Star Wars: Heroes of Another Kind

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

And...ummm...did I miss a post or something where it was mentioned that Ket is Toby's dad? Or is that just an educated guess on Jyren's part?

Off the top of my head, I don't believe it was ever directly stated(other than Ket's own thoughts). But, between where they found him, what he was like, etc, it isn't too hard to figure out.

If all else fails, I can just invoke the ulimate plot device and just say "The Force!" and wave my hands around.

 

[Angcuru]

Well cover me in BBQ sauce 'cause I'm dumb as hell! *name that show*

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 223: First Leg

The ship did have a hangar. Or at least...what went for a hangar when it came to Kanyaks. Truthfully, it looked nothing like what Jyren was used to. The only similarity was a large amount of smaller ships scattered about and the fact that he could see a star field out beyond. There were six small ships there...all of which Jyren assumed to be younger Kanyaks. But they all looked so very different it was hard to tell if they were even the same species or not.

But he was sure they were alive. He could feel them through the Force. It was...still something that took getting used to. But most of them felt dimmed. Not dead, no, but...almost asleep. Probably asleep. If Kanyak’s slept. He hadn’t known Loki long enough to actually ask that question.

Loki...

No, don’t think about that. Focus. Focus.

After a deep breath, Jyren stepped into the hangar itself and walked past the ships, allowing the Force to guide his steps as he really had no idea where to go. There was no one else in the hangar...likely due to the events that had happened barely ten minutes earlier. The entire Empire would likely be in a state of shock for the next...next...probably a long time. Especially if he screwed this up or Ket killed Shadow before he got close enough to do anything.

And then he noticed something. One of the Kanyak’s mind’s was whirring at the speed of light. Immediately, it reminded Jyren of how Toby’s mind felt most of the time. Darting from place to place with no real destination other than somewhere that wasn’t where it currently was. Finding the source of it was easy, as his eyes followed the feeling straight to a very small looking, slightly blue-grey coloured Kanyak. It was probably no bigger than an X-Wing. Maybe even a little smaller...like a miniature Mon Calamari cruiser, really.

Stepping over to it, he decided that there was only one thing he could think of doing, “Hello?”

The wild thoughts suddenly found a focus. Jyren. He could almost hear a little dancing voice in the vague speech that found its way into his mind through the Force. [Hellooooo!! Who are yooooouuu?]

Somewhat surprised by the sing-song, slightly feminine voice, Jyren didn’t know what to say for a moment. His mind quickly came to the conclusion that this was child...probably around the equivalent of Toby’s age. It was worrying. Worrying...but at the moment, it seemed like he was stuck with it, “My name is Jyren. I need to go somewhere but don’t know exactly where it is.”

[Jyren!] the ship echoed his name, obviously trying it out rather than recognizing it. [I take you!! No other faster than meeee! They all old and sleeeeeeping!!]

Jyren somehow found himself envisioning a small child motioning to a group of adults while dancing around a new toy. That was oddly appropriate for the current situation, to be honest. But he found himself waving a hand and shaking his head(hoping that the ship could actually see that), “I’d love for you to take me where I need to go, but I don’t even know where that is. Unless you know anything about a metal ship.”

Pause. Silence. Then, starting softly, the little ship’s voice returned. [I know ooooold ones all says I no allowed go to one place. They say something about metal...maybe that what you look for?]

Jyren opened his mouth, but never got a chance to answer. Instead, the ship answered for him. [It is! It is!! I know where they no want me go! I take you! It be fuuun! And no take long because I fastestest!]

A small access ‘hatch’ irised open on the ship, and Jyren could see in straight to what looked like the cockpit. So it definitely was a small ship. Part of him was trying to be rational...saying that this ship was likely dangerous. Jyren liked Toby, but he wouldn’t dare entrust his life to the little kid at this point. And he felt like he was doing something eerily close by stepping towards the small Kanyak.

But rational thought wasn’t getting very far anymore. This ship knew where his X-Wing probably was. With his X-Wing, he could get back to the Capital. There, he could get Shadow. After that...it didn’t matter. Maybe he should deal with Ket then and there...but Jyren was actually surprised with himself that he wasn’t even thinking about that. He was actually putting that off until later. Maybe even days later. The priority was to get Shadow. Both his and her life depended on that...as did most of the Empire, knowing their luck.

And he’d made promises. Not only to Toby, but to Shadow’s parents. Now, there was only one way to honour them. He had to get Shadow off of that planet alive. Anything after that could be dealt with when it came up.

So he walked into the ship, and had a seat in the only chair within the cockpit...a miniature version of what he’d seen in both Loki and Hermes. Once he’d sat down, restraining straps latched across him and he noticed the ship was already moving. At the same time, Jyren could hear a humming sound in his head. The ship was humming! Suddenly, this looked like a bad idea all over again...but they were out of the hangar now, and shooting off to the stars.

“How long will it be until we get to this place?” Jyren asked, hoping that it wouldn’t be anywhere close to even an hour.

The humming paused a moment. [Not long! I fastest! Minutes! Minutes minutes!]

The ship then went on to make a song out of that. Jyren couldn’t help but grin slightly, and sat back as he noticed that there was actually a planet nearby. Not only that, but multiple other Kanyaks of various shapes and sizes littered space. It hadn’t been a star field he’d seen...it had been a field of starships. Probably every single ship that had left the Capital was here. It was a fleet like he’d not seen since that assault on Coruscant all those years ago...and this wasn’t a war fleet.

Amazingly was the only word he could find. Every single ship was unique, even more so than the great Mon Calamari cruisers they so resembled. But the Kanyak’s were no only unique in shape, size, and colour. Jyren could also feel a soft presence from each of them, just like he could feel from every living creature. And all of them were just slightly different. Add to that the thousands of Alraxians aboard all of the ships and the dead of space was overflowing with a feeling of life.

Pained, lost, and panicked life, yes...but life was life.

They were descending down towards a yellow-green planet. No...no, they were descending towards a small, grey moon that was just off to the left of the planet. And they were moving fast. Though he sat in silence, the ship continued its little singing and humming to itself, which kept Jyren oddly entertained.

And then the moon was close enough that he could see the mostly dead surface. Not far from the horizon was a series of structures that was distinctly Alraxian. Though they were domed, it still retained the look of a planet of some sort, and gave off a feeling of life on the dead moon. It was only a few moments before they were setting down in a gigantic hangar, with even more Kanyaks all over the place. [We heeeere!!]

The straps over him let go, allowing Jyren to get to his feet, “Thank you for the ride.”

[Uh-huuuh...] this time, he noted the voice of the ship was trailing off in an almost yawn. It didn’t say anything else, and by the time Jyren had exited the ship, it was now a dimmed, sleeping presence in the Force.

Again, Jyren smiled, and patted the ship gently, “Good night.”

With a deep breath, he turned to take in the sights of the place. No metal in sight. So it wasn’t this hangar. That was a start. But from the look of the place he’d gotten from the outside...it was comparable to the gigantic Palace. This could take a very long time finding just one ship. So, Jyren decided to attempt a different means of tracking down if the X-Wing was even where he now was. He reached out with the Force to find the presence of an Alraxian. Latching onto it, he started a makeshift hunt. An Alraxian here would surely know of something made of metal.

Hopefully.

If not...and if the ship wasn’t even here, Jyren had a feeling that coming here would be his last mistake.

((Oh, and on the note of Toby...I don't believe it was mentioned straightforward who his father/mother was, but it was hinted and vaguely poked at since Ket made his appearance.))

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 224: Blind Jump

The corridors were empty. The building was empty. It was extremely unhelpful. There were no signs of any Alraxians anywhere that Jyren could find. Of course, the entire place was as big as the Palace, so he doubted he’d be able to explore it all and find them in his current haste anyway. Think.

No! No there isn’t time to think! Feel.

...but that takes time, too! If only Shadow was conscious enough for the link to provide more than a hazy blur! Why was she always getting caught, anyway?! What kind of assassin was she?! It seemed like no matter what, things always went back to this. Shadow was caught. He was going after her. This was, in fact, the root of all of the current problems that had ever developed to make his life more interesting. So, rightfully, he blamed her.

Not that it was a bad thing, of course. At least it was something consistent and stable in his life. Considering how rare that seemed to be, Jyren was to the point where he’d take whatever he could. And if that meant saving Shadow from whatever she’d gotten herself...no, them....into, then so be it. Its not like he hadn’t done it before. Maybe he should start charging for the service...

Nah. His life was on the line, too. A technicality she’d likely planned on. In fact, she probably does all of this on purpose just to get a cheap laugh. It wouldn’t be surprising at all. In fact...

No. Focus. There wasn’t time for anything but what was right in front of him. Focus. Feel...the ship had to be here. There wasn’t another option. Where? Reach out...focus...feel...but Jyren found nothing. At least, not what he was looking for. But then, suddenly, a thought came to mind. A new objective taking the lead, he ran over to a nearby wall and kicked it as hard as he could.

[Ow!]

Jyren grinned, and looked up around him, “I need to know if there’s any kind of metal ship here!”

The facility was silent, but then responded with a dry, somewhat annoyed ‘voice’. [...you could have asked instead of kicking me first.]

“It got your attention,” he shrugged and held the grin. So much like the Palace...so much like Loki...no. Focus. Don’t think about that now, “Please, I need to know right now if there’s a metal ship in this place, and I need to know where it is.”

[There is such an object in Hangar AG-284...but it is locked down and I am afraid you will not be able to access it unless you have the proper clearance to present.]

“Its my ship,” Jyren growled sternly, glancing around to try and figure out which direction to go. He gave up on that one extremely quickly, “I need you to direct me to that hangar and open it up for me. I need my ship back.”

The facility felt like it was going to argue with him for a short moment. However, it seemed to be surprised by the fact that Jyren was claiming to actually own a metal ship! No Alraxian was that crazy! Which meant he was either brainless or was telling the truth. The facility itself wasn’t sure on this, but was curious enough to find out...so it started directing him in the proper path.

It took Jyren ten agonizing long minutes to reach the correct place. And when he got there, and the hangar door was opened, Jyren saw a familiar, and amazingly calming sight. His X-Wing. Well...no. Technically, it was the New Republic’s X-Wing that he’d stolen back on Coruscant. However, at this point, he doubted they even remembered it was gone...so it was as good as his anyway. Un-Jedi like? True. But it could have been worse.

He quickly ran down a small ramp leading to the center section where the X-Wing was placed. There were many interesting objects all littered around, and a few marks across the ship’s hull that he didn’t remember from before. The Alraxians had been experimenting with it. Hopefully they hadn’t done anything to the two systems he needed the most. The sublight drives and the hyperdrive. He really didn’t care if the rest of it was shot...even the repulsorlifts. Sure, it would make for rough landings, but at least he’d get there.

Shrugging the pack he still carried with him off and tossing it into the rear seat of the two-seat X-Wing, Jyren climbed into the forward one. Right away, his hands were running over the controls, getting the ship’s systems warmed up and online as quickly as he could. Thankfully, an initial look at everything showed that all the major systems were online and working fine...even if there were only five proton torpedoes left. If all went well, he wouldn’t need them anyway.

In another minute, the ship was lifting up and the canopy closing around him. Jyren shifted slightly into a more comfortable position, forgetting how the seats in this starfighter were not designed with tails in mind. And then, finally, the familiar sound of the X-Wing’s sublight drives kicking in echoed through the cockpit as the ship shot out of a large exit to the hangar just above where the starfighter had been set down. It felt amazing to be finally flying again...it felt so perfect. It was like coming home after so many years...he grinned at that thought, finally able to understand that statement after the recent revelations about his own past.

But as Jyren brought the starfighter through the maze of orbiting Kanyaks and away from the planet’s gravity well, another thought hit him. Something that hadn’t even crossed his mind the entire time. Something that, if Shadow had been with him when this revelation came to mind, would have gotten him hit across the back of the head for completely and utter stupidity.

He had no idea, at all, of the necessary hyperspace coordinates for the jump to the Capital. In fact, this entire Alraxian Empire was uncharted space to him, and, more importantly, to his X-Wing’s navcomputer. Jyren was blind. He sighed heavily. Made it this far...and still managed to miss such an important detail the entire time. It was mistakes like that which got people killed. A mistake like that one had cost Mare her life.

He hadn’t really grown up all that much in the past three years, then. In the end, Jyren was still that kid in an X-Wing...bright eyed and naive. A good shot, a good pilot, but with no real sense of the galaxy or of what war really was like. After all these years, he had thought he was past that. That he’d actually learned from his mistakes and become a better person because of it. But here he was, making the same mistakes, at the same critical moments...and yet again, the life of someone he loved was on the line. But Jyren wasn’t dead yet. And if he wasn’t dead, then Shadow wasn’t dead. It was the one glimmer of hope he had to hang onto.

Think.

No! That was foolish! Thinking wouldn’t get him anywhere! It wasn’t like he could just plot a jump to a planet he didn’t know the location of off the top of his head! Thinking was only going to lead him down that path! Then what? Don’t think.

Don’t think?! No...feel. Feel! Of course! Use the link. Use the Force. And he did. Reaching out through the link and the Force at the same time, Jyren tried to feel out where exactly the planet was. Where Shadow was. Farther and farther he reached...and then he found it. He found her. With an invisible grip as tight as a vice, he held onto it so as not to lose it. If he lost it...lost his focus...he might never find it again. Focus. Feel.

Step one was finished. He had the location. He could feel it. Now came step two. Plot the jump. Plot the jump blindly, on his own, and without the help of the navcomputer or a droid. But don’t think about it. Let the Force guide it. Let the Force guide him...and he did. And in an amazingly short amount of time, Jyren had entered a set of complication coordinates into the X-Wing’s navcomputer. When his mind retreated from the Force and he looked down at the small screen with the coordinates sitting there, he knew just how insane it was.

Jyren knew that if had made just one tiny little mistake in that...he could end up literally in the middle of no where with no way to get back. He had no beacons to drop here to guide his way back. This was a one way trip. This was it. There weren’t going to be any second chances. And there weren’t any other choices, either.

His hand shaking just slightly, Jyren pulled the hyperspace levers.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 225: Right and Wrong

He knew he should kill her. There was no other word but stupid to describe leaving her alive. She wouldn’t hesitate to take another piece of his life from him. It would be even more foolish to think that she would not have the chance to do it eventually. It would come. It always did. Which is why she needed to be killed now, when she didn’t have the upper hand.

Ket sighed and looked at Marix. Really looked at her. Beat up, scratched and burnt, with dried blood along multiple wounds that hadn’t been given the chance to be remorphed or even healed naturally. Yet she sat with a strength that only Marix could project. Perhaps that was why he couldn’t just kill her then and there. Respect. And to a point, he did respect her. He could see so much of himself in Marix. She could have been just like him. She could have followed the same path...yet she didn’t, and it baffled him as to why.

She had seen the same things that he had. Marix had experienced just as much torture at the hands of her own people as Ket had...possibly even more, considering that she was the daughter of the Empress...former Empress, actually, but that was a minor technicality. Why did she fight to protect the very people that treated her as little more than an ends to a means they wouldn’t even accept existed?! It made no sense...and yet, she did. Maybe Ket had missed something along the way...or perhaps Marix had. One of them had, he was sure of that, at least.

If Ket wasn’t sure that she would be as uncooperative as possible, he would have asked her directly. He would have found out why, and then been satisfied. Or maybe not. Things were rarely that simple. But at least then Ket could kill her without any hesitation. Was that the problem? He wanted to know more? But that was too simple. It was one thing to take the Alraxian Capital world, sending war droids in to kill anyone that resisted, and even to kill the Empress in what was, technically an honorable fight.

However, it was something completely different to sit here across from the girl...no, woman who could have been in the same position he now was. This had been his partner in only two missions, and technically, that should have meant nothing. But by then, it did for Ket. She should have been a friend and someone he could trust...could have been. But she wasn’t. She was his enemy...and now, she was the Empress. She had to die. And it needed to be done quickly before things got more complicated.

Still, though, Ket sat across from her in the empty, nondescript room where she was being kept. Nine would have no problem killing her. She would do a good job, an even enjoy it. But Nine was busy...somewhere else not far away with the emerald haired Knight that had been fighting with Marix. Nine had, at first, just been observing the young man, but her twisted mind took hold fairly quickly. He had no idea that Nine was not the Marix he expected...and so Nine was using that to both learn little bits of information and use him.

Because of this, Nine hadn’t left that room for the last however many hours it had been. She was obviously enjoying the little ruse and her new toy far too much. Ket couldn’t help but wonder if that would cause a problem, but decided against acting on it. Keeping Nine busy was a good thing, as he had learned quickly that when she became bored, she grew agitated, and that usually meant attempting to pick fights just because she could.

But that was all distracting him from the task at hand. Before he could move on from this planet, Marix would have to be killed. This was a fact that he couldn’t escape, no matter how many times he attempted to avoid it. And there was another reason she would have to be killed soon. If given too much time, that boy would track them down. Ket could handle the boy without trouble, and even he and Nine could deal with both Marix and the boy, but there was still risk involved. Enough risk that it wasn’t worth allowing it to happen. Kill Marix...kill the boy...end the two only remaining threats within the Empire.

It was so simple, and yet he still didn’t do anything. And then, suddenly out of no where, Ket understood why. If he killed Marix here, bound and gagged, tied up and broken...weak and injured...he would be no better than her. It would be no different than how she had treated him. No different the Mrrakesh...who he still hated, but had found himself making use of to get exactly where he was now. And it was her fault. Her fault because in a situation just like this, she would have killed him and offered no mercy at all.

Ket was not Marix. He knew what was necessary, but also could feel what was right and wrong. To kill her in cold blood like this would be wrong, and he couldn’t bring himself to do it despite how sensible it was. It would likely be a mistake that could cost him everything...but that still didn’t change his actions.

Slowly, Ket got to his feet. After one last, long look at Marix, he turned and left the room. Leaving her alive like this meant he had other priorities. Defense would have to be increased all over the city and in obit. The Mrrakesh starfighters would be needed now. He could not kill Marix, but he could kill the boy and achieve the same result.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 226: Rough Flight, Simple Landing

Five minutes in the blue swirling hyperspace and Jyren was still having second thoughts. By this point, though, they could argued as third and fourth thoughts. And between them all, one thought continued to resurface.

This was stupid.

Stupid and foolish and an act that only the brainless would ever have attempted. It was well beyond any of the crazy things he’d done before..and he’d done a very large number of crazy and idiotic things in his relatively short life. But this topped them all. So much so that Shadow likely wouldn’t have been able to add one of her usual insults directed at his intelligence. She’d probably just stare at him with a shocked look on her face without saying anything.

And yet, here Jyren was, watching the blue of hyperspace out of the canopy of his X-Wing. One hand still on the stick, a control device so rarely used by pilots anymore but one that Jyren felt uncomfortable when he wasn’t using it, with his other hand gripping the hyperspace levers a little too tightly. The chronometer on the HUD was not counting down as it normally did during a hyperspace jump. Normally, of course, the navcomputer was used and the chrono was tied in with that.

But this was not normally, as Jyren was continually reminding himself every few seconds. It was why he gripped the hyperspace levers so tightly. He was flying by the Force...literally. Retaining the calm that was necessary to stay in tune with the Force so that he didn’t pull the lever too early or too late was an impossibly difficult task. But somehow, he was managing it. There was no other choice. Even the slightest mistake in timing, and who know where he’d end up, or whether he’d even get there in one or a few billion pieces.

If he’d have actually been trained rather than self taught when it came to the Force, things would have been so much easier. But he wasn’t, and the most distracting thing for him was wishing that he was, so he pushed those thoughts away as best he could while just feeling. Feel. Letting the Force guide his hand and his mind. But how long was it going to be?! How long could he keep this up?! How...

Jyren’s suddenly panicked thoughts were cut off by what could only be described as an unseen, yet very strongly felt, spike. Without even thinking and simply reacting, Jyren realized his hand was pulling the hyperspace lever back. The force with which he jerked it back nearly ripped it off, but there was at least some restraint applied. One of those little things he was going to have to train himself to be careful with...as the Alraxian body was still much stronger than what the X-Wing was designed for.

But that was only a thought in the back of his head. The rest of him was frozen in silence, staring ahead through the canopy as he waited for whatever it was that would happen next. If it was the end...then at least he had tried. If it wasn’t...then...then he’d keep trying.

Hyperspace retreated into the black, emptiness of space. Empty?! Great. So he’d made the jump alive, but now he was stuck in the middle of who knew where! Truthfully, he’d been asking for it. Really...what were the chances? It was stupid to think it could actually work, even more so than the fact that Jyren had even attempted it. So now he could attempt to make another jump and at least try to find a planet...or...

Something started beeping. Jyren’s eyes shot across the console in front of him. The sensors had picked up something. The sensors had picked up something?! After blinking to make sure he wasn’t seeing things(and ignoring the fact that it would have no effect on his hearing), Jyren examined the sensor readout on the HUD. To the rear of the ship, the sensors were overflowing with moving objects...many of them heading his direction. So this wasn’t the middle of no where..

Both hands on the stick now, Jyren pulled the X-Wing around to face the objects. But he didn’t see them. Instead, he saw a planet. A planet he recognized since the last time he’d seen it had been barely two days earlier. It was the Capital world. He hadn’t missed...he’d just been facing the wrong direction. That was something Shadow would definitely have insults for, though Jyren would do his best to hide the moment from her.

But what were the sensors picking up?! Looking more carefully, he noticed that the planet looked to be dotted all across its surface. Some of them were moving. Ships. It had to be ships. And after a short glance back at the sensors to make sure, he reached out with the Force to try and figure out what was coming for him. But these ships weren’t alive like Kanyaks. These were metal. They were same ships he’d had quick glimpses of when leaving the planet.

And four of them were heading towards him. Out of an old instinct, Jyren powered up the X-Wing’s weapons as he opened up the S-Foils. His eyes scanned a few other of the ship’s systems to make sure the shields and engines were still operating properly. Jyren didn’t know what kind of weapons, if any, these ships had, but he wasn’t about to take any risks. Which meant that he was going to have to resist the natural urge to get into a fight if it came right down to it.

He wasn’t here for a dogfight. The X-Wing was fast, and from the speed that the other ships were approaching, faster than whatever was coming at him. Jyren needed to get onto the planet. Shadow was down there...he could feel her, both through the link and the Force, much more clearly as they got closer.

Keeping his mind and focus on the planet, Jyren’s eyes searched for the approaching ships. It didn’t take long for him to spot them heading straight for him in a diamond formation. From the front, they looked similar to Y-Wings, though with much thinner ‘wings’ which were set low, and a main body that looked more like it was the size of an Assault Transport rather than a starfighter. Though he couldn’t see any weapons, it didn’t take long for him to discover they were armed.

From the ships’ noses, sickeningly coloured dark green blasts of energy shot out at him as quickly as any laser blast. But it hadn’t yet. He saw it, but just like what used to happen in his days flying for the New Republic, Jyren’s natural talent in the Force gave him a quick sight of the danger with just enough time that he could react. Just in time, he pulled the stick and the X-Wing rolled off to the left while Jyren squeezed the trigger to return fire with a short series of bursts from his laser cannons.

But one roll wasn’t going to do it, as the ships were still firing on him. Pulling up, Jyren managed to time the maneuver so that the next series of shots went both over and under the ship. This time, though, he didn’t return fire, as the X-Wing shot over the formation in a dash towards the planet below. The sensors were showing the four ships arcing around to come after him from behind....no surprise. He really didn’t want to get hit, as the look of their lasers(if that’s even what they were) worried Jyren. He had no idea if his shields would even do anything if they weren’t actually lasers.

In another moment, the straight path he was attempting to follow to get down to the planet was abandoned. Now, Jyren was weaving and rolling back and forth as he did his best to avoid the shots of his pursuers. At least they weren’t good shots...or maybe they just weren’t used to shooting at something that maneuvered like an X-Wing could. The fact that he was quickly pulling away from them proved that speed of his ship was at least partially factored in. And so far...he’d managed to avoid even a shield hit.

The sensors started beeping again. Jyren took a quick moment as he dove under a series of attacks to check the readings, and immediately realized he was going to have to do this differently. Four...no...five...no...six more ships of relatively the same size were heading straight for him from the planet. And now that he was getting extremely close to the planet, that meant they were practically on top of him.

Hoping that the ships behind him would stop their attack to not hit those coming to cut him off, Jyren put more power to the sublight drives and charged straight for the new arrivals. The second he could even see a slight speck of what he knew was coming at him, Jyren squeezed the trigger and held it down, littering the space in front of him with a stream of bright red laser fire.

The next second seemed to happen in slow motion. Two of the ships heading straight for him detonated in flames as Jyren’s shots found their marks. At the same time, all of the ships around him opened fire despite the fact that they would likely end up hitting each other. In the midst of the barrage, Jyren suddenly found himself flying through a formation of dissipating flames instead of the attacking ships. He even managed to roll under a large piece of debris, which likely would have done serious damage to the shields.

But the second came to an end with a violent jolt that rocked his X-Wing. It nearly sent his face into the console in front of him, but thanks to the restraints, Jyren didn’t have to endure a head injury. The insanity that was now behind him seemed to prevent nearly all the original pursuing ships from being able to fire on him...though one had managed a shot that had got through. And, just as he’d feared, the shields were gone. At least it hadn’t gone through to the hull, but another hit like that would be it if the shields were taken out so quickly.

Now the X-Wing was charging through the Capital’s atmosphere. Due to the ships behind him having to maneuver out of the way to avoid any collisions with their allies, Jyren had been given enough of a lead to pull away even farther. And, as far as he could tell, there wasn’t anything else heading his direction. So Jyren focused on the ground below, scanning the immediate area for the large, central city. It didn’t take him long, and so he angled the ship to set down in the forest near the border. Though there weren’t any anti-ship defenses within the city itself, Jyren knew it would be stupid to just walk right in.

As he started to power down the ship’s systems and got the canopy open to the sparse forest borering the Capital City, Jyren couldn’t help but worry. Anyone would. It would be naive not to. That had been far too easy. Maybe Ket just hadn’t assembled any fighter defense...as far as Jyren knew, Kanyaks didn’t have weapons ‘built’ into them, so it really wouldn’t matter. Still, getting down to the planet and even this close to the city without even a hint of an attack was too easy. Something was up...but that didn’t change things.

He was on the ground. He was alive. That was all that was necessary for the moment. Now Jyren just had to get into that huge city, track down Shadow, get her out, then get off the planet...and he had to stay alive. He was going to need more than his lightsaber for this one. What he really needed was Shadow. She’d be able to think up a way to get in and get herself out while not getting killed. But that wasn’t going to happen...so it was up to Jyren. At least he’d have a chance to prove to her that he wasn’t completely useless.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 227: Jumping in Blind...again

The scattered trees and rolling hills soon gave way to a valley, and at its base was the bottom of the gigantic city. Its upper levels and largest buildings actually reached out of the valley up to eye level, and it looked like some of the outer reaches were built as a makeshift wall. No...that wasn’t the right word. It was more like all the outer edges of the large buildings were backed up to wall off any outer threats, though there were gaps here and there that weren’t too hard to see.

But the soft, pearly white of the city below was dotted with other, darker greys that hadn’t been there the day before...hours before...however long it had been. They were also very easy to recognize as defensive emplacements. It didn’t take a soldier to see that, but Jyren found it at least helped. Almost every gap in the ‘wall’ was occupied by a small barricade and at least one turret...though he could only assume that was what they were, as they didn’t look like anything he’d ever seen before. At least that was staying consistent. Even a few of the roofs of buildings had defensive structures on them.

Maybe this wasn’t going to be so easy after all.

Staying low to the ground, Jyren carefully made his way from tree to tree before he could get a good view of the nearest of the gaps that could get him into the city. At least the tree cover mostly extended up to the buildings...though he’d be very easy to spot when he got any closer. The barricade between the walls looked to be about a meter high and was definitely made of metal. Behind it, Jyren could see two of the skeletal looking droids that Ket was using, and in between them a large three meter high weapon. It almost looked like half of a turbolaser cannon, just scaled down slightly.

This was definitely not going to be easy. Having no idea of the capabilities of the weapon, Jyren’s usual direct method of charging in lightsaber ablaze would likely get him killed. He just didn’t know enough to make it worth the risk...and this was not an attack. He was not here to drive out an occupying force. When it came right down to it, he didn’t care who held the city. But he did care that Shadow was there. That was why he was here. And that had to remain Jyren’s focus. Getting distracted with his usual idealistic methods of attack would get them both killed.

So he’d have to think up something different. What though? It wasn’t exactly Jyren’s best skill...even though he would rarely admit that. It was just that he’d gotten so used to direct methods that thinking up elaborate ideas and plans was pointless. But now it wasn’t. And yet again, he wished Shadow was here to help, even if it would defeat the purpose of getting her out in the first place.

What to do? Think. Calm...and think. Morph. Nearly endless possibilities! He could easily just sneak through as a little lizard or fly over as a bird! But he couldn’t take his weapons with him that way. And he wasn’t wearing the usual morphsuit under his clothes, so it would get just a little cold when he attempted to morph back...cold and weaponless wasn’t going to be useful. So that wasn’t going to work. Didn’t that mean all that was left was charging straight through?

No. No that still wasn’t a good idea. The key was to get in without being noticed...it was a city, after all. He still was going to have to find his way into wherever it was Shadow was being held. That would be a thousand times easier if he wasn’t running and avoiding being shot. So change the focus from breaking through to sneaking through. Alright...think.

Cause a distraction. Simple, but it usually worked. Even if the droids were as intelligent as Jyren figured they were from his previous encounters with them, they could be lured away if he provided the right kind of bait. So how? It wasn’t like he could split in two and get their attention that way...There wasn’t exactly time for him to play with what if ideas, either. Focus on the moment.

Taking a deep breath, Jyren did his best to run through an old calming technique. He slowly cleared his mind and just allowed it to find its way without him actually thinking through everything. And then an idea hit. Carefully, Jyren glanced around the tree he stood behind to give the structures a good look again. There was a blind spot on the left defense emplacement because the nearby building jutted out farther than the others. Use that...which meant going right. No, the center. There weren’t any roof-mounted guns there. He needed to get the two droids from the nearest one away so he could run right through...and then hope there would be a spot to duck into and give him a chance to look over the city from the inside.

How? That question, at least, was easily answered. Use the turrets. Not only would they definitely cause a distraction, but he could even get a look at their capabilities. A win-win situation, definitely. There was one turret on the far roof beyond the right-most of the defense emplacements that he could see. That one. There didn’t look to be any guards around it...and it looked like he could angle it to fire down into the nearby defense emplacement between the buildings.

Perfect. Almost too perfect, actually, but Jyren ignored that and decided to chalk it up to the Force finally paying him back for all that it’d thrown at him through the years. If it was the only break he ever got, and he succeeded in getting Shadow out alive...he’d never ask for anything else.

After a few long, deep breaths, Jyren closed his eyes and let himself sink into the Force. On this planet...on any planets here in the Alraxian Empire, it seemed, the Force was so easy to reach. The planets themselves were so rich and full of life. It did nothing but help. Slowly, he reached out to the roof-mounted turret, feeling its surface through the force and carefully angling it down to its new target. It only took a short moment, and once it was done, he ‘pulled’ the weapon’s trigger.

Suddenly, a loud, alien sounding shriek echoed to him, followed immediately by an unnecessarily large explosion. In fact, the shot ended up the turret along with the defense emplacement and half of the two adjacent buildings. The shock wave from the explosion hit Jyren like a speeder, sending him flat onto his backside and nearly onto his tail(which would have been extremely bad). But after shaking his head and looking up to see a thick, black smoke rising from the spot, he was very glad he hadn’t tried charging in.

Jyren was even more glad to see two...no, four droids running that direction, blaster rifles raised. So there had been more than two...but this was it. They were facing the other way, and nearly into the smoke. The path was clear and open as far as he could tell. And before he could give it a second thought, his feet were taking him as fast as they could straight across the grassy ground to the city’s edge.

Twice in one day, he’d made blind jumps. One had worked...he was about to find out how much he could push his luck. If luck had anything to do with it, that is. And Jyren figured that, if he survived, he’d have an answer to that for the first time in his life.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 228: View From Above

Ket Halpak stood quietly on the balcony outside the hallway where Marix was being kept. It was quiet. Or rather, quiet again. Just a few moments ago the sound of one of the battery’s firing was quickly followed by a loud explosion. His eyes had not scanned the horizon long before finding the black plume of smoke and dust rising off at the city’s eastern edge.

Looking back now, Ket knew it had been naive to assume that the boy would arrive after the defenses were up and ready. But that was not the way of things. It was no surprise that he boy had already been on his way by the time Ket had sent out the word to fortify as much of the city’s border as possible(since it would be insane to land in the city itself, and the boy couldn’t have been that stupid). But that starfighter had come out of hyperspace before even the Mrrakesh ships had been in position. That, of course, made reaching the planet itself even easier.

It was pure luck that the ship had set down off to the east. That had been the area where the defenses were at least mostly finished. But they proved to be of little effort, it seemed...there were no reports coming in from the droids, which meant the boy wasn’t dead, and also meant they didn’t know where he was.

With a quiet sigh, Ket leaned forward on the railing and surveyed the city with eyes and a little touch of the Force. That young man was out there. He would be coming this direction, too. His link with Marix was strong...that much was obvious. Perhaps that was what Ket had sensed earlier as being so different about her. There had been rumors that made their way to him about Marix and this boy...

He hadn’t even taken the time to really think about them. It would explain much. In fact, it would explain everything...especially that new something he had sensed, and even seen, in Marix. She truly had changed then. Ket had assumed, just like the entire Empire, that she would end up in some political marriage. Even with his knowledge of her nature as a Tam’day’u, it was expected...she was the Empress-to-be after all. But never would Ket have thought she’d actually be capable of any emotions...and the rumors told of emotions far more complicated than most. It was beyond his understanding why these things made it harder to bring himself to what had to be done.

The both of them had to be killed. They were too dangerous, and wouldn’t hesitate to kill him given the chance. A moment ago, Ket had sent a large group of the war droids towards the eastern section of the city. It was unlikely they would all find this Jedi, but at least a few would. Anything to slow him down and prepare the large, cental building of the city. Already, the lower ground levels had all accesses barricaded and heavily guarded. That wouldn’t be enough. Roofs of nearby buildings raised up almost as high, which meant that nearly ever single level of this huge place was a possible access point.

Which, of course, just made things more complicated. There were thousands of these droids, yes, but they were already spread thin. This city was huge, and while there had only been a handful of losses in the initial landings, twice the number of droids Ket had brought with him wouldn’t have been enough to completely secure it. The only reason he came with so few was because he knew the Alraxians well enough to know they wouldn’t put up much of a fight if he attacked at the right time. They’d rather run and hide, scratching with dulled claws from the relative safety of their homeworld. Which meant that was the next place to strike.

Next, after Marix and her Jedi were dealt with. It always came right back to that.

But before his mind could wander any farther, Ket heard a noise behind him. To be literal, it wasn’t a noise, but rather a lack of noise that had caught his attention. Glancing over his shoulder, he nodded to Nine as she stepped over next to him, “Enjoying yourself?”

She smiled that dangerous, fanged smile that even Marix had never mastered, “Of course...it looks to me like you could use a little help with keeping uninvited guests away.”

Ket shrugged, “You have your job to do, I have mine...there’s nothing to worry about. Now, tell me, how is that Knight we captured doing?”

“I haven’t killed him, if that’s what you’re implying,” Nine almost snapped, easily catching the sarcasm in Ket’s voice. But her tone evened out again, “He is well. As far as he can see, I am his little Empress. Give me another hour and he’ll eat off the floor if I ask him to.”

“Ask him...?” Ket raised an eyebrow at that, though suppressed a grin.

Nine tilted her head to give him a calm, yet still dangerous sideways glance, “You would be amazed how much easier it is to control someone when they think they have free will.”

“Are you implying you control me?” Ket asked, knowing she wanted him to say it and genuinely curious at her answer.

The smile that grew on Nine’s face confirmed his thoughts, but she didn’t answer his question. Instead, she turned back to looking at the plume of black smoke, “He will be here soon. Would you like me to kill him or are you still relying on those toys of yours?”

Ket was silent for a long moment. Finally, he forced himself to think on the immediate problem instead of deflecting it for looking ahead at what would happen next. After a short minute, he said calmly, “Finish with that Knight and then take him to one of the ships. The sooner you leave for Alraxia, the sooner this will be done with. I will follow as soon as I can...the droids will tire and delay Marix’s Jedi, but you are right. They will not kill him. I will wait here and deal with him when he arrives.”

“Don’t play with him like you did with the Empress. He isn’t a match for you, but don’t give him the chance to steal the upper hand,” Nine commented as she turned and left.

He didn’t watch her go. Instead, he continued to look out over the city. She was right. Ket would need to accept the possibility that this so-called Jedi was a threat. He would have to keep his arrogance in check...and he could. Of course, it was always best to remind himself of that. It was too easy to let his ego get the better of him when dealing with the rest of these Alraxians. He simply was better than the rest of them. He’d been trained that way! But this boy was not Alraxian...in fact, he was the poison that had changed everything.

Without this boy, Marix would likely still be the same, and none of this would have happened. It would have been so much easier. At least it was interesting, though.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 229: Through the City

She was close. She was close enough that Jyren could almost pinpoint where Shadow was in this huge city. But the link wasn’t just a one way street, either. Even with her end being severely dulled by that device, she was aware. Aware enough to feel how close he was. Through the link, Jyren could feel annoyance from her, which brought a grin to his face. At least she was still the same. Never liked him coming and digging her out whatever it was they’d both gotten her into. Not openly, at least.

Jyren could see the central building above the other rooftops. It dwarfed even the largest of towers which were nearby. And she was there. High up, probably not too far from where the two of them had stayed just a day ago. It would be a trap...Jyren had no doubts about that. But sometimes, the only way around a trap was straight through it. To be truthful, he was already dead in the middle of the trap. The entire city was the trap, and the approaching sounds that Jyren recognized as the heavy footsteps of war droids only helped to confirm it.

He didn’t have the energy to run across the city and fight through wave after wave of these droids. Eventually, it would get him killed. And he’d avoided a straight fight getting in, so he could avoid the same thing while inside. Hopefully.

With a quick glance around him, he noted that it was nearly a straight shot to the central building from where he was. It might not be the right side to be on for wherever Shadow was being kept, but the building was there. The streets would be a stupid way to get their, especially considering that there were already droids heading his way. Then how?

That question was answered easily. The buildings, generally, followed the same path as the street. Before his thoughts could be fleshed out into anymore detail, though, a squad of war droids rounded a corner ahead of him. There were at least ten. He could handle one...two, even. Maybe three. But not ten. Not even four. If that hadn’t kept him from a straight fight, nothing would have. Thankfully, it didn’t need to.

Blaster rifles lit up the street from the droids as they immediately opened fire. They weren’t stupid enough to wait and give Jyren any chances. But he had already been running to the nearest door on his right. When he reached the door, it didn’t open, and Jyren suddenly realized most all of the city had been killed in the assault. Not the people...but the city itself. With a quiet curse, he got his lightsaber off of his belt and the snap-hiss cut through the echo of the blaster rifles and the odd noises of them striking the building providing him with minimal cover.

He had cut through half of the door before the odds caught up with him. There was a sudden jolt in the Force which he failed to react to in time, and was then met with a sharp, and extremely painful blaster shot to the back. It burned through his morphsuit and skin, getting an involuntary yelp out of him. But then the blaster bolts stopped, just in time for another warning from the Force.

This time, Jyren didn’t hesitate. Allowing the Force to guide his movement, he stepped back from the door, ducking low at the same time. Not a second later, one of the metal sword-arms of the war droids slammed into the door at exactly the height of his neck. So they hadn’t just stood there and shot at him. He couldn’t help but wonder where the days of stormtroopers had gone. It seemed like so long ago.

But there wasn’t time to think. The war droid lashed out at Jyren with its free hand, hitting him hard over the back of the head and slamming him into the ground face first. His lightsaber still ablaze, Jyren ignored the pain as best he could and swung across at the droid’s legs. Hacking them off at the knees, the droid fell next to him, its strike to take off his head yet again diverted. Jyren was up on his feet as the war droid’s legs began to reform and two others charged at him. This was not going to get him anywhere but dead.

Reacting as quickly as he could, he drew the Force around him and leapt up. In a second, he landed on the rooftop, looking down at the droids. But in the same second, they were back to firing at him, so Jyren only managed a cursory glance before deciding it wasn’t worth the risk. He thumbed off the lightsaber but kept the hilt in his hand as he ran towards the central building of the city. Eventually, there were going to be droids up on the roofs after him. Most likely sooner than later.

But he didn’t look back to check, instead keeping his focus on the path ahead of him. Many of the buildings were connected so that there were no gaps, but side streets were spread out at random intervals meant he was calling upon the Force more than once to jump them and continue straight ahead. And it wasn’t tiring. It should have been, but it wasn’t. The adrenaline rush wasn’t anymore than any other fight, and yet he was running as fast as his legs could take him.

As usual, though, Jyren wasn’t given time to really think on the reasons. The unique sound of the war droid’s blaster rifles echoed to his ears again, just as the red bolts streaked past him, some hitting near his feet, and other singing his hair. Thumbing the activation switch on his lightsaber again, Jyren planted his feet and spun around. It was no use running if he was going to get shot in the back of the head. Four of the droids were up on the roofs chasing after him, about five or so buildings away and firing wildly.

Jyren kept his mind calm and deflected any of the bolts he could that got too close, trying to at least slow down the droids and give him another chance to get out of their weapons’ range. One shot did get redirected back so that it hit a droid right in the skeletal face, which stunned it slightly, but in another second, it was charging and firing a few steps behind the other three.

This was useless and they were just getting closer. Holding the lightsaber in one hand and still doing his best to defend himself with it, Jyren reached out with the Force as the droids neared him. He wrapped an invisible hand around the nearest of them before throwing it hard into the others. Two of the droids fell off the roof from the force of the throw, with the other two being sent back a good five or so meters and onto their backs. It was something, at least.

Spinning around, Jyren started running again, blue-green lightsaber blade still humming at his side. He was close now. Very close to the building. It dominated most of the skyline ahead of him, and the buildings were starting to rise up higher, forcing him to both climb and jump his way up as he moved forward. Now he was getting tired. Now it was all slowly catching up with him. But still, Jyren forced it out of his mind and continued forward as fast as he could.

And then, just as he climbed onto the highest of the buildings, just four rooftops from the mid levels of the central building and its flower-like landing pads, Jyren caught sight of something that shouldn’t have surprised him. Six of the war droids were on the last rooftop waiting for him. The second that his head had popped over the edge, they had started firing their blaster rifles. If Jyren had been intelligent, he would have ducked down and found another way. But he obviously wasn’t, as he got to his feet and brought his lightsaber up as he continued forward.

Though his eyes and senses were on defending himself from the shots as he charged, Jyren’s focus was on the huge central building above. There was a landing pad that extended out just above the building’s edge. It was at least fifteen meters above, but it was the closest point that was actually that building.

Blaster bolts shooting past him and deflecting off of his lightsaber, Jyren charged the war droids that were in his path. Two of them had stopped firing and were heading straight for him to cut him off. He ducked low under a horizontal swing from one of them, bringing his lightsaber up and cutting the droid into two. Not that it would do anything but slow the droid down, but that was all he needed to do right now. Jyren avoided being cut in two by a hair, and at least lost a small amount of tail fur in the process as he continued his movement and rolled away from the second droid’s attack.

But he didn’t turn around and finish it off or even attack it, instead continuing forward as fast as he could. The other droids then started firing at him again, ignoring the fact that they were probably going to hit the two that were now chasing after him. Calling the Force to him with nearly all of his focus, Jyren almost lost his head to a sudden strike from one of the droids that had been firing at him. He had gotten close enough that they were now reverting to simply trying to chop him up rather than shoot holes in him.

Jyren lashed out with one long, arcing swing of his lightsaber to force the droids away just as he pushed off and released the Force. His boy was propelled up in a flash, and he was rising up and to the empty landing platform only a moment later. But Jyren’s landing ended up worse than the takeoff. He came down on his left foot, but a sharp pain wracked through his leg and he fell hard onto his face, the lightsaber falling out of his hand and rolling off to the side.

Immediately, Jyren knew the source of the pain. His jump hadn’t gotten him away so cleanly after all. Glancing over his shoulder and down at his left leg, he could see a large amount of blue tinted blood seeping out of a long cut across the back of his leg. He nearly attempted to remorph the wound. But just before he did so, better reasoning caught hold of him and stopped him right away. Those swords were metal. Alraxians(save Shadow, at least) couldn’t remorph metal...it would kill him if he tried. This wound would have to heal the old fashioned way.

Not only that, but he had no time to lay there. Calling upon all the willpower he could managed, Jyren reached over and grabbed his lightsaber, deactivated it, and forced himself up onto his feet. He didn’t run down the platform to the building, as walking hurt more and more with each step. But Jyren continued on, feeling how close he was to Shadow. Before he’d even made it to the interior of the building, however, a single figure intercepted him.

It was no a droid. One of the droids would have shot him by then. When Jyren’s eyes had focused, he saw an Alraxian standing at the entrance to the building, not five meters away. Ket Halpak stood tall and strong, wearing the same simple clothes he had when he’d killed the Empress. His face displayed a calm exterior, and he spoke simply, “You are early...and injured, I see. It seems this won’t be the challenge I had expected.”

And then Ket charged at Jyren, drawing the small shortsword that had executed the Empress less than an hour earlier.


((A note for everyone. If you'd like to see more art centered around this Story Hour, check out my Art Every Other Day or So thread. The link is in my sig, which you should be able to see in my first post on each page.))

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 230: Short Reunion

It was one thing to land on a leg with a deep cut from the back of the ankle up to the knee. It was something completely different to attempt to fight on the same injury. Standing was one thing, moving quickly to avoid a metal weapon that was aimed at doing far worse than a simple cut was most definitely something else. Jyren couldn’t help but think it was his destiny to be caught in situation after situation just like this one. Honestly, he could have really used a break from it just this once...but apparently that was far too much to ask.

And so half of his thoughts were on the aching pain in his left leg. Which meant that Jyren attempted to avoid Ket Halpak’s charging thrust with a sidestep to his right to avoid putting any extra weight on his left leg. It would have worked if Ket hadn’t been paying enough attention to see where the trail of blue blood across the platform led to...and the way that Jyren was avoiding putting weight on the leg. Instead, Jyren stepped right where Ket had been expecting, and though his metal blade was avoided by the younger Alraxian, Ket was now right next to Jyren.

Just as he came to a stop, Ket lashed out with his left arm, an elbow crashing right into Jyren’s face with a very loud crack. Jyren yelped and stumbled to his right, but then made the mistake of attempting to steady himself. The only way of doing that was by putting weight back onto his injured leg. Without thinking, Jyren did that anyway and was rewarded with a sharp tear of pain running up through his leg. This got a louder yelp out of him, more from surprise than anything, but he also lost his footing and once again hit the landing platform face first.

Ket wasn’t about to let this advantage slip away. He quickly turned and reversed the grip on his small blade. In one swift motion, he drove the weapon down to the back of the young Alraxian’s neck. A warning in the Force just as sharp as the pain in his leg shot through Jyren’s mind, and he could do nothing but react. He rolled to the right and away again, the blade missing his neck but instead slicing across his left shoulder. It didn’t dig in, but it did leave another good sized cut across his left side.

Gritting his teeth and trying to ignore the pain, Jyren found himself on his back, looking up to Ket who was moving in for another jab with the short blade. With his lightsaber still in his right hand, it only took a fraction of a second to thumb on the activation switch. The snap-hiss of the blade exploding from its hilt was cut off by a loud, metallic slice and a shower of sparks that rained down on Jyren. When the flash had faded, Jyren was still on his back, lightsaber across his torso and thrumming strongly. How Ket had gotten back out of the reach of the weapon and avoided the fate of his short blade, which had been cut into two very clean pieces, Jyren had no idea.

Ket tossed the useless hilt of his ruined blade off to the side, but surprised Jyren by not diving in for another kill. Halpak was trained in unarmed combat just as Shadow was, and wouldn’t ever need any kinds of weapons to deal with his targets. More than once, Shadow had beaten Jyren in their sparring matches while remaining unarmed and allowing him to use his lightsaber. There was no reason to believe that Ket wasn’t capable of the same, or even more considering how little Jyren knew of him. And when Jyren saw the other Alraxian wasn’t moving in to attack directly again, he knew to worry and became hyper alert.

Through the Force, Jyren suddenly picked up on what was happening. He had a quick warning as usual, which was just enough time to glance to his side and see the other half of Ket’s metal weapon shooting straight at Jyren. It may have been only half of the blade...but it was the sharp point, and it was diving right at Jyren like a missile, but directed with the accuracy of the Force. It was an awkward motion to bring his lightsaber around to catch the attack, but Jyren managed to do so with only centimeters to spare.

And by the time he heard the same metal noise of the blade being destroyed by the lightsaber, the Force was already sending him another wild jolt of a warning. Ket wasn’t waiting to see if his attack had worked. Jyren couldn’t keep this up. He couldn’t fight like this. Beat up, bleeding, and already exhausted by the time Ket had showed up. And it was obvious Ket was not playing around.

Dropping his lightsaber arm to the ground, Jyren reached across his body with his left, trying to ignore the pain in his shoulder that moving the arm caused. Ket got within a step before a violent and strong wave of the Force slammed into him, sending him flying up and across the platform. But Jyren didn’t hear a thud that should have been there from hitting the landing platform. He blinked, then let his eyes scan the immediate area. Nothing. Nothing?!

He was completely expecting a panicked warning through the Force, but recieved none. Jyren deactivated his lightsaber as he sat up, realizing just how narrow this section of the platform was. If he’d attempt even one more evasion of Ket’s strikes by going to the right, he’d have fallen off...slowly, realization dawned on him. The strength of Jyren’s attack had thrown Ket off the platform! So maybe there were some breaks every few hundred years!

But this wasn’t one to waste. Ket would be able to catch up in no time. Once again, Jyren tried to ignore the pain in his leg while he got to his feet. He used the Force to attempt to at least dampen the pain in both his shoulder and leg, while focusing on the link to find Shadow. It was strong now. Very strong...despite the fact that there was still a dulled numbness on her end, it was strongly dulled numbness. Not that it made any sense, but it was the best way that Jyren could explain it to himself.

So, limping as fast he could manage without falling over again, Jyren followed the feelings and strength of the link through the familiar corridors of the gigantic building. It took a three minutes of winding through sharp turn after sharp turn before finding the door that felt right. Ket had yet to appear...and Jyren had run into no one else. He hoped that meant the droids were all scouring the city, fortifying the border, and guarding other ‘important’ locations instead of waiting for him to step into the room in front of him.

But what other choice did he have?

Gripping his lightsaber tightly in one hand, Jyren gritted his teeth as he reached out with his left arm to press a small switch that had been put in next to the door...no doubt because the building itself was dead and the doors weren’t working ‘normally’. The door opened much more slowly that normally, obviously being pulled open instead of the natural movement it usually made. It was almost painful to watch, actually. But it opened up to a small, nondescript room that was devoid of any furniture...except for two distinctly Alraxian chair’s. That was easy to tell due to the design which allowed for tails to sit through the back more comfortably than in, say, an X-Wing’s seat. And sitting in one of them, looking at least a little worse than she had on the holo, was Shadow, with that sickly coloured visor still over her face and keeping her still and inactive.

Jyren immediately moved over to her, kneeling down as best as he could with his leg still cut(which was awkward, to say the least). After attaching the lightsaber back onto his belt, Jyren reached up to the side of Shadow’s face and pressed the small switch on the visor there. It quickly retracted, leaving only the small portion around her head which he then took off and tossed to the side. In a flash, the link was suddenly a flurry of activity again, and it felt amazingly good to have it back.

Shadow’s eyes opened slowly, and then widened suddenly at seeing Jyren so close. After she blinked a couple of times, the link calmed and she said in her usual tone, “You’re late...and you look terrible.”

He couldn’t help but grin slightly, noting that she was covered in scratches, bruises, and what looked like burn marks, “I figured we should match.”

Shadow rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to make another comment, but Jyren cut her off with a sudden kiss. Cliched? Yes, but he wasn’t complaining. And she didn’t either...though, for some reason, it seemed to have about the same mind-numbing effect that the visor did. The visor. They were on the Capital. Ket was near. Nine had to be, too.

The moment caught up with them and the reunion was quickly brought to a halt. Though there was still a faintly happy expression on Shadow’s face, her voice was serious, “Where’s Ket? And are you alright?”

“I don’t know, and mostly,” Jyren answered both questions quickly, then glanced back to the still open doorway, “How about we get out of here and then figure things out?”