Star Wars: Heroes of Another Kind

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 148: Waiting for the Right Moment

After a few more hours, Jen was up and doing her best to repair the hyperdrive. At first, Titus had tried to help, but it had soon become obvious he was getting in the way. So, he’d left her to work, stepping out of the engine room just as she was cursing the hyperdrive again. It took ten hours total until Jen finally decided it might work. Even then, she hadn’t been sure. Considering the bad shape of the Alderaan as a whole, the fact that they were still alive was amazing enough. If the hyperdrive could just give them one jump to Nar Shaddaa, then they could pick up a completely new one. Sure, it would be expensive, but money was rarely a problem on the Smuggler’s Moon.

“If we can limp down to the moon there shouldn’t be too much of a problem,” Jen commented as she slid into her seat in the cockpit. Idly, she glanced over a few of the sensor readings, noting that there was nothing at all anywhere near. Good. Of course, she avoided looking at the small screen that Titus had up to display the internal damage to the ship. That would just be more depressing in the end.

“Not a terribly comforting idea to limp to a place like that,” Titus said as he worked on manually plotting a course to Nar Shaddaa. The navcomputer had been torn apart for pieces to fix the hyperdrive with. A cruel irony that neither of them were laughing about.

She shrugged, reaching over to help him out, “Its better than asking for help to be pulled down to the planet.”

“True,” he grinned slightly, “But sometimes its nice to let others do the work.”

Jen raised an eyebrow at that and tapped him on the side of the head, “You just want to go broke on a vacation, don’t you?”

Titus shrugged and smiled weakly, “Might as well lose what’s left of my money to something like that. Though that might mean selling Alderaan...”

“Ahh, but its not technically yours to sell!” she laughed and sat back, waiting for the last few numbers to be processed into the computer.

But Titus shook his head, “Of course it is. Remember that mention of this being our ship? Not yours?”

“Of course I do!” Jen said, laughing again, “But you forgot that half of this ship is Akan’s!”

“Technicalities,” Titus said, waving his hand, “He probably forgot about that by now.”

“Good point.”

“But you can ask him if you’d like,” Titus said as he pulled the hyperdrive levers. Thankfully, the stars extended and they shot off to Nar Shaddaa. He’d half expected those to have been his last words...and those would have been very bad last words. Especially to Jen.

* * * *​

Sitting at his desk on the top level of his tower, Ket Halpak was watching the holo on his desk with extreme interest. About ten minutes earlier, two humans had walked into the small lobby at the bottom level of the building and started asking questions. The woman at the desk had sent word to him immediately, as some of the questions were a bit odd. He would have gone down himself, but he had been busy prepping a large cargo shipment and sent Nine instead. She had stayed out of sight, and was only now returning.

Nine walked across that horribly long distance from the turbolift, between the columns that lined out a pathway, and straight to his desk. When she arrived, he switched off the holo and looked up at her expectantly. She nodded, “It’s the brats.”

“You’re sure?” he leaned back in his chair, knowing the answer to that question but asking it just for the sake of asking.

“Of course,” she said, half glaring at him, “Shall I follow them?”

“No,” Ket leaned forward again and shook his head, “We still need a little more time and those questions they were asking sounded more like they were trying to gauge the building’s layout and security in a very...unique way. Apparently, the male had said he ran some kind of mercenary group that could easily help out. Stupid questions, really, and anyone with half a rain would know they were a front,” he then completely changed the subject to more important matters, “Are the last of the droids finished yet?”

Nine nodded in the usual formal and stiff way, “About an hour ago. I was preparing to go and get them aboard Loki so we can leave as soon as is necessary.”

But Ket shook his head, “They won’t be coming with us. I want you to scatted them out through the main corridors and stairwells. Put them in two and four droid groups and stagger them across the floors. Keep it random, but not too random.”

“Of course. When should we shut down the turbolift and other systems?”

“We’ll wait until the last minute for that,” Ket said, getting to his feet and stepping around the desk to walk with her to the turbolift, “I believe we can send the rest of the work away now. I believe I’ll not fire them all like I’d originally thought. This business is fairly profitable...I’ll let them fight amongst themselves to see who gets to keep it.”

“You almost sound like you plan to come back,” Nine commented with a curious look on her face.

Ket simply smiled, “One never knows what the future will hold. Perhaps once we are finished at home, a short trip here for...the sake of nostalgia will be nice.”

“Perhaps it will,” Nine said, actually sounding happy at that for once, “Should we put a sign to mark the place where Marix dies?”

As they rounded the corner, Ket allowed himself a short laugh, “We’d have to leave the body. I believe it will be much more useful to bring it with us. Imagine the look on the Empress’ face when she sees you carry the body of her daughter in.”

“Make sure to record it,” Nine said with a devilish grin on her face.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 149: Human Insanity

Shadow was not going to yell at Akan. She didn’t need to. He already knew how furious she was about his idiocy. Now, any slight advantage in secrecy they may have had was gone. There was no doubt that Ket knew they were there. So as they walked back the streets back to their very nice room in silence. Or at least Shadow was silent. Akan had tried saying something at least a couple times but she didn’t hear him. To Shadow, he hadn’t spoke. That was how good she was at ignoring. Most people knew someone was speaking and just tuned it out. In Shadow’s case, the person had never spoken any of the words, and therefore was able to ignore without even a ‘hm?’ if something relevant was said. Nothing relevant would be said. Idiot.

And then her eyes locked onto someone as they walked past. There was an odd feeling and she nearly slammed into a large Trandoshan. Dodging around and falling into step next to Akan again, Shadow took one last glance back...but he was gone. He? Yes. He. Who? Didn’t matter. That was Marix’s line of thinking, at least. Shadow was busy trying to understand. It wasn’t the first time she’d been...distracted like that. In fact, it had occurred numerous times on their walk back. Each time her eyes seemed to lock onto a human and cause her to walk into someone. But why? She thought carefully about the other instances.

They had all been human...or at least near human. Alright, there’s one. There had to be more than that. Did there? Yes. Of course there had to be. Had to be. Definitely. Her mind started wandering as her eyes found another human and she walked into a lamp post on the side of the high walkway. Shadow cursed, and even whimpered slightly, rubbing her forehead and catching up to Akan...again. He glanced back to her, raising an eyebrow at seeing a bruise on her forehead, “You okay?”

She didn’t answer, though she did hear him. Yes. She was fine. He knew that. Fine. Where was she? Ah. Right. Why did that keep happening? Think. Calm. Look foreword and avoid distraction. Think. Think. Why was that so hard?! Damn humans! So confusing! Wait...all human. Right. Okay. Humans. What else? Ah ha! All males. Male. Why? What did that mean? She mentally whimpered and muttered something about humans being confusing and odd and crazy and...and...

Her eyes had found another and her head was turning. But before her mind caught up with her eyes, she walking into Akan. Hard. Stumbling back and nearly falling down, Shadow cursed the human race again, wondering why she hadn’t picked another less confusing body. Akan had asked something. This time, she hadn’t heard, but it wasn’t on purpose. He was. And...it was. Why couldn’t she...think straight?!

“Stop...looking at me like that,” Shadow said very slowly and deliberately, almost having to force the words out.

Akan raised an eyebrow and asked, “Like what?”

“...that,” again, Shadow’s voice was forced.

“What?”

“...that!! Stop. It.”

“But I’m not doing anything!” Akan looked honest in that....but...he was...and...how could he not know?! He had to be doing that on purpose! It wasn’t really that bad...but...yes it was!! She couldn’t think! Couldn’t...couldn’t...think straight at least! Or understand most of the other thoughts. Marix did...but she didn’t seem to be divulging any new information. In fact, that traitor seemed to be hiding in a little corner giggling to herself like a small child. This wasn’t fair. Shadow didn’t understand a thing that was going on and nothing was helping and...and..and..he was still looking at her like that!!

“Stop it!!” she whimpered more than yelled, trying to push past him and walk very far away despite the part of her that was curious as to what was actually going on. That part was likely Marix. Traitor. This wasn’t fair.

“I would stop it if I knew what it was!!” Akan grumbled sharply, catching up with her and putting a hand on her shoulder to get her to stop, “What am I doing wrong?!”

She hadn’t heard that last question. Instead, for some reason, she had become hypersensitive to the fact that there was a hand on her shoulder. And he was still looking at her. Shadow didn’t understand anything about it, and couldn’t even find anything comparable. There wasn’t a fear...no...no danger. No. Then what? His hand was still there!!! But she couldn’t move. Slowly, Shadow opened her mouth, but only a small ‘uh’ noise came out.

Akan leaned down a little, tilting his head to the side in a curiously Alraxian motion(though it did look odd from a human). There was a mixed expression of both concern and confusion on his face, “You’re...not okay.”

She nodded her head very slowly. Or rather, her head nodded without asking her brain if it was alright to do that. It was like she didn’t have control of what was going on and that was making it worse and she still didn’t understand anything and he was still looking at her like...like...that!!

“You alive in there...?” Akan asked, obviously seeing the panic that was racing through her. The link would give that away in a second, especially because she wasn’t even thinking about the link it all...which meant she wasn’t protection her thoughts.

Again, Shadow nodded. Ignoring the people around them, who were actually ignoring them too, Akan shrugged and let out a sigh, “Come on...lets just get back and figure out what to do next from there.”

He turned and pulled his hand away. Shadow’s body reacted without asking permission for the second time, grabbing his hand before it got very far. He spun back around, even more confusion on his face at that. She was holding his hand in both of hers, looking down at them. After a short moment, she took a small step forward and looked up to Akan with a lost expression on her face.

Akan didn’t know what to do. Something was wrong, definitely, but he couldn’t understand the thought processes flying through their link. They were all crazy and far too fast to be understood. But she was acting oddly. Very oddly. That much he could figure out. And now she was looking at him looking for some kind of answer. Help. Something like that. Carefully, he tried retrieving his hand but she stepped forward with it and didn’t let go. This brought her extremely close, and she looked straight up to him with that same look of confusion and helplessness on her face.

Looking down slightly, Akan wondered if the best course of action would be to simply run away. Somehow, he doubted that was going to work at this point. He started to say something, but noticed she was leaning up slightly to do something that he doubted she had any idea she was about to do. Shadow got very, very close, leaning up a little more...then Akan’s comm beeped. Loudly. So loudly that Shadow jumped back, letting go of Akan’s hand and looking around in panic. What had just happened?! What was that?! Were humans always so...so...crazy?! She had been about to...about to...

Wouldn’t have been that bad Marix picked that moment to comment. Shadow was intelligent enough not to respond, regaining control of herself in those few seconds and forgetting anything that had or had almost happened.

Akan was already talking into the comlink, “Right. We’ll meet you there.”

He then clicked off the comm and looked to Shadow, a more businesslike expression on his face this time, “Voorts just arrived in system. They’ll be setting down not far from here. Lets go.”

Shadow nodded and followed him. Her eyes stayed ahead of her and this time she kept complete control of everything. Everything. Oh, come on...can’t be a child for the rest of our life.

Again, Shadow did not respond to Marix. In fact, to Shadow, Marix hadn’t even ‘said’ anything at all. This didn’t matter, Marix was happy enough to talk to herself. The irony in that was not lost on her, either.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 150: The Plunge

Introductions were short, and the trip back to the nice room only slightly longer. By then, Akan and Shadow were back to their Alraxian bodies. The situation had been explained, and currently the discussion had turned to one that had Akan at its center.

“Why in the hell did you walk right in there?!” surprisingly, that was Jen yelling at him. He would have expected it from Titus, but currently he was standing back silent as Jen did the yelling.

“You wanted us to just sit around without even a general idea of what that place is like?” Akan asked, trying to keep his voice calm as he motioned to the building not far off...the blue Halpak logo glowing brightly in the night’s darkness.

Jen gave him a long, slow look then sighed, “Even I know it wasn’t a smart move.”

“It was the only move,” he replied slowly, looking over to Shadow a moment, “Even she knows that, whether she likes it or not.”

Shadow opened her mouth to say something, but Akan’s other voice interrupted her. [Not now. We’ve already had this argument and I’m not in any mood to fight the both of you. If you’d like to step in and stop this, however, you’re welcome.]

Jen was starting to respond, already having gotten out the first couple of syllables before there was another surprise. It was not Shadow who stepped in, but it was Titus, speaking loudly to quiet them but calmly, “Enough. What’s done is done. There’s no point bickering about the past,” he paused a moment, stepping over to the window to motion to the top level of Halpak’s building...which had lights on, “I’d wager this Halpak is right up there. Now, if I were him right now, and I knew that we were here and were coming to get him, then I’d expect a simple attack. We land on the top of his building, take it from there. Would he really expect us to come in through the very entrance that we scouted earlier when its obvious that he knows we know about it?”

They all went silent a moment to think on it. It made sense...mostly, at least. But despite this, Shadow was shaking her head, “Ket will expect anything. It would be safer to go the direct route. He enjoys playing...games with his prey.”

“But we don’t know how defended that roof top is,” Titus pointed out, idly looking up towards it though he couldn’t see if there was anything on top, “Would he really expect us to move in so soon after you two checked it out?”

“Like I said, he’d expect anything,” Shadow commented dryly, though she shrugged and looked to both Akan and Jen a moment before saying, “But I think we should go ahead and move now. This waiting around is pointless and the more time he has to prepare the worse off we’ll be.”

Little else was said. There were no possessions to gather up, as they had been left in the two ships. The weapons they needed, they carried. Silently, the four of them made the trek across the balconies and walkways that crisscrossed most of the Smuggler’s Moon. Though it took some time to reach the building’s entrance, Nal Hutta’s lone star was still hidden away to leave the moon of Nar Shaddaa still in night. Not that it mattered. Or at least, hopefully it wouldn’t matter.

Carefully and slowly, they approached the building. The entrance was black, no lights on and looked to be closed. That was odd. Barely an hour earlier it was bright and open. This change was not lost on either of the two Alraxians who had taken the lead. After a careful few moments of looking around, Akan tried the simple thing and stepped close to the door. It slid open. Unlocked. But dark. Empty, too. So far, not good. They moved in farther, looking around the dark lobby they had seen before. The Voorts also stepped in, only able to see by virtue of the few lights from outside that were illuminating the building softly.

“The turbolift’s dead,” Akan said over his shoulder, grumbling more than anything. This was such a wonderful start.

“There’s a hallway back this way,” Jen said, then added after looking more carefully, “...I think...”

“I see it,” Shadow said with a nod, stepping over the desk and to the hallway off to the left. There was actually a soft light that direction, faint but still enough to be easily seen in the general black of the hallway leading to it. Seeing no where else to go, and all collectively hoping for another turbolift somewhere at the end of it. It was a long hallway, ending in a t-shaped junction. To the left was a closed door, and to the right...stairs. Actual stairs.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Akan exhaled, nearly whimpering at the sight of the stairs and how steep they were before turning again. There was light, at least, but that didn’t bother him as much as the idea of walking up the entire way to get to the top. Turbolifts were invented to avoid such things, as when buildings became this height, it was nearly an impossible walk.

Titus turned and hit the switch to open the door. A storage closet. An empty storage closet. He sighed, having actually expected that. Shadow took a few steps forward, bringing herself into the lead before saying quietly, “Its just like him. Tire us out. I told you, he likes games.”

“Walking right into a trap,” Jen whispered, more to herself than anyone.

Shadow had nodded to that, “Multiple traps, knowing Ket. But there isn’t any other choice.”

So they walked. The stairs went up, turned right, and then up again. After that, they opened up to a large corridor, which had a very distinct appearance of being maze-like. Without speaking, they just went forward...following Shadow and at least a bit of the Force. Around one corner not too far off, was another set of stairs going up. After glancing back to the others, she led the way up them. They went up four flights instead of just two, leading them to a ver similar looking set of corridors and hallways.

As they walked forward, looking down the other corridors to find the next set of stairs(or even a turbolift if they were very lucky), Jen asked the question they were all thinking at one level or another, “Are we going to have to do this the entire way up?”

“Probably,” Shadow answered flatly, not liking it either but finding that she was focusing more. Ket Halpak was up there and nothing was going to get in the way of that. He was the one who’d been behind all of this insanity with Sadrak in some way...and that she needed to know. That and whatever it was he was up to. He had to be up to something. Otherwise, he’d still be sitting quietly without drawing attention to himself.

Four levels later, the tedious walk through nearly identical hallways was getting to them. If only the stairwells had been in the exact spot each time, but no...no, they had to search for it. They found no other doorways or any indications that this was anything beyond a maze. But as they searched that sixth level for the next stairwell, they head a noise. It was easy to notice in the emptiness that they’d gotten used to, but that did not comfort them. The sounds were not quiet, and it was easy to recognize them as metal on metal. Walking. Getting louder.

The four of them stood back, watching the corner ahead of them in that tense moment to see what it was coming around it. Waiting. Always waiting. But they didn’t have to wait long. Stepping around the corner was a droid. It was nearly two and a half meters tall, clad in perfectly polished metal. The general shape was vaguely Alraxian, almost like Shadow in her metal body but not quite. The eyes were set back deep, and had a soft green glow to them. Soft and piercing. The droid looked powerful. And as it continued to walk forward, they noticed that both arms had very long, very sharp, and above all, very metal blades extending out from the wrists. The hands flexed oddly as it raised its left arm, and though it had no face and made no noise, it almost seemed like the droid was challenging them.

And as two more identical droids stepped around the corner behind the first, the four of them noticed an odd shimmering from the metal of the droids’ bodies. It shimmered slightly. But not in the way light could do...in a way that hinted at actual movement. They exchanged careful glances for a moment. There was something else here...something much more. And then, without warning, the slow and powerful plodding of the droids ended. Without any warning at all, the slow walk became a charge. An extremely fast charge that didn’t seem at all possible from the powerful and large droids. But they charged anyway, despite all reason. They charged down the cramped hallway straight for the two Alraxians, and Akan couldn’t help but wish he hadn’t taken the lead.

((Sorry for the lack of update yesterday. Was exhausted and passed out earlier than usual. But now we've reached the point I've been iching for! Hopefully you'll enjoy reading this stuff as much as we did playing it!))

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 151: Weapons of War

“The last group of droids has been loaded onto Loki,” Nine said, stepping over to Ket’s desk and idly having a seat on it. She leaned back some to watch what was grabbing his attention on the small holoprojector on the other side of his desk. Oh. Her. Rolling her eyes and watching the two other Alraxians and those humans walking through the halls, Nine spoke up a little louder, “The brat is wandering around up here somewhere, too.”

Ket just nodded, obviously much more interested in watching his new toys than anything else. Sometimes she couldn’t help but wonder if his mind really was deluded by the need for revenge. Maybe getting his tail cut off had taken most of his sanity with it...no matter, he was still useful in the end. Sighing loudly, she tried again, “Perhaps it is time for us to leave, Ket.”

He glanced at her a moment before looking back to the holo, speaking distractedly, “Leave now? We should at least see how the droids perform.”

“She will likely defeat them,” Nine said honestly, even though she didn’t like that.

He just shrugged, “Perhaps. But that says nothing for their performance. She is an anomaly among her people.”

“Then why watch it at all?” Nine snapped back, sounding very annoyed at this point, “They will do their job and tear through every other Alraxian. The longer we wait, the closer she gets.”

“It doesn’t matter if she gets here,” Ket said, finally looking her in the eyes, “The brat will deal with her. Besides...that human woman is interesting. I would like to meet her in person. Sadrak had such...unique things to say about her before he died.”

Nine sighed and rolled her eyes again. Fine. So they would wait. Nine couldn’t help but find it boring. Why should she have to watch all of the fighting? It would be much more entertaining to be involved in it! But no...right now she needed to conserve her energy. Why Ket insisted on toying with the clone, however, Nine would never understand. If he was going to kill her, he should just go ahead and do it. But no, he wanted to play. To have his fun. To get his revenge on the Empire for what he felt were horrible insults. Whatever. Nine honestly didn’t care about any of that. For her, all that returning to the Empire meant was a chance for power. And fun, of course...but Nine’s twisted version of fun was even twisted by a psychopathic killer’s point of view.

* * * *​

The three droids charged at them like lightning. So fast that Shadow, who had been leading the way, had no chance to react before the lead droid was upon her. One bladed arm swept at her neck, and she easily ducked low under it, starting to side step around and sweep its feet out from under it. But she didn’t get a chance. Halfway through her movement, a sharp pain shot through her torso. The pain blinded her for a moment before she saw that the droid had copied her move, sending a blade straight through her stomach in the process. How had it been so fast...? How did it know...? As blue coloured blood seeped from the wound, Shadow remorphed her body, starting around the wound and spreading outward.

The blade was removed and a moment later, her body was also metal. Finally a use for this morph...no matter how odd it felt to be droid-like. Yet this didn’t phase the droid in front of her, which was already jabbing at her with another blade from its left arm. She reached up with her arm to block it, and in a loud clang they collided, with the force of the impact shattering the blade. If she could have smiled in the metal body, she would have. Since she couldn’t, she simply sent the feeling through the link to Akan...Akan! But Shadow didn’t get a chance to look back to the others, as there was a horrific event occurring right in front of her two hollow eyes. Ducking a swing at her neck again, she stepped forward and placed a heavy punch to the droid’s stomach. Though her eyes were on the blade that had snapped off. It was reforming. Growing. Morphing. It shouldn’t be able to do that! It shouldn’t! How could it?!

The others had a few moments to watch the flashes of movement between Shadow and the lead droid before a second had plowed around and was charging forward. Akan was next in line, and was already activating his lightsaber. The snap-hiss of its activation was accompanied only a half second later by a loud cutting noise unique to lightsabers. In the drawing of his weapon, he had brought it through a swing and sliced off an outstretched arm. The cut off half flew behind him, bouncing off a wall and nearly hitting Jen in the face. Titus then grabbed her arm and pulled her back a good couple of meters just before Akan swung again with his lightsaber, a long and powerful horizontal arc. It took off another arm of the droid in a second loud sparking noise, but by now the first arm had also reformed and was coming in towards Akan’s face.

He ducked under it, then saw the other arm reforming mid swing towards him, and took a quick step back. The second strike missed, thankfully, but the droid was still after him, and he was surprised to receive a heavy kick to the chest. Akan hit the hard floor and slid back with his head spinning from the force of the blow. He looked up, about to get to his feet, and saw the droid was moving to impale him. There was another snap-hiss above him, a humming around and a flash of orange right over him. Sparks flew, and with a thud, half a droid fell next to him. The upper half. And it was still moving.

The torso sized droid ignored its newest attacker, turning to face Akan as the lower half of its body began to reform into legs. But that didn’t matter to it. One bladed arm shot towards him and Akan quickly rolled out of the way. Remembering that the Voorts were just behind him, he controlled his own lightsaber swing to hack off the droid’s head. More sparks flew, and the lower half of the torso stopped its reforming. But now, the severed head had its own body growing out of it. Neck...torso...arms...

“By the Force, how do we kill these things?!” Akan cried out, getting to his feet and risking a quick glance to Shadow. She was now dealing with two of those droids...and didn’t look like she was doing too well. There were nicks and scratches all across her metal body, and on the ground were multiple limbs and pieces of the droids that she’d gotten rid of...yet the two droids were still in one piece.

Shadow jumped back out of the way of an upwards strike from the first droid, her feet landing hard on the ground before she charged forward again. A metal fist clanged violently against the first droid’s skull, denting it and cracking off a large amount of the metal. The droid stumbled back and its companion stepped forward, swinging a bladed arm at Shadow’s torso. She sidestepped the attack and grabbed the metal wrist, ripping the droid off of its feet and tossing it onto its back with an echoing thud. Of course, this didn’t stop the droid, which lashed out with a kick the second it had hit the ground. The foot collided with Shadow’s stomach, sending her back and right into the fist of the first droid. It hit the back of her metallic skull and scrambled her thought for a moment, just long enough for another good strike to her back to land.

Ignoring the droid that was just getting to its feet again, she spun around to face the first, her foot lashing up for a heavy kick. It hit, again slamming into the droid’s still dented face. Interesting...the skull hadn’t remorphed. The loud, metallic crack of her foot hitting the droid’s skull, this time knocking off the front plating on the face. Underneath, she could see a skeletal structure of more ‘normal’ looking metal. And behind it, an orange coloured circular object. Still, the face didn’t remorph. That gave Shadow an idea. And the time Shadow took to think that up gave her another strike to the back of her head. She stumbled forward into the first droid, which struck her across the face with the flat end of one of the blades. As she was batted between the two, trying to find the chance to actually retaliate, she called out to Akan in the only way she could in this body. [The heads! Try that!!]

“Shadow says go after the head!” Akan relayed to Titus, who was next to him. They both had a few good scratches across their bodies, and Jen was standing behind them feeling helpless.

As they both ducked a horizontal strike for their heads and stepped back to avoid the second attack, Titus lashed out withe a vertical strike to at least keep the droid back, yelling to Akan, “We already did that!”

“I know!” Akan growled back, swinging his lightsaber upwards to prevent losing his limbs. He was already beat up enough as it was, and there simply wasn’t the time for him to divide his focus between defending and remorphing. Together, the two of them swung their lightsaber at another attack, both blades taking off a separate piece of the same arm, when Akan thought of something, “Well, we only got the neck. Try the actual head?”

“Worth a shot,” Titus said with a nod. But that would meant getting just a little closer. Unconsciously, they waited for one of them to move first. Surprisingly, it was Akan who stepped close to the droid, raising his lightsaber to block the strike of one metal arm. The Force alerted him to the inevitable second strike, which he managed to turn into a punch to his torso instead of being skewed, but at least two ribs were broken from the force of the blow, and he went stumbling face first into the nearby wall. But this was the distraction that was needed. Titus took the opening provided to stab forward with the tip of his orange lightsaber, sending it straight through the skull of the droid. There was a crackle, then a contained explosion just before he pulled the blade out. And finally, the droid dropped to the ground amongst the many other pieces of it that littered the corridor.

But Shadow didn’t see this. In fact, she couldn’t see much at the moment beyond silver torsos and fists. Her metal body was dented, cracked, and broken in countless places as the two droids beat her senseless, leaving her no opening whatsoever. But finally, upon hearing the loud thud behind her and feeling Akan’s face hit the wall(somehow that just added to the pain in her metal face...the fact that it was ‘pain’ was odd enough), she forced an opening. Taking another hit to her spine, this one from a blade that she could feel hacked off a good portion of her side, Shadow reached up to the damage droid in front of her with a strong right hook. The strike hit, colliding with the broken skull-plates and suddenly impacting with that circular orange thing...which felt odd in the second before it shattered and exploded against her hand.

She felt her metal hand melt slightly from the heat of it, but didn’t care when she watched the body collapse without remorphing or even moving at all. Of course, there was still one droid left and it didn’t seem to care that two of its companions had fallen. It did care, however, about beating Shadow even more, and she received this through a punch to the back of her skull that send her sprawling onto the ‘dead’ droid now on the floor in front of her. Spinning around to look up, she had a quick moment to see the droid was diving down towards her. Shadow lifted her feet up and kicked the droid in the chest, sending it back slightly. Slightly was enough, and both Titus and Shadow were surprised at the distinct sound of blaster fire. Two shots streaked out from behind Titus. The first hit the back of the droid’s skull just as the thing stumbled back, shattering the plating and giving the two Voorts a view of the inside of the skull. The second shot hit exactly the same place, but this time impacted the orange object within the skull, detonating it in a tiny flash and sending the droid to the ground.

Shadow leaned up and her emotionless metal face looked straight past Titus to see Jen, holding her blaster in both hands and breathing heavily like she’d been fighting as hard as the rest of them. She had, but in a different way. Morphing her body back to the normal Alraxian form, she groaned and got to her feet. She still ached. And her skull still hurt...a lot...she looked over to see Akan in a very painful position against the wall, face first torso bent back at the ground. He wasn’t dead, but he wasn’t unconscious either. The groan that faded into a painful whimper gave that away.

Titus deactivated his lightsaber and stepped over to the young man, helping him back to his feet as Akan managed to remorph his pained body. Yet he still looked exhausted. They all did. After Akan said a quiet thanks to him, Titus looked over to Jen and smiled, “Nice shot.”

She shrugged and holstered the blaster, “Its better than just standing there watching you all get torn apart.”

Shadow nodded, reaching to her waist and then tossing a small object to Jen. The woman caught it and went slightly wide eyed. But Shadow nodded again, saying, “Use it. You know how to by now.”

The woman nodded, looking carefully over Shadow’s ancient lightsaber. She honestly didn’t know what to say...and so went silent and held the weapon close. Still breathing heavily and after running a hand through his hair, Akan asked what they were all thinking, “And how many more times do we have to do this?”

Giving him a slow look as his hair fell messily in front of his face again, Shadow shrugged, “More than we’d like, I expect. Come on...lets keep moving before more appear.”

And so they started on again, pressed forward by Shadows need to reach Ket. It wasn’t completely rational and they could have all done with at least a few more minutes of rest...but she wouldn’t let it happen. They all knew she’d go on without them if she had to, and so they pressed on with her. That is, until they reached the next level and a problem.

As usual, it was Akan’s sarcasm that broke the silence of their decision making, “Now I know I got hit on the head a few times...but Shadow, I could swear to you I’m seeing two stairwells that both go up.”

“You’re not seeing double,” Titus said, patting Akan on the shoulder, “Though I wish you were.”

“I have a bad feeling that they go to different levels,” Jen said through a long sigh.

Seeing Shadow nod didn’t help, “We split up then. Jen, you come with me and we’ll go up the left. You two go right.”

Akan was about to ask about changing those group arrangements, but Shadow had picked up on these thoughts and answered his question privately. [You know as well as I do that the two of them won’t be able to handle those droids. We need one of us to a group. I know they’re tough, Akan, but you’ve got to learn to use all your strengths as an Alraxian. Trust me.]

And so they split up as Shadow had suggested, heading up separate stairwells to who knew what, with an entire building to climb, still. Sitting up in his top office, Ket Halpak smiled. Much, much better than he had expected. Though it would make things less interesting if they died...but it didn’t matter in the end, simply took away some of the fun of returning to the Empire. At least it was an interesting thing to view...though it would be a bit difficult to pay attention to both of the holoprojections now on his desk.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 152: Tired and Broken

Nine was pacing. She had been pacing in front of Ket’s desk for the last twenty minutes, having gotten bored of watching his toys. She was currently just as bored of pacing back and forth, however there wasn’t much else she could do at this point. And it was something at least. Though trying to ignore Ket’s constant giggles was becoming tiresome. Add to that a rowring and skittering sound down near the entrance to the column-lined ‘office’, and she was trapped between idiots. Seemed like the brat was entertaining himself back there. Sighing, she shook her head and stepped back over to Ket.

He looked up from the two holoprojections and smiled happily. Pointing to one, he announced, “This human woman is very interesting, indeed! Not much skill with that lightsaber, but she manages to wield it well enough anyway.”

“What level are they up to?” Nine asked, stepping around the desk to look at the holos properly.

Ket was still pointing to the same one, glancing over his shoulder to her, “Well, the human and our little toy are up to level fifty three,” he then pointed over to the other, “The males are at fifty four, though they’ve had a bit of an easier time. Somehow, they managed to sneak up behind one of the smaller groups of droids and took them out from behind.”

“I told you they would eventually,” commented Nine, more off hand than anything.

“Yes, of course,” Ket admitted, not really caring anyway, “There should be meeting up together again in two more levels. Well, one for the males if they wait...but there’s a few droids there to hold them until the females arrive.”

Nine raised an eyebrow, but still not surprised at how planned out Ket had this, “And then?”

“And then...” he glanced at her again, a proud smile on his face, “Then one more level and they’ll run into the last of that batch of droids. Then they’ll be here and we can say goodbye in person.”

“How many droids are left on that level?”

Ket took a moment to think about it, then waved his hand vaguely, “Seven or so. I don’t remember, exactly. Lost count watching these. Very entertaining. She fights so viciously. But its controlled. Nothing like...like...”

“Me.”

“Yes. You,” he rolled his eyes and poked the holo of the young Alraxian female, “It reminds me so much of Marix.”

Nine quickly changed the subject, “So you plan to wait until they get here to leave?”

He gave her a careful look, noting the quick change in both her tone and the subject, but nodded anyway, “Yes, I’m sorry, but it doesn’t look like those droids will be enough to take her down here.”

“She will figure out their purpose and follow us,” Nine stated flatly, not hinting at how much this annoyed her. She would probably never understand Ket’s need to play with his prey before just killing it.

“Of course she will,” he said with a chuckle, “But the brat should slow her down and give us time to reach our contacts. Then we can distribute the droids and by then she won’t even know where in the Empire we end up.”

“Until the attack,” again, a flat and simple comment from Nine.

“Obviously,” Ket rolled his eyes and looked back to the holoprojections. His understanding of Nine’s need to state even the most simple of facts was just as bad as her understanding of his need to toy with his prey.

* * * *​

Shadow had never felt so tired in her entire life. Marix agreed. Fighter after fight with those damned droids and she was exhausted. The stairs didn’t help. Nothing helped. She was too tired to focus on the Force. Too tired to even morph anymore. She was no longer in that metal body, mostly out of worry she wouldn’t ever be able to morph back. There were cuts, bruises, and scars all across her body, a very uncharacteristic sight on Shadow. She needed food...rest...sleep. But they still had to go up. Always up. Damn Ket. Damn him and that clone.

“There’s the next stairwell,” Jen panted, pointing forward with the purple blade of Shadow’s lightsaber. Shadow nodded tiredly and walked as fast as she could with her. Jen didn’t look any better. She was as bruised and beaten as Shadow was, and her right arm had a long, vertical slash across it that they’d attempted to patch up three levels down. Those metal blades on the droids’ arms were very, very sharp. At least it was her left arm, which meant she could still wield the lightsaber effectively enough. Sure, she wasn’t as quick with it as Akan or Titus, but she could cut and defend herself. The Force assisted in that so much that she was thanking it with every step she took. The Force was probably the only thing keeping her standing at this point.

And yet again, the two of them began to climb a steep flight of stairs. Each step was harder to take than the previous one, and Shadow was feeling the weight of her fatigue in a way that Alraxian rarely ever did. It was worrying to her, and if not for Marix, she would have thought she was dying. But thankfully, Marix at least understood fatigue and exhaustion at an intellectual level. Enough to reassure them that they weren’t dying, instead that they needed to eat badly. Eat and then sleep for a few days.

A noise echoed down the stairwell before they even reached the turn to head up the second half of it. The noise was familiar to both of them. It was a loud, sizzling spark of metal that was unique to a cutting lightsaber. Somehow, that noise ignited a new spark of energy within the two of them. With a quick glance between them, they managed to speed up their climb. They quickly rounded the corner to the second half of the stairwell, looking up to see the usual hallway at the top. But unlike each of the other times, the dim lights were accented by vaguely coloured flashes.

Reaching the top of the stairs, they looked straight down the corridor to see the backs of both Titus and Akan. Adding to that, there were two orange blades and a blue-green one, flashing and slicing at the remaining droid in front of them. Behind them were the usual pieces of droid limbs and even a couple of other body parts littering the floor. There was a loud thud, and in a moment, the droid in front of the Akan and Titus was down. Their heavy breathing echoed loudly through the silent corridor, and Shadow realized it was probably not the best idea to sneak up on them at a time like this.

[Boo.]

Akan jumped. In fact, he nearly fell on his face after tripping over a piece of droid. When he spun around, his wide eyed, surprised look turned into a glare. Shadow managed a apologetic look, though it was slowly being overtaken by a grin. Titus turned around and smiled at seeing them. Lightsabers were deactivated and there was a moment of greetings and score comparing. Apparently, they’d fought through the same amount of droids. And from the look of both Akan and Titus, it was believable. They looked as exhausted as Shadow and Jen did, with the same amount of bruises and cuts. Akan had his scruffy hair to add to it, making him look like something that even the local sewer spit out.

It wasn’t long before they were back to business, though, searching for the stairwell to the next level. There were two going down, of course, but this level proved to be more of a maze than the others and it took them nearly ten minutes to find the one going up. And as one group, again, they moved up together. By default of having found it first, Akan and Titus were in the lead. For once, even Shadow wasn’t going to complain about being in the back. Especially when they reached the next level. This one wasn’t a maze of corridors. This was a wide open chamber, and directly on the opposite side was another stairwell. But it wasn’t empty.

Around the center of the room were more of the droids. Eight of them, to be exact. Four of them held heavy, repeating blaster rifles. Weapons usually mounted on tripods for stable firing, and these droids were holding them like pistols. The four others were simply like the countless other droids they’d encountered. Bladed arms only. But did they really need anything else? Of course not...but obviously, need had nothing to do with this. Four lightsaber blades were activated and a set of sharp claws were unsheathed. A second later, the repeating rifles opened fire. Akan and Titus did their best to deflect the shots back, but four rifles that shot blaster bolt after blaster bolt in an endless stream every second was something that neither of them could keep up defending against in their tired states.

The first shot to get past either of them hit Akan in the shoulder. The force of the shot sent him stumbling back into Shadow, who was behind him. It also caused his right arm, which was holding the lightsaber, to fall to the side and leave him undefended, allowing more of the barrage of blaster bolts to hit. Shadow climbed over him, knowing there was nothing she could do right now but get in close and kill these droids. She pushed off Akan, sending him to the ground and, thankfully, out of the line of fire, while sending her diving at the nearest of the droids. Her claws dug into the droid’s skull and prying inward to destroy the ‘brain’ as quickly as possible. Though she got the skull plating open, an arm grabbed her and flung her across the room. Shadow hit the floor hard before sliding into the wall. As the ‘normal’ droids began to approach the two Voorts, one of the blaster equipped ones turned to Shadow, not even letting go of the weapon’s trigger.

She didn’t close her eyes as the staggered, red line of blaster fire arced its way towards her, which meant she actually saw the droid fly straight up in the ceiling at the speed of lightning. It hit head first, crushing it in violent sparks before the droid’s remaining pieces fell back to the ground. A nearby droid noticed this, and turned to Shadow in a run, preparing to dive at her with its bladed arms first before she could even get to her feet. But again, something happened. This time, instead of up, the droid went left in a flash, streaking off before shattering against the far wall. She then noticed that the blaster fire had stopped, and looked back to the main group to see only droids left standing. The remaining ones had been scattered across the room and were all in various shapes of disrepair. But all the skulls were smashed, and none of them moved.

The two that were left were charging at...Jen? Where was Titus?! Shadow’s eyes raced and she saw the man face first on the ground, not far from where Akan had fallen. He had likely been taken down in the same way. Just too much. But no, he was moving. Looking up to the two droids charging forward at the two of them. And then, Shadow watched in an almost horrified interest, as Jen yelled something unintelligible. One arm outstretched, and from it, violent arcs of blue lightning shot out. They went right over Titus, engulfing the two droids and causing them to spark and shake before the shimmering metal of their armor actually melted. Smoke suddenly exploded out from the skulls, and it all stopped.

The two droids fell, melted heaps of scrap metal. And Jen stood alone in the room. The only one still standing. Eight of those droids, all taken down by one exhausted woman. And yet she still stood. Shadow was crawling over to check on Akan, knowing he was alive but mentally nudging him back to consciousness. Titus had managed to sit up, and in a moment Jen was in his arms, clinging to him and sobbing violently. Through it all, Titus stroked her hair and held her close, saying quietly, “Its okay...its okay, Jen. Its almost over, now. Its okay...”

Through the sobs, she whispered an apology. She repeated it again and again as the tears slowly faded away again. But somehow, none of this got through to Titus or Shadow. Both were too caught up in the moment to step back and think. And the one of them who would be the one to actually stop and think about it was unconscious, with Shadow doing her best to wake him. They had to keep moving. She could feel Ket near. Yet even Marix didn’t realize how this was blinding her to what was really going on.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 153: The Jai

“They should be here by now,” Nine growled, having gone back to pacing.

Ket smiled and leaned back in his chair. He was going to miss this chair. Sure, he could take it with him...but really, how could anyone make a gloating, ‘I win, you loose’ exit while carrying a chair? It just didn’t work. So he was at least going to enjoy the last few minutes of it...though he was having to resist the urge to push off the desk and roll around more. Sadly, there wasn’t anymore time for that. Nine was right, they should have arrived already. But Nine wasn’t watching the holos, and therefore didn’t see the reason for the delay.

“They took a break,” he said idly, watching the holo that showed the four of them sitting and recovering from the serious beating they’d taken over the last couple of hours. Honestly, Ket couldn’t blame them. Especially after those very interesting actions by the human female just a few minutes ago. He’d had his doubts before, but she might just make waiting until the last second to leave worthwhile. His mind had already worked out how to bring it to a very entertaining conclusion, and from the looks of things it would be much simpler than most would have expected. The only regret he had was that he wouldn’t be able to stay around and watch the fun.

He smiled anyway. There would be stories. Word would get out. And if the clone survived, she might just take the story to the Empire, herself. Even better. But then again, if he had to take the story he would. Sure, it wouldn’t be accurate, but Ket knew how to tell a good story. Especially to his enemy. And then he sighed, seeing that the four of them were starting to get to their feet. Glancing through the holoprojection, Ket said, “They’re on their way now. Say your goodbye to the little brat and anything you happen to have gotten attached to in the place, and then lets get to our places.”

Nine simply pivoted on her foot and walked right past him, glaring at him. One day she’d learn to appreciate sarcasm. Maybe. Probably not. When she passed him by, she hissed, “You cannot continue to insist on this showing off, Halpak.”

Definitely not. It seemed like, no matter what, some things just wouldn’t ever change. Oh well. She’d be happier, if Nine could be happy that was, once they had left Nar Shaddaa. Then there would be only one last need to show off. But that one, even Nine would appreciate. Getting up out of his chair and giving it one last look, Ket turned and followed Nine to the turbolift on the wall behind his desk.

* * * *​

They hadn’t talked at all. It was an odd silence considering what had just happened, but none of them could find a way to break it. Titus simply held Jen close, doing his best to comfort her when he knew how impossible that was. He was as afraid as she was, having truly realized what had happened only minutes earlier. He couldn’t say anything, though. What could he say that would help? Nothing. He had tried thinking back to his own past, and had quickly realized that anyone that had tried to say things to him would just have been blown off. In fact, they were. He could see that now, years later.

And now Jen was on the edge. Everyone tread close to the Dark Side at least once in their lives, so it shouldn’t have worried him as much as it did. But this was Jen. She was kindest person he’d seen in thousands and thousands throughout the galaxy. And here she was, sobbing on his shoulder after brushing so very close to the edge. But she had walked away from it. So close, and she somehow walked away. What he hadn’t done when he was younger. But still, somehow, this didn’t comfort him.

Next to them, Shadow was doing her best to get Akan conscious again. This had ended up simply becoming a constant mental prodding through their link. It had worked before, it should work again. And besides, it took very little effort, allowing her time to rest and regain at least some energy. Not enough to remorph all of the cuts, scratches and bruises she had acquired, but definitely enough to hang on for another fight that was going to be inevitable. Eventually, Akan started to respond to the prodding. At first, it was just a few thoughts that actually made sense. Or at least, formed coherent ideas compared to the blank nothing or the random everything that unconsciousness and dreaming would produce. After a few more minutes, an eye opened and then another.

[What happened...?]

She rolled her eyes. Of course he’d ask a stupid question like that. Why couldn’t it be something interesting? Or nothing at all, even. She poked a large, blackened portion of his jacket. [You got shot.] she then poked four more black marks. [...multiple times.]

He tilted his head up some to look at the scorch marks on his jacket, though his neck couldn’t bend enough to get a good view of one of them at the moment. [And I’m not dead...why?]

[You seem to have a habit of living.] Shadow ‘said’ with a shrug, not completely meaning it as a sarcastic comment but at the same time, knowing he would take it that way. When he smiled slightly, she figured it had worked and explained a bit more. [Usually, Alraxians don’t black out. Our bodies don’t work that way, normally. The only time that happens is if you’re low on energy and suffer serious wounds. The body and mind pretty much shut down so that the rest of the body’s energy can be used to remorph the wounds an keep you alive.]

“Handy,” Akan said, finding his voice and sitting up finally. His throat still hurt, but truthfully, everything hurt still. Wait a second... “Hold on, Shadow. If my body just did that and healed those wounds, then why does everything still hurt?”

Shadow actually shrugged, “I’m no expert. You see, I’ve never been like you. I don’t attract blaster fire. So lets just leave it at this. You’ve got a habit of staying alive, but this is balanced by a life of aches and pains, which you then push on everyone else around you in endless complaints.”

Slowly, a grin started to appear on Akan’s face, and it eventually turned into quiet chuckling, “That was a joke, wasn’t it?”

“Not completely,” Shadow answered quickly, but then managed a grin of her own, “You complain so much all the time that even Marix thinks you only live to whine.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” he grumbled, looking to the Voorts and knowing he should ask what had happened. He could see that all the droids were in pieces and crushed. He could see something had happened. But something held him back from asking what that something was.

And when he got close to saying something, Shadow interrupted him by making another comment, “Votes. We both believe in your ability to whine,” and before he could comment, she, too, turned to the Voorts and said carefully, “Ket is close. We need to keep going.”

Titus looked to the two Alraxians, an expression of pain on his face that was quickly washed away by determination. He nodded, and pulled Jen back slightly. Her face was still wet with tears, but she felt calmer. That was what she needed. Calm. Looking her in the eyes, Titus managed to get himself to smile. Quietly, he whispered to her, “She’s right. Let’s get this over with and then you cash in on that vacation.”

Jen’s looked up into his eyes and smiled, laughed slightly even. She nodded a few times and started to get to her feet. But Titus held her there for a moment, looking into her eyes again and searching for something. He didn’t even know what it was he was searching for...or if he found it or not. But the thoughts ended when he kissed her. A few moments later, the two of them were up and stepping over to the Alraxians...both of whom were idly toeing at the droid remains.

There was a silent agreement to go on, this time with the two Alraxians taking the lead, but before they got far, Jen reached over and caught Shadow’s arm. She turned around to give Jen a curious look, and found herself looking at the hilt of her lightsaber. With a calm, steady voice that didn’t seem to fit the expression on her face, Jen said quietly, “I’m not ready for this.”

Shadow just looked at the woman in disbelief for a moment before finally nodding and slowly taking the weapon back. As she hooked the weapon to a small spot on her morphsuit, she said to Jen, “Words of true wisdom. You may be more ready for it than you think.”

That got a slightly embarrassed smile on Jen’s face before she motioned them all forward to the stairwell that was at the opposite end of the open room. It took a couple of seconds to actually push both Shadow and Akan along, but once they got the idea it wasn’t too much trouble. She exchanged another smile with Titus, and for a moment it was just like old times. Before everything. Before this day. If only it could have hung on for longer than it did.

The stairwell was very wide compared to the others. It could have easily fit an average sized landspeeder if the steep angle of the steps wouldn’t cause trouble with the repulsorlifts. The stairs also went up for much longer than any of the others. Four turns. Up. Left. Up. Right. Up. Left. Up...Right...then up one last time. It seemed like the stairwell was designed to create tension, as the more they walked the easier it became to notice the sounds of their own footsteps and breathing. How heavy they both were. How tired they all were.

And then they stepped out of the stairwell into the monstrously gigantic room ahead of them. The ceiling was at least twenty meters high, with great columns lining an open, carpeted walkway. How many columns there were was impossible to tell, as they were staggered in a very odd pattern, though behind some of them, great windows could be seen. Ahead of them, about forty or so meters, the room made an L-shaped turn, columns, royal looking carpet, and all. And it was silent. Far too silent.

Shadow looked back to the two Voorts, raising a hand slightly to motion for them to stay back some. She then nodded to Akan and the two of them began to walk down the edges of the carpet, leaving a the center open between them. Each step they took was slow, deliberate, and silent. The only real sound either of them could hear was their own breathing...echoing through their skulls as they tried to listen for something. Anything. This couldn’t be empty. That was too easy. Too...a click.

The Force suddenly screamed a panic through Shadow’s mind and she reacted to its warning. Quickly, she dove to the left, rolling across the floor towards a nearby column just as a series of four large, serrated, metal spikes arced out from the carpet below right where she had been standing. She was now down on her haunches, barely a half meter from the now-retracting blades. Her eyes looked up from them to the currently frozen Akan. Nothing needed to be said. Even the Voorts didn’t need to hear an ‘I told you so’ when it came to Halpak’s love of traps. Maybe they hadn’t believe that it would be so literal. Now they did. And now they would all be listening much more carefully. The carpet wasn’t there just for show. It was hiding the floor. Simple and perfect.

Slowly getting back to her feet, Shadow started the careful walk forward again. Akan glanced back to the Voorts, who had now split apart and were each following the paths of the Alraxians. Jen was following Akan’s, stepping where he had and using the Force to make sure of it, and Titus was doing the same with Shadow’s path, making special note to the entire area she’d been in when the blades had cut through the carpet.

They made it five more meters before Shadow stopped, motioning for the rest of them to do the same. Had she just heard something? A skittering noise off in the columns? Carefully, Shadow turned her head and looked around. Nothing. She turned back forward, getting ready to take another step before...was that it again? A sliding noise. Like...like a cat that couldn’t grip onto a metal floor and was trying to stop itself after a run. Or was she just paranoid? No. No she’d heard something. Slowly, she looked back to Akan. Through their link, he knew what she was looking for, but just shrugged.

If the need to hear everything wasn’t as important, Shadow would have sighed or insulted him. But she was focusing now. She had heard a noise. And it was close...and..

“RAWR!!!” Shadow heard the pathetic attempt at a vicious growl the moment before claws latched onto her back and a set of sharp teeth bit straight into her neck. Shadow’s cry of pain was deafening compared to the previous silence. Reaching back in a panic, she tried to pry the...the pain off, but couldn’t reach it. It moved, claws raking into her back and teeth biting again and again.

As Shadow flailed and stepped around in a panic, now growling from the pain, she screamed at anyone who was listening, “Get it off!! Get if off me!!”

She heard footsteps and then felt the claws digging into her back even more. A second later, Shadow felt the claws latching on tighter as they were pulled...pulled!! It was pulling on her too!! Letting out another growl that faded into a whimper, Shadow cried over her shoulder, “Off!! Get it off!!”

“I’m trying!!” Akan’s voice yelled back, far too loudly. At this point, though, she didn’t care. It was clawing her and he was pulling it and it was clawing tighter and he was still pulling on it and...and...

“Don’t try like that!!” she screamed, reaching back and managing to get a grip on something...fur covered. Just as she latched onto the fur, her hand was bit hard. She could feel the teeth actually grinding the bones in her hand!

“I’m...doing the best I...can...” with each pause in Akan’s yells, he pulled harder and the claws dug in deeper...as did the teeth. Akan was not helping! He was just making it worse!! And then suddenly, without any warning at all from Akan, damn him, he yanked even harder. This time, it got the thing off of her back...but the claws took a good portion of Shadow with them, sharp and very severe pains wracking through her entire back and hand. The pain was too much, and her vision blurred into a white hot nothing. She didn’t black out, but instead fell to her knees and curled up, trying to urge her body to remorph and stop bleeding everywhere...trying...trying...

The Voorts had run to catch up, now standing a meter or so back and staring at what Akan was holding...just as Akan was staring. Held by the waist in both hands at arms length from Akan and flailing around madly was a small, fur covered...feline thing. It had thick black coloured fur with a single, blue stripe that ran from the fur on the top of its head all the way down to the stubby tail. And though it was madly trying to get out of his grip, the thing wasn’t actually clawing him at all. Instead it squirmed violently back and forth, pushing on his arms but not using claws. It was still facing Shadow and looked to be doing everything in its power to get free to maul her.

Though Shadow had not managed to heal her wounds very well, she groaned and managed to get up onto all fours. Her groan seemed to insight another burst of energy from the thing in Akan’s arms, which made another weak attempt at a roar before twisting around in his grip. This time, it managed to slip free, bounding to the ground as Akan failed to catch it again before the thing dove at Shadow, claws extended again. Shadow’s reflexes took over, her arm lashing out and backhanding the small creature roughly.

The cracking noise was accompanied by a sharp whimper before the creature hit the floor and slid into a nearby column. Slowly, as Shadow got back to her feet, she turned to look at the curled up thing. It was Jen who broke the renewed silence, “Is that...that what I think it is?”

Shadow nodded, still breathing heavily and deciding to use the one word explanation, “...Jai...”

“What?” Jen looked to Titus, who shrugged.

But Akan knew what that meant. The link was a nice advantage sometimes. And seeing that Shadow was still trying to focus her remaining energy on healing the still bleeding wounds, he fielded the question, “A child...”

“Alraxian child,” Shadow finished for him.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 154: How Far We've Fallen

“A cute little brat, isn’t he?” a voice echoed down the large chamber. All of their attention was immediately pulled away from the unmoving Alraxian child to the turn in the corridor. There was no one there. Just as empty as it had been before. But that voice hadn’t been from a comm system. It really had echoed from around that corner. And the Voorts were on it.

Ignoring the fact that there could very easily be more traps under their feet, the two humans ran past the Alraxians and to the corner. Around it, the columns spread out, revealing great glasteel windows that were starting to get a soft orange glow. The sun was rising. About twenty meters in front of them was a single desk and an empty chair behind it. The desk was clean and looked as if it had never been used. But past it, about another twenty or so meters, a set of small steps rose up to an open turbolift door that was flanked by two wide open windows. Standing there in the turbolift were two Alraxians.

The female was easily recognized as the clone, Delta Nine, standing tall and with an emotionless face. She watched them in a bored way, nothing like the male standing next to her. He was just as tall as Nine, broad shouldered yet he looked more like a planetary governor than a warrior. It was in the face. The short, neat black hair, strong lines in the face that reminded Jen of Titus, and two piercing, silver eyes. And he was smiling. Proudly. That arrogant smile that was always accompanied with some kind of ‘I’ve won, and here’s how...’ speech. The smile grew even more a moment later, and Titus knew why.

Shadow and Akan had caught up. From the looks of it, Shadow had been half-carried by Akan. Only half-carried because Shadow always refused such assistance. She’d probably only accepted it because of other variables that were in the situation. The main one being that Alraxian smiling at them. But when the two of them stopped and Shadow’s eyes fell on the Alraxians at the opposite end of the room, she seemed to gain a small surge of energy. Enough to stand on her own and growl.

Halpak laughed at that, sounding genuinely amused by the sound, “I am so sorry, my dear, but we really don’t have time to play. You must understand that it pushed our schedule to even wait and say hello...or goodbye, depending on your point of view, of course.”

“You’re not going anywhere, tail-less!” Shadow snapped back, taking a few careful steps over to the desk. The Voorts and Akan then noticed that her description of Halpak as ‘tail-less’ wasn’t just an insult. In fact, it looked like he had a simple stump for a tail.

And at those words, the amusement was drained from Halpak’s face, quickly replaced by a very dangerous look of rage. Viciously, he yelled back, his voice echoing through the chamber eerily, “Don’t think I don’t plan to return the favor!” silence hung in the room after that, before Halpak’s voice calmed again, though his expression did not, “I truly must apologize to you all. We must be going as the Mrrakesh are not the most patient of people.”

He then reached for a panel within the turbolift. He stopped, though, at hearing Shadow’s voice again, “So now you’ll sell your own people out and kill them too?! I should have taken more than your tail!”

Halpak laughed slightly, “My people? You actually can think of them as my people? When they take me away from my family and my life, treat me like dirt and turn me into some mindless assassin just because my eyes are a different colour?! You know as well as I do that they are not my people! They aren’t yours either, no matter what you may want to think! They’d throw you out in a second and call for your death if the people found out what you really are! Or rather, when they found out.”

But Shadow didn’t have another chance to speak. Footsteps caused her to go silent as she looked to the source. Jen. The woman was charged forward, past the desk and right up the steps. She had no weapon in her hands, but there was a soft glow growing from her fist. She got within a meter of Halpak before he took notice of her, simply reaching out with a hand lazily. A heavy wall of the Force itself collided with Jen, sending her rolling back down the steps. Halpak exchanged a look with Nine, then walked out of the turbolift, casually down the steps and in front of Jen’s unmoving body.

Reaching down, he lifted her up onto her feet again...but did so with only the Force. Her eyes were open, a maddening look in them and he just smiled to her, saying quietly, “I was right to watch you. I’m sorry I can’t stay any longer to enjoy the fun. I hope you enjoy it, though.”

Then, after a quiet word that even Nine didn’t hear, he flung her to the side, sending Jen flying into the desk hard. The force of her hitting it shattered the fake-wooden desk, and Titus finally found himself able to move again. Calling her name, he quickly ran to the mess she was buried amongst, kneeling down and trying to dig her out quickly. At the same time, both Shadow and Akan had started towards Halpak, but neither of them got close enough before he was in the turbolift, waving to them with a smile, and gone.

Titus didn’t care. He got a large piece of the desk off of Jen and was relieved to see she was still alive. Her eyes were even open. A smile reached Titus’ face somehow, and he did his best to help her up. But to his surprise, Jen batted his arm away roughly. It seemed like something clicked in her eyes and they were like nothing he’d ever seen in her before. Suddenly, she lashed out and kicked him hard in the chest. A moment later, she scrambled to her feet and back away from the three of them.

“Jen!” Titus called out instinctively, catching his breath and getting to his feet. There was a look of worry on his face as he carefully walked towards her again.

Quickly, Jen backed away from him, up the steps and off to one side, screaming at him, “Get away from me!”

But Titus still took a step forward, though it was slower and more careful time. He took a moment to find his voice, and it came out sounding as terrified as the look on his face, “Jen...its me...come on...I’m not going to hurt you...”

“Stay away from me, Sith!” she cried out, taking another step back and hitting the glasteel window behind her. She glanced at it in a moment of panic, looking very much like a cornered animal. Looking back to them, Jen’s eyes ran over the two Alraxians and then back to Titus, “You lied to me! You lied to me and I loved you!”

Titus opened his mouth, but no words came out. He could feel a change in her, yet couldn’t describe it beyond that it was wrong. Not able to find any words, he simply took another small step forward, reaching a hand out towards her. The look that this got from Jen was like venom. And Akan stood in horror as he watched it all with a sense of deja vu. Jen said something else...but he didn’t hear it. It was all a blur.

The next moment, Akan watched as the glasteel behind Jen was shattered by an unseen force. Distantly, Akan heard Jen speak something...and though again, he didn’t actually grasp the words, the feeling was enough. The feeling was also easy to describe. Hate. Anger. Everything he’d been afraid of from the very beginning. Without another word, Jen took a single step back, out of the shattered window and out of sight. And then there was silence. It was a silence that didn’t last lost.

“What did he do to her?!” Titus screamed, spinning around to glare straight at Shadow.

But she had no words. She didn’t know what to say...or to think. Jen was gone. Halpak was gone. Nine was gone. And she couldn’t help but feel that it was her fault. She shouldn’t have hesitated and let Halpak talk. She should have listened to Akan, no matter how paranoid his claims had been. And so Shadow just stood there, frozen with shock for the first time in her life.

“What did you do to her?!” Titus yelled, his face bending and twisting to match the rage in his voice. But still, he got no answer. And his hands were on his lightsaber again, taking the weapon from his belt and looking across the room to Shadow. His voice marred by anger to the point where it barely even sounded lie his own anymore, Voort growled, “This is your fault! You knew she shouldn’t have been here! She wasn’t ready! This is all your fault!”

And then, with a snap-hiss from the lightsaber, the orange blade came to life. It came to life in motion as Voort charged forward, straight to the still unmoving Shadow. And Akan watched. He watched in slow motion as Voort got closer and closer. He watched as the lightsaber rose, then began its fall towards Shadow. And he couldn’t move. His body was frozen with the same terror and horrible realization of what was happening...and yet Voort still charged. The blade still fell towards Shadow. And somewhere, Halpak was laughing to himself.

((Sorry for the later than usual update. Net was down last night. Still planning on the usual timed update for tonight...hopefully.))

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 155: Human and Animal

An orange streak was slowly cascading downwards. It had only been a few seconds, but to Shadow, it had lasted an eternity. And then, just as she had expected to feel the lightsaber cutting her in two, there was a bright white flash in front of her eyes. A loud crackling sound was accompanying it, and her eyes followed the white light upwards to see that it faded into that orange. Odd...she looked down, but could only see white. Then, she started to look right, following the constant white until it faded into another colour. Into a soft, blue-green.

It was then that she realized the white light that the two others had collided to create was only centimeters from her head. Wavering slightly...towards her...back...then towards again...and then it was gone. The white was pushed back until she could see clearly again. Voort had been pushed back, now a good two meters away and holding his lightsaber up...but not looking to Shadow. His voice was hoarse, but filled with both pain and anger, “Get out of the way, Akan!”

A figure stepped in front of Shadow. She knew the back of Akan’s head well, having given it a good punch more than once. The white hair and the metallic blue stripe were bathed in the light of his lightsaber, held out in front of him in a way that Shadow could only see its tip above his head. And his ears were flat. Something she’d not seen from him before. But he spoke calmly, in a voice that was far too much like her own, “I’m not moving, Voort.”

“She killed Jen!” Voort screamed, pointing over Akan’s shoulder to Shadow.

But Akan shook his head, “No. She didn’t,” and for a moment, through the link, Shadow felt a strange hesitation from Akan. But it was gone as quickly as it had appeared, and his voice spoke again, sounding as calm as before, “I did. Its my fault, Voort. Mine.”

“Y-y-you...” Voort’s eyes looked Akan over for a moment. Through the Force, the two Alraxians could feel his mind working that out. Convincing himself. Making it true. Yes. It was Akan’s fault. He’d been so worried in the first place he should have stepped in and done something about it! But no...he’d just complained and whined! And he stood right there, almost gloating about it.

It had not been the most intelligent thing to say if Akan had wanted to stop what happened next. But it was too late. It was something that had been building up and waiting to boil over since they’d first encountered each other. A curse escaping his lips, Titus Voort charged at Akan, lightsaber swinging at the young Alraxian’s neck. Akan’s lightsaber was there to meet Voort’s, catching it easily with a loud explosion of energy. The white-hot light of their lightsabers colliding again faded as Voort pulled his blade back, spinning around for another horizontal strike, but this time aimed at Akan’s waist. Inverting his blade, Akan parried the strike with ease, causing another flash of white.

There was a second snap-hiss and Akan caught a quick glimpse of the other end of Voort’s double-bladed lightsaber swinging around at him. But this time, Voort’s blade met no resistance. Akan ducked low, rolling left and out of the way. He got to his feet, spinning his wrist around to bring his lightsaber up into a better defensive position. Voort reversed the momentum from his missed swing, pulling back and down with the opposite blade. Akan caught it high, batting the attack away before spinning right and catching the second orange blade.

The Force gave a quick warning, and he ducked again under another strike. But this time, a knee met him, catching him hard in the face. Akan stumbled back, ignoring the pain(what was one more pain at this point, anyway?) And quickly sidestepping a vertical swing aimed to cut him two. Under his foot, there was a soft click. So soft, that he barely heard it below the sounds of the three whirring and cracking lightsaber blades. Perhaps he hadn’t heard it...maybe it was the Force. Either way, he reacted to the ‘sound’, rolling to the left again just as a series of serrated spikes shot up where he had been standing.

Voort had been forced to take a step back, staring down at the blades for a short moment before looking back to Akan. He didn’t wait for the blades to completely retract before attacking again, instead jumping over both the blades and Akan, landing behind the young Alraxian. Pivoting around to face the man, Akan had his lightsaber up to defend the strike meant to cut him across the waist. He deflected the strike upwards, forcing Voort’s second attack to come in from a low angle. Instead of blocking it, Akan jumped over the orange blade, flipping to the left and landing in time to bat away a high attack to his head.

Pushing the blade away as he did forced the second, lower one to rise up towards his right leg without Voort even having to force it. Quickly, in conjunction with yet another left step, Akan raised his right leg up and out of the way. His trouser leg was sliced in the process, but his actual leg got only a few singed hairs. With the sidestep, he also pivoted around to Voort’s back, deflecting away a horizontal swing as Voort spun around to follow him. The two blades held there for a long moment, centimeters from Akan’s face. And they had a moment to watch each other’s eyes. Voort’s pained and enraged matching against Akan’s emotionless, yet full of something he didn’t completely understand. Using all the strength he could manage, Akan pushed Voort back, just enough so that the other man would have to take a couple steps forward to attack again.

And instead of standing and waiting, Akan drew upon the Force and used it to assist his back flip. He landed a good ten meters on the other side of the large room, glasteel from the shattered window now crackling as he landed and shifted his weight. Holding the his blue-green lightsaber in front of him with both hands, Akan called out, “We don’t have to keep doing this, Voort!”

The other man steadied himself and held the double-bladed lightsaber low in front of his body, glaring across the room to Akan, “You should have just let me kill your animal friend, then!”

Akan glanced to Shadow, still standing there...but now a good distance from the both of them. She hadn’t moved, though her eyes seemed to be watching the both of them. He couldn’t feel her through the link. Or maybe he was too focused on the task at hand. Voort wasn’t going to back down. Not anymore. Knowing he was at a disadvantage, Akan took his lightsaber into his right hand and extended his left to Shadow.

From her waist, a small object broke off and tumbled through the air towards Akan. He caught the ancient lightsaber in his free hand without any trouble, immediately noticing the feel of the weapon. So very similar to his own...but this wasn’t the time for that. He spun the hilt around until it was in the right position, then thumbed on the activation switch. A soft, purple glow joined the blue-green glow from his own lightsaber. Holding both of them up in front of him, Akan said calmly, “I’m an animal now, too, Voort.”

((Been trying to get a piece of art to accompany this and the next update...hand is not listening to brain, so it might not appear until later, though.))

 

[dpdx]

I can't help thinking, in a metagame sense, that by now the PCs (that survive) must be wallowing in XP, once the GM gives it to them. Or did they get it in mid-session? Jen's Force Lift (?) on the droids to the ceiling was genius.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

I can't help thinking, in a metagame sense, that by now the PCs (that survive) must be wallowing in XP, once the GM gives it to them. Or did they get it in mid-session? Jen's Force Lift (?) on the droids to the ceiling was genius.

We used that break after the hoards of droids(skimmed past it because it really was the same thing over and over again) to level up. Yes, lots of XP was given, but it was building up anyway from what I remember. Shadow's and Voort's players especially liked it, as they had been higher level(through the insanity that converting from the old D6 system to d20 caused) and didn't get to level up nearly as much as Akan and Jen.

And Jen was using Move Object with a bit of help from a Dark Side enhanced Force Point(s). Agreed, it was genious. Especially since everyone else was getting their tails handed to them.

Off to work on the next update...