught the ship that when Loki was young. A quirk that had stuck, and one that really wasn’t all that bad. If Loki could have nodded to Akan’s ‘words’, he would have.

[It...it is the only choice. Good luck. I will...see you when you get there.] And then, to the surprise of all the troopers who were getting out of the way already, Loki lifted off. The speed at which the ship moved was amazing, and it was only a matter of seconds before the Kanyak was shooting off into the sky. Akan looked to Shadow, who was still glaring violently at him.

Before she said anything, he just motioned to the X-Wing, “Lets argue later for once.”

“Fine,” Shadow said tersely, though a nod was added into it and she then asked, “Are you planning on leaving the Voorts like they left Hansen?”

They had both seen the body. However, it had not really had any effect on them. Neither of them had really been all that close with the woman...and Akan would have been lying to say he liked her. But a death was a death. And there was a body sprawled out on the ground not too far off. Tearing his eyes off of the corpse, he looked back to the X-Wing, which was now being swarmed by the troopers, “No, I wasn’t. Besides, I doubt you’d let me if I was.”

“Of course not,” Shadow said in that matter of fact tone, “We don’t leave friends behind.”

A silence. It was short, but long enough to let the point sink in for the both of them. Once it had, they both turned to look at how to get into that ship. Shadow had the situation analyzed quickly, and announced what they were going to be doing whether he liked it or not. [Morph. They won’t expect Alarix and you need to use that more often.]

Akan would have complained if he knew she wasn’t right. For a long time now, she had bugged him about using his ‘natural abilities’ more often. Morphing was one of those, and since she had a talent for it, he naturally would also. And also, an Alarix was enough to still terrify him. A large, panther-like creature that came up to waste height was worrying enough. The extremely sharp teeth, large paws with long claws on them, and mane-like fur running along the feline’s spine to its tail just added to the intimidation. Shadow gave him no warning before she started out of their hiding spot, morphing in mid stride. Akan followed her, though not nearly as quick to morph.

Both of the large, feline creatures stalked forward with that dangerous predatory silence. Akan found it hard not to allow a soft growl out as they snuck up behind the troopers, but thankfully he had enough sense to not give away the element of surprise. There was an unspoken, mental ‘now!’ from Shadow, and they pounced. Literally. In a quick second, two of the troopers were face down, unmoving from long claw marks on the back and heavy teeth marks near the neck. The other two nearest to them had a quick moment to turn and even let out a yell before they were also pounced on. The two were pinned down and silenced with a thick bite to the neck. Akan still couldn’t get used to that...but it worked, and was the natural inclination for this body to attack with.

The two of them then began a charge around the X-Wing, attempting a simple circular attack until the reached the last of the troopers. But now the soldiers had more time to react. Akan jumped to the side, avoiding a quick blaster shot that singed some fur. With a growl, he pulled back on his back legs before diving in at the human. A paw batted down the blaster rifle, sending it to the ground a moment before Akan landed. The force of his weight brought the soldier down onto his back, and he managed a quick punch to Akan’s face before receiving a swift bite to the neck. Akan found himself having trouble fighting the urge to tear the rest of the man to pieces, and nearly took another blaster shot in the process. This wasn’t going to work any longer. Getting back onto all fours and starting in a run, he tried that multitasking technique Shadow had mentioned being extremely important. As he morphed back in mid dive, Akan finally understood why.

The sight surprised the trooper so much that he dropped his rifle and nearly fell back on his own. The poor man watched in complete detail as the huge feline changed into a large humanoid feline that had a...a grin on his face! That was the last thing that was seen before a strong punch hit the man, and he dropped with a thud. Akan didn’t even looked ahead anymore, this time turning back to the clearing they’d come from. His belt was still back there. Lightsaber and blaster were with it. Metal had this habit of not being a good idea to morph, so they had to be left behind in such situations. The only reason he didn’t worry about being shot in the back was that he knew...and could feel through the link, that Shadow had things handled on her own.

He was right. Shadow had taken down four of them by the time he’d morphed back. She knew the Alarix form very well, it being one of her favorites. So close to ‘home’ yet so very unique in its own right. Technically, Alarix were the ancient ancestors of Alraxians at a genetic level. That probably had a lot to do with her comfort in the form. And there was only one trooper left. This was another man, tanned skin and grizzled. He also smelled bad. And with the extremely sensitive sense of smell that this form had, getting rid of that smell was now top priority. He had dropped his rifle, drawing a large vibroblade and holding it in front of him with apparent skill. That, of course, didn’t mean a thing to Shadow.

Shadow pounced. The man brought up the vibroblade to slash at her face, but she quickly tilted enough to readjust her point of attack. Instead of his neck receiving the long teeth, his wrist did. Shadow bit so hard that it nearly took the man’s hand off, but somehow he didn’t even let out more than a grunt. He didn’t even let go of the blade, trying to slash back at her before receiving a claw to the chest for his moving. That pushed the trooper to the ground, and Shadow, still keeping a good firm grip on his wrist, slashed at him twice more. One sent long claw marks down his chest again, and the other got his face. The man let out a satisfying scream before Shadow let go of his wrist and finished the job quietly.

When Akan returned, he saw the panther-like Alarix curled up on top of the bloodied boy, licking at a few of the wounds in a bored fashion. Akan sighed and stepped over to pat her back, “Done yet?”

[I still say red blood is disgusting.] Shadow grumbled mentally before morphing back and dusting herself off. When she saw Akan’s look, she shrugged and said, “What? Just because its disgusting doesn’t mean I won’t pass it up here and there. You know how exhausting morphing can be...and blood has a certain way of adding a little energy back.”

“That is disgusting,” Akan said flatly over his shoulder before fitting his belt on finally and starting to climb up into the X-Wing. That was easy. But then again, that was also expected to be easy. Alraxians had the natural advantage when it came to combat involving humans. They simply were stronger, faster, and better than the average human soldier. In the sky, though...they were stuck with the same limitations as everyone else. No matter how fast one was, ships could only do so much at once. Akan looked up to the sky as the X-Wing’s canopy opened. [Good luck, Loki.]

As he helped Shadow up and into the ship without breaking anything(she didn’t like the ship for metallic reasons), he couldn’t help but wonder if Loki had even heard that. Shadow had. She had almost said something about it, but he had cut her off by showing her what to touch and what not to touch. Before they got up there, Shadow was going to have to address those lingering doubts in the back of his mind. This would be his first time really going after New Republic soldiers when it wasn’t necessary for his own survival. Going up there and getting both Voorts off of one of those ships was not required for his survival. She licked her lips. At least it was easy to pretend the blood tasted better than it did.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 130: Crazy, Stupid, and Lucky as a Sith

“What’s this do again?” that was asked in a very devious, almost playful way. The X-Wing had only gotten into the planet’s upper atmosphere and Shadow was already playing around.

Akan managed to lean back and turn his head to see that she was pointing to the switch that should arm the proton torpedoes. Should, because he still wasn’t completely sure of how the systems were divided. From what he could gather, the X-Wing was built much like a Y-Wing, cockpit wise. The main, front seat could do everything, but at the same time, the rear seat could do. With two pilots, it could be divided into the usual pilot/gunner role. He had done his best to redirect all of the systems to his seat, but without knowing the systems well enough just yet, he’d only done half the job. That meant that he could feasibly do everything from his seat in the cockpit...but Shadow’s seat behind him could control the weapons.

He would have swatted her hand away from its hovering position over the arming switch, but Akan’s hands were currently occupied with piloting. It was an old habit to fly with the actual control stick instead of letting the computer do most of the job. So, he made a growling noise and, when realizing she was going to press it if she didn’t get an answer, grumbled, “Torpedoes. Please don’t press that. Especially considering that we only have four of them.”

“You mean I can blow things up?” her voice brightened at that, as did her thoughts.

“Don’t press it,” Akan said flatly, bringing his focus back to piloting. Shadow continued her curious exploration of the buttons, switches, and little lights all around her. How anyone learned to fly these things was beyond her. To an Alraxian, all these lights and switches were toys. It was very hard to resist that childish urge to press buttons and watch what happened. Shadow had to stop herself and wonder where those thoughts had come from. Lately, she’d been acting much less...less like herself and more like...more human. Or something. It was odd, and confusing, and at least partially wrong.

Something beeped. Shadow’s ears shot back and forth trying to identify where the sound was coming from, but the echoing(and the fact that her tail hurt from the design of the seat) distracted her. Akan seemed to be on it, and it ended quickly, being replaced by a sharp, yet at the same time bored sounding alien voice, “Powers downah yours weapons. Zis is New Republicah frigates Branis Stah. Powers downah yours weapons and prepares to be brought aboards.”

There was a pause. Akan didn’t recognize that accent, and in fact, it seemed to fluctuate between at least two, maybe three different ones. Part of it was nearly a butchered version of Basic that some Twi’leks who’d never gotten a good hold on the language used. The extra ‘ah’s were the tip off. Though Akan didn’t speak the native Twi’lek language of Ryl(Shadow did, but since he didn’t ask, she didn’t tell), he’d figured that an ‘ah’ was a common ending to most of their words. Either that, or the Twi’leks just enjoyed screwing with the minds of other species. But there were two other distinct oddities to the voice that Akan didn’t recognize. Again, Shadow did, but he still didn’t ask. One day, he’d learn to ask. Obviously, today was not that day. Shadow couldn’t help grinning to herself, and then, just before Akan responded, she tapped him on the shoulder and ‘said’. [Shall I tell him to piss off or do you get to have all the fun?]

She could feel, but not see his grin at that. And as he diverted a little more power to the shields, looking out through the canopy to the small shapes that were the New Republic ships, Akan shrugged. [Go ahead. Just don’t get them shooting on us before we break in and steal the Voorts back.]

[You sound like you don’t trust me.] Shadow sent him a mental hurt feeling, then spoke in a voice that was not really hers. Or at least, not a voice that Akan had ever heard from her. It was soft, calm, and very diplomatic. Everything Shadow was not.

“New Republic frigate...” she paused a moment, and Akan grinned a little more as he realized she was trying to figure out the name of the ship. He wasn’t sure of it either. But somehow, Shadow continued and made it sound like she was just taking a breath, “...Branis Star. I would suggest you leave the ship you are chasing down alone.”

So she’d noticed that those three cruisers were heading after Loki. Akan wasn’t sure if it was safe to mention that, and also wasn’t sure if she could even read the sensor screen. A moment later, the same odd voice returned on the comm, “Ares you threatenings a New Republicah shipah and hers crews?”

Shadow smiled proudly, speaking in that same voice, almost a little more jovial this time, “Yep. I am. In fact, I think you’re all a bunch of cowardly little Hutt larvae who shoot worse than drunk stormtroopers,” she paused, just long enough for the voice to try cutting in, but Shadow then snapped back in that strangely happy voice, “Or at least, that’s what I tell my pilot. He doesn’t really understand the more elegant insults so I have to simply it for him. What I prefer to say is...”

And then, she trailed off into a language that Akan didn’t understand or even recognize. Shadow spent only three sentences speaking in three different languages. First, in Ryl, she compared the other speaker’s family tree to a broken hyperdrive coil of which everyone had a little of their blood and sweat in. Second, speaking very clear Huttese, Shadow inquired if the entire crew of the ship was either related to each other or at least descended from the same Sithspawn infested ooze from which the galaxy collectively spit into. And last, her voice remaining calm as she reverted to speaking a strongly accented Bothese, she stated that it did not actually matter about the blood line of any of the crew of the ships, as only the backside of the New Republic ‘military’ would possibly be in command of the pieces of flying junk that were called ‘frigates’. Of course, that was the polite version. The impolite version of which Shadow really used would have caused even Darth Vader to blush and apologize.

“Yous insolentah little Sithspawnah!” and then, the comm clicked off. Shadow leaned back(as best was possible in these seats), and smiled proudly. She was very proud of those insults. Insult their lineage twice, and those hit hard enough on their own, especially when she made sure to pick the best language for the insults each. Huttese had very good words for ooze. But the last one she was most proud of. Insulting the lineage and parents of anyone was bound to get them angry. But for a crew of a ship, pilots and commanders in particular, to insult the ships they called their own was the greatest of sins.

Not knowing what Shadow had said, but not at all liking that reaction, Akan put just a little more power to the shields from the engines. The weapons still at full strength, he opened up the S-foils and sighed, “I don’t want to know what you just said, Shadow, but they’re leaving Loki alone now.”

“Good!” Shadow said happily, with a hint of that devious mind in the voice, too.

“Not good,” Akan corrected, flatly, “You didn’t happen to think about the fact that we can’t handle three capital starships and board one and the Voorts out AND then get out of here alive, do you?”

Shadow paused a moment to think about this. Then, after a silence in which the sensors indicated that the Gunship was going to be within firing range in a matter of seconds, she shrugged, “Guess we’ll deal with it.”

“Why is it that its always a ‘we’ when you get me into trouble?” Akan asked, getting ready to bank hard to starboard and avoid the inevitable fire from the Gunship.

“You know, you used to complain that I never said ‘we’,” Shadow commented idly, trying to ignore the fact that she was clinging very slightly to the seat as Akan suddenly brought them into a very tight, very sharp roll. Closing her eyes, she managed to speak in the same tone as before, “Now I acknowledge that you’re not useless and you still complain?”

There was a long moment before Akan’s response. The reason for this was simple. He was bringing the fighter out of its roll and banking back the other direction to avoid the barrage of bright red energy lancing down at them from the cylindrical shaped Corellian Gunship. The ship was yanked into a violent snap-roll, causing Shadow to keep her eyes closed and dig her claws into the metal just slightly. The inertial dampers in these metal ships played hell with her stomach. At least Kanyak’s internal gravity and dampening systems were natural...and acted natural. And didn’t make her feel sick. Very sick.

“You know me...always complaining,” Akan’s voice suddenly shot her back to the moment. For some idiotic reason, Shadow opened her eyes. The spinning of distant starts wasn’t as bad, and she figure they were going as near to ‘straight’ as Akan seemed to understand. Damned fighter pilots. The stars suddenly started spinning to the left, and in a moment she saw the topside of the Gunship, a blaze of red coming up at them. It spun like a whirlwind and started to grow. As it got much larger, very quickly, Akan called back to her, “That switch I told you not to hit. Hit it. Then press the red button above the trigger on that stick I told you not to touch.”

Shadow closed her eyes and reached forward.

“Keep your eyes open, dammit!!” Akan nearly screamed at her, and she opened her eyes. So he was using the link more...even if he didn’t admit it. But Shadow focused forward and down to that small stick. Carefully, Shadow reached ahead and grabbed it, feeling around for that button. She found the trigger, and just like he said, a small button above it. Suddenly, she realized she’d forgotten the switch, and her other hand shot out and flipped it hard enough to nearly rip it off. The second afterwards, she hit the other button.

A half second after the button was pressed, the entire X-Wing shuddered. There was at least a short moment where Shadow expected them to explode. The only thing that the shudder could possibly mean was that they had been hit, the shields were out, and they were going to die in this metallic prison. But then two blue streaks shot out from just under the starfighter. Shadow only had a short moment to see them before the X-Wing banked up. A half roll a moment later brought the two blue streaks back into view...just before they hit near the center of the Gunship. There was a large explosion which expanded outwards and then died out in a second as the oxygen to fuel the fire also died. Then the large mass of the Gunship was upon them, and Shadow nearly expected them to slam into it. But the starfighter instead righted itself, dropping into a position that brought it perfectly even with the burnt but not completely penetrated hull just before streaks of red shot out from the four laser cannons from the X-Wing. Shadow couldn’t help but notice that all of the Gunship’s shots were going all around them. A blind spot. And from the look of it, those two...things she’d fired off had taken out the only gun that could have hit them.

As Akan held the position, firing away at the hull but really not even getting through the shields, he called back to her, “Scan for the Alderaan! Which ship is she on?”

Shadow bit her lip and stared at the console in front of her. Then, just as she thought she knew what to do, the thrusters kicked in hard and they jolted forward. Akan was still holding the trigger, and the shots pelted across the shields of the Gunship before they rocketed past and then rolled back around, completely circling the ship’s cylindrical shape and then darting off towards the two approaching Nebulon-B Frigates. The two ships were hovering a distance off, not firing, likely out of fear of hitting their own ship in the process. And now, as Shadow tried to focus on scanning for the Alderaan, the X-Wing was between the three ships. Akan still banked here and there, watching out for the shots from the obviously angry gunners aboard the Gunship, but kept as straight a path as he could that would take him right between the two Frigates. Then, they still wouldn’t be able to fire if he positioned the X-Wing right. Of course, this tactic would only last until they got a missile lock. They weren’t in range for that one yet...but it would occur soon, no doubt.

And then, Shadow had it. Or at least, she thought she did. Was...relatively sure that she did. Honestly, she had no idea if she was right, but was ready to leave and get back to Loki. So, masking her thoughts in a sense of positivity, Shadow picked a frigate randomly. Then, her voice oozing pure confidence, Shadow pointed over Akan’s left shoulder and said, “That one looks good.”

“Looks good?!” Akan glared at the hand and nearly reached over to bite her out of frustration. ‘Looks good’ was not something to base breaking into the hangar of a New Republic frigate on. They were already angry enough, and it was already going to be hard enough to do. But ‘looks good’?! Typical Shadow, really.

“Yes, that one,” Shadow commented, pointing a bit harder this time, “Trust me.”

He banked the X-Wing that direction. No, he didn’t exactly trust her. He could tell she didn’t trust herself either. And as they started straight for the Frigate, Akan said, “This is going to get very rough. The second we’re in, I’ll pop the canopy and you just go. Follow the scent, whatever. Get in, get them out. I’ll try to cover you from behind.”

Shadow nodded just as the Frigate decided to say ‘screw it’ to the possibility of hitting the Gunship behind the fighter, and opened fire. The problem with Nebulon-Bs is that they were designed specifically to combat starfighters. This meant that the majority of the weapons were point laser cannons with enough speed to keep with faster ships and keep up a constant rate of fire. Time seemed to hang in the air as the laser blasts shot straight at them. Akan used that time to fall into a tactic he’d learned only in the latter time he’d flown starfighters. It was a technique that had kept him alive as a SpecForce operative many times. He allowed the Force to flow through his body, taking hold of his arms, legs, and eyes in such a way that it felt like an actual entity helping to push him through things. Guiding him. Not using the Force, but allowing it to assist him. The Jedi saw the Force as both a tool and a guiding light. But Akan, for the first time, found himself seeing it how an Alraxian did. The Force was a companion. A friend to help him when it was necessary....whatever that actually meant.

What it meant, didn’t matter at the moment. What did matter was that Akan was able to move the X-Wing in such a way as to avoid nearly every shot from the frigate. Nearly, of course, as even the Force couldn’t cause one’s reflexes to be so fast as to do sixty things at once. And currently, that was about the number of things that needed to be done to avoid all the shots. Having a feeling that Shadow had her eyes tightly shut, Akan banked the ship hard to port, away from the Frigate and showing, if only for a brief moment, the underbelly of the starfighter to nearly every single point laser cannon on the front of the Frigate. The X-Wing shuddered many times in that short moment as the shields took a beating, but Akan was relieved and surprised to find that they held strong. This ship had some serious advantages to the normal model of X-Wings.

Akan pulled hard on the stick, whipping the X-Wing around with the nose at the sharp turn’s axis. The main sublight engines kicked in halfway through the spin, which lurched Shadow’s stomach even worse than before. Her eyes half opened to see the four X-Wing’s laser cannons firing madly into the Frigate. Literally, into. Near the front section of the ship, at the upper edge, was a small blueish tinted opening. The hangar. And Akan was firing right into it as the X-Wing charged forward at full speed. Shadow mentally forced herself to keep her eyes open, finally understanding the real insanity of what Akan was attempting. She could have sworn that most of these hangars had some kind of shielding to prevent this exact type of insanity. The moment her thoughts blinked off that, she noticed that the point at which the four laser cannons converged had altered. It tilted up, and there was a small explosion on the hull of the Frigate. So there were ways around it.

There was a sudden, almost immeasurable silence. Akan stopped firing forward. The many point lasers on the Frigate stopped firing. Both Alraxians held their breath. As did all the panicked technicians within the hangar. With a flash of movement, Akan cut off all power to the engines and immediately closed the S-foils. The second part too almost too long, and the landing pads barely had time to drop completely before the entire ship rocked hard with the impact on the deck. The X-Wing skid across the deck for a short time before its momentum brought it into a nearby A-Wing. They jolted to a violent, neck aching stop, and then Shadow noticed that the canopy was open. It was that same moment that they both also saw the Alderaan. So late. If she’d been wrong, this would not have been good. Hell, it wasn’t good anyway. But she reverted to business mode.

Undoing the crash straps holding her down(and glad she’d had them secured), Shadow leapt out of the X-Wing and to the deck below. There was no one near, as everyone had scattered. But she found the smell. She found it, and ran as fast as she could. Ran to the nearby turbolift that it went to. Violently, Shadow barreled over one tech stupid enough to try getting in her way, then charged onward. Distantly, and just before the turbolift door slid closed, she heard a familiar snap-hiss.

They were both insane. So far, that was playing to their advantage. Hopefully it would last at least ten more minutes. [Don’t do anything stupid!] Shadow found herself ‘saying’ over the link.

That got a distracted mental laugh from Akan. [You’re about three years too late with that advice.]

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 131: Sneaking and Shooting

Shadow stood in the turbolift, trying to ignore the smells and focus on the Voorts. Not their smell, but their feel. The soft feeling that everyone gave off in the Force was distinguishable with a little practice, and familiarity also helped. They were close. Alive...conscious...angry? No, just one of them. Titus probably. No...wait that was Jen. Titus was radiating calm. Not even a dangerous calm. It was the kind of calm that one had when they were sure things would work out without too much trouble. Part of the optimism was probably because he had undoubtedly felt her and Akan aboard the ship. Jen felt distracted. Angry at being pushed around and locked up. Angry at the guards who pushed the two of them around. Angry at...Hansen? That one didn’t make too much sense. And that wasn’t even anger as much as...as...as something Shadow didn’t understand. It was enough like anger that she could call it that, but that was only because Shadow had no concept, or even basic understanding for that matter, of jealousy.

The turbolift stopped. Shadow opened her eyes just as the door slid open. The hallway in front of her went forward for about thirty meters before breaking off into a T-shaped junction. There were doors evenly spaced along both sides of the ten meter wide corridor. Well, eight meter wide. The smells washed over her, and she locked onto a small group of them. The Voorts’ and the guards’ that had accompanied them. Right. Follow that. Akan’s mind was racing and Shadow had a feeling he wasn’t going to be able to keep up the high level of energy for too much longer. He was going to reach a point where there wasn’t even enough energy to morph any wounds. And he wasn’t exactly one to think of those kind of things ahead of time. She needed to get the Voorts and get back to that hangar as soon as possible before Akan got himself...them, killed.

Forcing the wandering thoughts away, Shadow started forward. She took firm steps, well placed and very deliberate, yet silent and cautious. Staying near the center of the hallway to have the best vantage point down both corridors(as she wasn’t yet sure which way the scent would lead), Shadow’s ears twitched. A noise. Ahead and to the left. Left...she stepped to the left, next to the wall enough to hide herself from view but still continuing forward. Step. Step. Step. Loud, booted footsteps. Shadow reached the corner, and waited....listening. The plodding steps continued, growing louder in the echoing silence of the corridor. Louder...louder...her tail twitched in annoyance at the waiting. Those footsteps should have brought their owner to the corner by now. Did the corridor echo sounds oddly? Had to...wait...smell was growing. Disgusting smell. Closer. Closer...along with the louder footsteps. Loud enough so that they were no longer echoing to reach her ears...

Without another thought, Shadow reacted. Spinning around the corner on one foot, elbow outstretched at face level of most average humanoids. This meant that, because of Shadow’s relatively small stature(she hated the word ‘short’), her arm was up a good distance above her own head. While it looked odd, she’d learned how to make it work. Years of having a small stature taught one things like that. It also taught her how to hold her footing when the elbow connected with a nose with a loud crack. The sudden cry of both pain and surprise was cut off by the man losing the air from his lungs from the hard fall onto his back. A second cry which nearly occurred was cut off when Shadow’s foot connected with his bloodied face. There was another crack, and then nothing. Shadow stood back a moment to get the smell again, ignoring that she was leaving a body with a bloodied and heavily dented face right in the open. There wasn’t time to hide it. There. The smell.

Not even looking down, Shadow walked right over the man’s body and down the new corridor. This one went on for a much longer distance, and had less doors lining it. Sniffing the air a moment to confirm, Shadow continued forward. It took only twenty paces before the scent was suddenly gone. Which meant that it went into that door...to the left? She backed up. Yes. There. But did it open straight to a cell or another corridor or just another room? There was only one way to find out. She hit the small panel to the side. There was a click, but the door didn’t open. Shadow pressed it again. Another, slightly harder click, but again...nothing. Growling, she bent down a little to examine the panel. Locked doors were very annoying. With another, more annoyed growl, she ripped the panel off and tossed it off down the corridor. There was a loud, echoing clank, but Shadow didn’t care.

Instead, her focus was on the myriad of wires and circuits within. Spending two years among smugglers and not learning a thing or two was unheard of. And what was an assassin who couldn’t hot-wire doors? It would take time, though. And time, she didn’t have. Akan’s mind was already starting to show his tiring through the link. So, as quickly as she could, Shadow worked with the wires and did everything she could to get the damned door open. It took two minutes. Two very long, very annoying minutes. The entire time, she could feel something else. A silent alarm of sorts had gone off. The only way Shadow knew this was through that overpowering feeling of being watched. Tracked. Hunted. They were coming. And then, the door opened.

It opened, and Shadow had a brief moment where she could see two security personnel . The brief moment ended when one of them fired a blaster rifle at her. But the usual red bolt didn’t shoot out at her. Instead, rings of a sickening blue encircled her and caused her body and mind to go all fuzzy for a moment. Stun blast. It soon became apparent to the two men that the shot hadn’t taken Shadow down. And after a few seconds, the fuzziness faded to the stark reality of the butt of a blaster rifle slamming into her stomach.

Shadow grunted involuntarily, but her body also had another natural reaction. She ignored the pain from the strike, arms shooting up to grab the rifle. To the man’s surprise, she didn’t yank it out of his hands. Instead, Shadow forced it back against him, throwing the man to the ground and giving her room to get inside. She plowed through the doorway, stepping on the downed man’s chest and springing off to dive into the second man. There was a short yell of surprise from him before Shadow landed, her arms wrapping around his neck and forcing him onto his back. This didn’t completely work, as a heavy desk was in the way. Before Shadow could even extend her claws into the man’s neck, there was a violently loud snapping noise from his spine as she forced him down into the desk at a very bad angle. Seeing that fate had stepped in where skill was acting too slowly, Shadow spun around and moved to the first man. He was just getting to his feet, blaster rifle raising to fire off wildly. She delivered a strong kick to the weapon, sending it against the nearby wall. Her entire body continued a spin, and Shadow switched her feet on the ground, the other coming up and delivering a second kick. This one caught the man across the side of the face, the force of the kick driving him into the wall with the blaster rifle. He hit hard, then slumped down without moving again.

And then, Shadow finally looked around the room. It was small, just barely
over ten by ten meters. There was that desk, and then two doors. The Voorts were close. A guard room for cells. Cells would be locked. Locks meant more time. Shadow cursed and kicked one of the doors hard. Very faintly, from the other side, she heard a yelp of surprise. That was Jen’s voice, no mistake. Good. Start here. She quickly went down to the panel, ripped it off and got to work. For some stupid reason, it wasn’t as complicated as the first she’d hot wired, and only took a half minute to get open. It slid open to reveal Jen, looking surprised, but at the same time relieved. Jen opened her mouth to thank Shadow, but the woman’s expression altered and she pointed behind Shadow, “Duck!”

Shadow did. But her instincts told her to catch the inevitable punch or similar strike. That was stupid, which she would later admit to herself. The sound of a blaster pistol rang out too late for her to pull the arm back down, and a sharp burning sensation arched through her wrist. She let out a growl and managed to remorph it quickly, turning to maul whoever had been stupid enough to actually shoot her. There was a flash of movement past her as she spun to react, and just as Shadow barely stopped herself when more blaster shots rang out. These came from behind her. At least ten shots came from that direction, pelting the three New Republic fleet officers who’d charged in with blaster fire. They dropped, and Shadow turned with a shocked look to see Jen holding the blaster rifle that had attempted to stun Shadow earlier. Jen smiled, shrugged, and said innocently, “You didn’t think I knew how to use the Force in drastic situations?”

“Consider that a pass for part one of your field training,” Shadow commented, the shocked look fading into a grin. She then motioned for Jen to cover her and went to getting Titus out of his cell. Or at least, what she assumed was his cell. It felt like he was in there, though as usual he was annoyingly silent. Behind her, Shadow heard more blaster shots and heavy breathing from Jen. Just before she got the cell door open, the real alarm sounded. It echoed through the ship in the usual annoyingly high pitched tones of most alarms. Shadow cringed at how the sound grated her ears and nearly crossed two wires that would have just locked the door even more so. Thankfully, she realized this and got the right wires together. A moment later, the door opened to show Titus casually leaning against the wall, tapping his feet.

“Took you long enough,” he commented with a smile.

Shadow forced her grin away and snapped, “At least we’re here, Imperial.”

“Late it late, animal,” they both grinned at that. Then, Titus stepped out and got his own blaster rifle. He reached over Jen a moment to assist her in firing at a large group of troops that was amassing at the T-junction where Shadow had left the first body. There was a break in the fire, and he kissed Jen’s cheek with a grin, “You win the bet.”

“What was this bet?” Shadow asked, fining her own blaster from the bodies and waiting for the two Voorts to find them an opening. This wasn’t her area of expertise anymore. Sending blaster fire back and forth in a near stalemate was not what most assassins attempted to do.

Jen managed a moment where she could grin to Shadow, speaking even as she continued firing around the corner, “He said it would be Akan.”

Before Shadow could comment on that, Titus knelt down next to one of the bodies and scoured the man’s belt. Obviously finding what he wanted, the former Imperial got back to his feet, hand holding a circular object. Then, after a quick glance around the corner, he tossed the item. They all pulled back into the room and just before the frag grenade exploded, Titus grinned, “No, I said Akan would be the idiot to charge into this ship instead of finding a better way to do this.”

“Then you’re right” Shadow said, “I’ll tell you all about our rough landing once we’re out of this place.”

Any response from the Voorts was cut off by the deafening explosion.

* * * *​

Akan knelt behind the A-Wing that they had toppled over in the ‘rough’ landing. In his left hand, his blue green lightsaber glowed and hummed, and in his right, his small blaster pistol was giving off a lot of heat. His Alraxian body didn’t actually mind it that much, but that didn’t mean it was good for the gun. He was pinned in an okay position. Though he couldn’t see the turbolifts, Akan was still right next to his X-Wing and could dive in when the time came. When. Not if. Though when had better be soon, because while it had been no trouble to scare off the techs, the fleet troopers aboard the ship were really a different breed of gunners. He was lucky they hadn’t yet attempted to surround him, but that was only because he wasn’t in the center of the hangar, and could fire constantly on any idiot that attempted to get next to him.

The A-Wing being on its side, Akan was kneeling just by the ship’s damaged cockpit. Though he couldn’t stand and shoot over, he could step to the side some and fire through that small slit in the ship’s nose. While he’d never understood the design purpose for that slit, Akan found himself loving it more than ever. The few times he’d had to step out into the open(only to take out the intelligent group who’d attempted to set up a larger E-Web cannon), Akan had used the lightsaber simply for an intimidation factor. Just seeing the blade was enough to worry most. But that was wearing off, and he was starting to wonder why he even kept the thing out.

[On our way.] Shadow’s ‘voice’ cut into Akan’s thoughts through the link, forcing him to realize that there was a fundamental problem with this crazy plan. All crazy plans had them, as they were all thought up in the adrenaline rush of the moment. And now the others were coming back. Akan took a deep breath. Looking up, he saw a small series of piping. He reached out, keeping his focus both on the world around him and the Force. An invisible hand gripped the pipes tightly, and it took a hard ‘yank’ through the Force to get them free. The blaster fire aimed at the A-Wing stopped as everyone saw those three pipes hanging up there without anything holding them up. A moment later, Akan threw them. He didn’t see where they fell, and didn’t even care.

All he wanted was to hear that loud clang when they hit something. From the sound of it, they only hit the deck, but it was a moment of surprise that he could use. Akan took four quick steps out from behind the cover of the A-Wing, his eyes darting around and not even attempting defense for the few seconds. There. Just above the turbolifts...a small, glasteel plate. The hangar’s control room. Without really thinking, Akan holstered his blaster and started running towards the turbolift. A group of four fleet troopers appeared from behind a set of ladders and scaffolding used by the techs to get onto larger ships. They had blaster rifles out and were taking aim to fire. Taking aim only meant placing their muzzles to fire just ahead of Akan. He knew that, and extended his right hand out towards them, sending a heavy, invisible wall at them. The Force slammed into the four in much the same way that the X-Wing had hit the A-Wing, and there were four yelps followed by four thuds.

Akan switched the lightsaber back into his right hand and ran around the half constructed X-Wing that was sitting in front of the Alderaan. He ducked under a wing, found himself face to face with a cowering tech, and just ignored him. Running past the nose cone of the starfighter, Akan realized this was a bad idea. This was first apparent in the sudden push of the Force for him to turn around. The second proof of it being a bad idea was the blaster shot. Thankfully, Akan listened to the Force and spun around with his lightsaber up in a defensive position. It caught the blaster bolt just a moment before passing the blade, batting it off to the far wall. Akan’s instincts took control of his body, and before he could stop himself he was charging forward to the now terrified technician.

One lightsaber swing took the tech’s arm off at the elbow, getting a loud scream from him before a second horizontal strike ended any pain that had been left. Akan was already pivoting around and heading towards his goal by the time his mind caught up with his actions. But there wasn’t time to think. There was barely time to do what he needed to do. Looking up, he saw the glasteel panel. Akan took a short glance to the lightsaber before hurling it up at the panel. It hit blade first, shattering the strong material. He didn’t take time to see how much it was shattered. By the time his eyes saw the small opening, Akan had already leapt off of the X-Wing’s nose cone, using the Force to propel his body up much higher than was ever possible even to a normal Alraxian. Quickly, Akan balled up to get through the small opening. Akan landed on his head, rolling and trying to ignore the pain from the scratches along his arms that the glasteel had caused. That pain was suddenly blanked out by another. The roll slammed him into a console, and stopped any kind of elegant form of getting to his feet.

After a whimper, Akan opened his eyes to see...no one. Empty! Ha! No one had seen his idiotic screw up. Quickly, he got to his feet and looked around at the many consoles. Now...to find the tractor beam controls. It took just a few moments, and he had it deactivated. Or at least, he hoped so. Even though the bridge could control the tractor beams, at least disabling it from here would I’ve a short amount of time. Hopefully enough. Akan started to head back to the cracked panel, but suddenly remembered his lightsaber. Looking around, he ran over and grabbed it off of the ground. He then reactivated it and made sure to cut a large hole to get out of, not thinking that the fall was probably going to hurt his legs much more than that glasteel could.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 132: Hanger Troubles

“He’s in the hangar causing trouble,” Shadow said for the eight time. They were in the turbolift now. It had taken too much time to hot-wire that, as it was also locked down by the alarm that had finally stopped sounding. But the grenade that Titus had thrown did the job of clearing their path, and they didn’t encounter anyone else.

Jen smiled slightly, “Akan’s good at that. How long has he been down there?”

“Ten minutes, maybe,” Shadow shrugged. Tracking time wasn’t one of her strong point. In fact, she rarely cared about it at all. Things got done when they got done. Simple as that. Why all the humans(and other species for that matter, but humans seemed more extreme) couldn’t accept that was beyond her.

“He’s alright?” surprisingly, that was Titus asking the question.

Shadow gave him a look, then managed a nod, “More or less. A little tired...scratched up. But nothing too horrible. He’s not dead.”

She had not intended that as a joke, but for some reason the two Voorts laughed. Humor was another one of those things that was beyond Shadow. Well, normal humor, at least. Shadow had her own, much more twisted sense of humor that usually had her laughing at things most people wouldn’t. They gave her the same strange looks that she was currently giving the Voorts.

But there was not time to actually say anything else. The turbolift came to a halt, and a half second later the door slid open. This was the first time that the Voorts got a look at the landing that the Alraxians had made, and it got a short surprised sound out of the two of them. It was more likely the A-Wing being on its side that got that reaction than the general unharmed look of the X-Wing. Then again, it was harder to see the X-Wing as it was behind another...which had a severed body under one wing. Twice severed. Cleanly. Lightsaber wounds, no doubt.

There was also blaster fire. It wasn’t aimed at them, but right above them, a constant barrage that took them a moment to identify. Off behind some scaffolding right across from the wrecked A-Wing, there were three fleet security troopers firing constantly up over the turbolift. What was up there? It didn’t matter. At least, Titus decided that and grabbed the two females, pushing them and growled under his breath, “Come on. Just get to the ships.”

“But where’s Akan?” Jen asked as they started to the right, heading to the Alderaan. Following the obvious and not without a little help from the Force, they all stopped and turned to look up to where the blaster fire was aimed. They saw a glasteel panel, which had a somewhat small opening cut into it. About that time, a blue green blade cut through the panel, opening up a larger hole. No surprise that he was attracting the blaster fire. A moment later, blaster fire started shooting back, and it took a moment before the three of them realized Akan wasn’t shooting, but instead deflecting it.

Jen was the first to break out of the frozen stance and act. Hefting the heavy blaster rifle in both hands, she charged under the nearby X-Wing(trying to ignore the decapitated corpse), and then stepped out into the open. She needed to be in the open to see around the cover that the three troopers were using. They seemed so focused on Akan that she didn’t have any trouble standing there for a half second before holding the trigger down on the heavy rifle. Blaster bolts hit two of them, only killing the first who took a shot to the face. He dropped hard onto the hangar’s deck, but the other took a glancing shot off of the lightly armored chestplate he wore. It sent the man stumbling back onto his backside, but he quickly fired off a wild shot that went high. At least it was aimed in her direction....as were four other shots.

Apparently, there was another turbolift off on the end of the hangar opposite the entrance. Jen had a quick glance to a large number of troops emptying out of the turbolift before a strong arm yanked her back behind the cover of the nearby X-Wing. She looked to Titus, who gave her a ‘You’re crazy but we’ll discuss this when we’re alive’ look in response, then managed an innocent shrug, “Can’t just leave the kid up there to get shot at, can we?”

Titus grinned, and reached around the aft section of the X-Wing to fire off a few more shots. Not aiming, but just putting down some warning shots to discourage any kind of approach. He pulled back and then looked to the Alderaan, a clear path right in front of them, even behind the cover, “We need to go. Now.”

“But Akan...”

“Has Shadow to look after him,” Titus grabbed Jen’s arm and started to drag her to their ship. He was surprised when she yanked her arm out of the grip and took a sidestep to fire more with the blaster fire. Cursing, he gave up and stepped next to her, also firing at the very large amount of troops that were now trying to move closer. They were better shots, too, and some of them were getting too close for comfort. Titus was relieved when Jen had the sense to duck back behind the X-Wing’s aft section for cover again. At least if they were holding their ground they weren’t standing in the open taking fire. Instead, the aft of the X-Wing was taking a very large amount of shots, though some went past and nearly hit the Alderaan.

Jen heard a noise from back towards the turbolift and turned to see its source. She caught a short glimpse of Akan cutting a much larger hole in the glasteel, sending pieces shattering down onto the hangar deck below. She then also noticed where Shadow was. The Alraxian had grabbed herself a blaster pistol...no...where would she have gotten that from?! Since Jen hadn’t seen Akan toss the weapon down to Shadow, it left her confused until she decided not to think about it anymore. With all of them except Akan behind definite cover, he was again taking the majority of the fire. This time, though, with so many more troops it was a dangerously large amount. Jen had a feeling of how Akan planned to get back down, and if he was going to do that, he’d need a break in the blaster fire. There was only one way to do that, even if it was near suicide.

Turning back to the world in front of her, Jen stepped around Titus and took a deep breath. With everyone having holed themselves into a good position of cover by this point, it really was suicide. But then again, how would she ever be accepted as a Voort without a little suicidal fun? Then, she took a firm step out from behind the cover, which was followed by a second to get her out of Titus’ reach. As she did so, her finger held down the rifle’s trigger and she fired a mass of blaster bolts at the area in front of her. The troopers had been smart, repositioning themselves behind the scaffolds and work equipment so that they now had cover from her direction. But it at least surprised them. She saw at least four heads duck down suddenly, and at the same time, a few others simply turned and brought their firing arc in her direction. Titus quickly stepped out next to her, also firing but reaching out to drag her back.

With the amount of blaster fire, it really was a miracle that the two Voorts weren’t burnt to blaster pelted crisps. In fact, Titus was actually amazed that in dragging her back behind the X-Wing that he didn’t take a single shot(though three came far too close and he could swear that some of his hair was now burnt off). But Jen wasn’t so lucky. There was a cry of pain from her just before he got back to the cover, and he looked down to see she’d taken two shots. One on the leg, which explained why he had to literally drag her, and the other in the right shoulder...explaining why her blaster rifle was now in the open on the deck. He dropped his own weapon to kneel down beside her. Jen groaned but in her usual stubborn manner tried to get up. Apparently, the wounds weren’t too bad. Or at least, she was good at pretending they weren’t. Probably a little of both knowing her.

Titus noticed her head was titled back and she was looking up, past the X-Wing and back towards the turbolift. He turned just in time to see Akan jump. The barrage of blaster fire followed the falling Alraxian, and his lightsaber was only able to deflect a few of them. Titus saw at least two shots hit the Alraxian before there was a loud clank of him hitting the deck. Two cries of pain then echoed out, Akan’s much louder than Shadow’s. But a moment later, Titus saw both Alraxians running right towards them, doing a bad job at using the X-Wing for cover. Shots were shooting right past them, and Akan obviously figured out the pointlessness of actually stopping when he deactivated the lightsaber.

The two of them then ducked under the wing of the starfighter, using the larger S-Foils as a good cover. Titus was starting to pick up Jen, deciding that it was time to go at least two minutes ago, “You two alright?”

Akan shrugged, “Body is. Mind is still trying to figure out why the legs aren’t still broken.”

“You’ll have to teach me the mutilate self and come out unscathed trick once we’re out of this,” Titus commented, getting to his feet and looking straight ahead to the Alderaan’s access ramp. He glanced to the Alraxians a moment, and then said, “She’s alright. Lets just get out of here.”

“Agreed,” Shadow grumbled, looking like she was going to maul Akan at the first chance she had. The three of them then ran. Titus ran first, going a bit slower the semi-conscious Jen in his arms. She was in that state of shock that being injured could bring. She was alive, but only semi aware of the situation around her. This was apparent in the mumbled nothings she was speaking between the groans. Once they were in hyperspace, he was going to have to find a way to treat those wounds quickly. But at least he had cover for the entire run.

Akan and Shadow had to run straight across the open section of the hangar to reach their X-Wing. Both of them ran without looking to their left at the oncoming blaster fire. Akan took another blaster shot just before they reached the cover of the vertical A-Wing. The blaster shot hit him straight in the left shoulder, throwing him to the deck. Thankfully, his momentum sent him tumbling to the ground behind the cover of the A-Wing. Trying to ignore the pain, he remorphed the wound and found Shadow was dragging him up to his feet. That was rare for her, and he couldn’t help a sarcastic comment as he climbed up into the main pilot’s chair, “How is it you never get hit?!”

Shadow was already in her seat, strapping in and grinning proudly, “Because I’m smart enough to realize that it hurts. Why is it you always end up getting shot?”

Akan couldn’t help a short laugh as he strapped himself in and hit the switch to bring the canopy down. Through the link, he fed a myriad of information to Shadow so that they could get the ship’s systems running just as quickly. It was prefaced with a ‘don’t think, just press the switches I tell you to’, and Shadow was usually good with things like that. As quickly as he could, Akan got the repulsorlifts online and had them rising up off the deck. Shadow was following his instructions quickly enough that the ship’s shields came online just as fast, stopping the damage that the continued fire from the trooper’s blaster rifles could have caused. Suddenly realizing that the exit might be blocked, Akan looked over his shoulder to see the Alderaan was also just getting off the deck. The shuttle was slower than their starfighter, so it was going to be at least another ten or fifteen seconds before there was room for the X-Wing to get out. Fine. Plan C.

“Start pulling the trigger the second that the weapons are active!” Akan snapped over his shoulder, bringing the X-Wing up a little higher so that the S-Foils had room to open. Yes, the lasers could still fire with the S-Foils closed, but Akan had never been too comfortable with attempting it. He’d seen it done before only once, and it was in such a panicked situation that the X-Wing was shot down a few seconds later. Ambushes tended to cause things like that. Akan didn’t have to force himself back into reality, as the S-Foil’s locked in their open position and Shadow started firing. The shots from the top two cannons hit the back wall of the hangar, getting small explosions and taking out a good amount of the scaffolding. The bottom two cannons had a nearer target, simply destroying the broadsided A-Wing that was directly in front of them.

Akan let her continue firing before pulling the X-Wing back some. It was enough so that he could spin the X-Wing around to pull out of the hangar nose first. Thankfully, Shadow let go of the trigger as the starfighter spun around. If she hadn’t, it was likely that the exiting Alderaan would have gotten some unexpected surprises. The shuttle reversed out of the hangar, spun around, and shot off...in a loop. Titus was a better pilot than Akan had ever assumed. Though the sudden barrage of turbolaser fire from the other Nebulon-B was worrying. There wasn’t a choice, though.

“Hang on,” Akan said over his shoulder, diverting the weapon’s power to the sublight engines, “This is going to get rough. I’d also suggest closing your eyes again.”

Shadow nodded even though he couldn’t see, and followed both his suggestions. The closing of eyes was expected, but he probably hadn’t actually meant for her to dig her claws into the seat. There was no way she wasn’t going to hang on. But then, just as the drives kicked in and they rocketed out of the hangar, Shadow opened her eyes. Why not? It could be...

Her thoughts trailed off to nothing as they shot out, immediately rolling and reversing direction to follow the Alderaan’s course. Halfway through the roll, the S-Foils were closed and even more speed kicked in. The inertial dampeners worked very well on the starfighter so neither of the Alraxians actually felt the force of the acceleration, but Shadow couldn’t help leaning back in the chair slightly. Just as they passed over the top section of the frigate, the black darkness of space lit up. Yes, they could see the two soft blue drives of the Alderaan not too far ahead, but now a sudden stream of green and red was everywhere. Turbolaser fire mixed with smaller, anti-starfighter lasers. The canopy started spinning as Akan darted through a series of rolls, spins, and even a few loops. Through it, there were many shudders as the shields took hits, but Shadow was too focused on the insanity outside the canopy to look at the shield reading and see the strength fading away quickly.

Shadow also didn’t realize her grin. It was growing with each new jolt that Akan’s maneuvering sent through the ship. Akan was doing the old multitasking. Both eyes stared forward, using a mix of his sight and the Force to maneuver around the turbolaser fire directed at the X-Wing and the Alderaan. Through his peripheral vision, he watched the shield status and the status of the navcomputer’s plotting the hyperspace jump. Earlier, he had noticed the lack of an R-unit droid, and now understood that the capability was instead programmed straight into the main computer. A very nice ship.

The ship didn’t then, it rocked violently. A nice ship that had just lost its shields. Cursing, Akan tried to push a little more power into the engines. It sent them past the Alderaan in a flash of movement, giving Titus a good sight of the blaster scoring all across the X-Wing. Knowing his shuttle wasn’t nearly as good at maneuvering as that fighter, Titus had started by plotting the hyperspace course and just getting to a safe range. The Alderaan rocked roughly from two hits. The shields held, but they wouldn’t for much longer. Clicking on the comm, Titus found himself yelling, “Go!”

Apparently, Akan was one step ahead of him. Or at least one step even. Titus had time to see the X-Wing stretch slightly, then shoot off and out of sight just as he pulled the hyperspace levers. A moment later, he got sight of a red flash in front of the cockpit, then all turned to blue. He couldn’t help letting out a long sigh of relief, then got up and left the cockpit without even checking on the ETA or damage they’d taken. Instead, Titus nearly ran back to the small medical section of the ship(it was more a closet than a section), and knelt down next to Jen. She was lying on the small bed, breathing and slightly more aware than before. Letting out another sigh of relief, Titus started treating the burnt skin as best he could. At least patching it up would be enough to stop any kind of infection...or worse.

Aboard the X-Wing, there was a short silence after they’d entered hyperspace. It had lasted only until Shadow started giggling. That soon turned to out right laughter. Akan couldn’t help but wonder if she’d completely lost her mind, even though the link didn’t provide any hints. In fact, the link was so overblown with whatever Shadow was feeling that he couldn’t get anything to make sense. Then, through the laughter, Shadow yelled, “That was great!! Let’s go again!”

Akan grinned and couldn’t help laughing. His was more a nervous laughter considering how close they’d come to death, but it eventually turned to real laughter like Shadow’s. Being an Alraxian really was infectious at times...and it wasn’t all that bad either.

((Notes: New Server! YAY! Still going with at least one update per day, but I've got a couple new things coming. Next few updates should be longer than usual, and I've got a new cast sketch done(with EVERYONE circa Corellia marriage trip). That should be uploaded a little later in the week. New character sketches for everyone are coming too.))