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NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
Star Wars: Heroes of Another Kind
- Thread starter Ankh-Morpork Guard
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Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Chapter 243: Parting Words
Though there was immediate rush to get both Shadow and Jyren moving, one small break was taken while a ship was arranged for Shadow. The two of them went to check on Toby, who’d been moved to the larger Thor not longer after Jyren had first left. It was amazing, though, that they found the little jai deep asleep. Apparently, it was the first real sleep he’d gotten in the past couple of days, as he’d attempted to stay up and wait on Jyren and Shadow to get back.
So the choice was made to let him sleep...it would be easier anyway. So after being given fresh clothes(simple, black jumpsuits with gold lining for Shadow and silver for Jyren) and getting back into the old morphsuits, they were ready to leave.
Even though they could only see the cadre of guards, Redstars, and Jyren’s father in the hangar with them, it was plainly obvious the entire Empire was watching in some form or another. The two of them stood in front of Jyren’s X-Wing in silence for a long few minutes.
It was Jyren who broke the silence, attempting a half smile and a little humour, “Here we go again, eh?”
The humour was lost on Shadow, though she did nod. The silence came back quickly, and it became immediately apparent to Jyren that she was wanting to say something but either didn’t like having people watching, didn’t know how to say it, or just wanted to wait as long as she could.
So, for a second time, Jyren tried to initiate a small conversation, “How are you getting to that...wherever it is?”
Shadow sighed at that, but answered at least, “I’ll be taking Hermes.”
Kyren’s ship.
Perhaps that was a problem. But he was a good ship...and Jyren knew Shadow would be safe with Hermes. It was Hermes who needed to be the one to worry. But again, that awkward silence fell over the two of them. Shadow was looking at him with a neutral expression, though Jyren could feel she was masking everything she could to retain a calm outward appearance. The fact that Shadow was seeming to have some trouble with this spoke loudly.
And then the silence was broken by Shadow as she took a deep breath. Her hand, which Jyren suddenly noticed had been held behind her back the entire time, withdrew and she reached out to extend something to him, “Take this with you.”
Jyren looked down to see her holding the metallic cylinder which he recognized right away to be ‘her’ lightsaber. The small Alraxian symbol at the bottom of the hilt was as much a dead giveaway as the sleek and almost organic design. But he shook his head, “I’ve already got one.”
Typically, Shadow also shook her head and thrust the object into his chest rather roughly, “And I don’t need one.”
He knew she was right about that, but still didn’t particularly like it. After her eyes slowly formed a stern, stubborn look that proved she’d made up her mind and would not be changing it within the next few thousand years, Jyren sighed, nodded, and took it from her hand.
Or tried to. When he grabbed it, her other hand reached up and held his. Quietly, she said, “It will keep you safe until I get to you.”
So that was the plan. They’d both thought about it, but neither had taken the time to actually say anything. The first one of them to finish their task would immediately head to the other. Considering that Shadow was only going to be dealing with Nine(and possibly Kyren, but that was put aside in thoughts) and Jyren was going after Ket and the army that would no doubt be protecting him...it was only logical to assume that, if she didn’t die of course, she’d be done first.
When he nodded, she let go and allowed him to hook the lightsaber on his belt next to the other. As a pair, the two weapons were nearly identical. Jyren couldn’t help but wonder if his mother had built hers after seeing the Alraxians’ design. It was too close to be any other way. But that wasn’t important right now.
After another of those long, awkward silences, Shadow took a step forward and embraced Jyren tightly. He, of course, returned the gesture and they both did their absolute best to ignore the sheer number of people that were undoubtedly watching.
Into her ear, he whispered, “Stay focused out there and be safe.”
He felt her nod into his shoulder before a muffled voice replied, “Same goes for you.”
However long passed in that moment, neither of them knew...it probably wasn’t long, though it felt like it was much, much shorter. But slowly they both came to accept that this was a necessary thing to do. They both had their jobs to do...and then things would be safe. That was the plan. It wouldn’t work perfectly, of course, but thankfully it was broad enough to take a good beating.
Then, after lifting her head up so her voice wasn’t muffled, Shadow said softly, “I love you.”
Jyren nearly said ‘I know’. Nearly, because, the second the thought came to mind, Shadow picked up on it and actually felt insulted. Or something like that...even if he’d been wrong, the plan was changed and his angle of attack took a more traditional turn, “I love you, too.”
And then, somewhat forcefully, they pulled apart. Shadow took a deep breath, managed a smile for him, and then turned to head for Hermes on the other side of Thor’s large, main hangar. Jyren stood next to his X-Wing an watched her go, not wanting to turn the other way but knowing he had to. Finally he did though, but instead of heading to his X-Wing, Jyren looked to the group a good distance away and to his father.
Father and son locked eyes. Conversation, be it through physical words or a mental link, was no needed. They both were right on the same page. Jyren wasn’t about to lose a father after all these years...and Navik Keros wasn’t about to lose his son, either.
With a smile of his own forming on his face, Jyren nodded to his father and then finally turned to climb into his X-Wing and head back to a familiar planet...wondering the whole time just how familiar it would be when he arrived.
Though there was immediate rush to get both Shadow and Jyren moving, one small break was taken while a ship was arranged for Shadow. The two of them went to check on Toby, who’d been moved to the larger Thor not longer after Jyren had first left. It was amazing, though, that they found the little jai deep asleep. Apparently, it was the first real sleep he’d gotten in the past couple of days, as he’d attempted to stay up and wait on Jyren and Shadow to get back.
So the choice was made to let him sleep...it would be easier anyway. So after being given fresh clothes(simple, black jumpsuits with gold lining for Shadow and silver for Jyren) and getting back into the old morphsuits, they were ready to leave.
Even though they could only see the cadre of guards, Redstars, and Jyren’s father in the hangar with them, it was plainly obvious the entire Empire was watching in some form or another. The two of them stood in front of Jyren’s X-Wing in silence for a long few minutes.
It was Jyren who broke the silence, attempting a half smile and a little humour, “Here we go again, eh?”
The humour was lost on Shadow, though she did nod. The silence came back quickly, and it became immediately apparent to Jyren that she was wanting to say something but either didn’t like having people watching, didn’t know how to say it, or just wanted to wait as long as she could.
So, for a second time, Jyren tried to initiate a small conversation, “How are you getting to that...wherever it is?”
Shadow sighed at that, but answered at least, “I’ll be taking Hermes.”
Kyren’s ship.
Perhaps that was a problem. But he was a good ship...and Jyren knew Shadow would be safe with Hermes. It was Hermes who needed to be the one to worry. But again, that awkward silence fell over the two of them. Shadow was looking at him with a neutral expression, though Jyren could feel she was masking everything she could to retain a calm outward appearance. The fact that Shadow was seeming to have some trouble with this spoke loudly.
And then the silence was broken by Shadow as she took a deep breath. Her hand, which Jyren suddenly noticed had been held behind her back the entire time, withdrew and she reached out to extend something to him, “Take this with you.”
Jyren looked down to see her holding the metallic cylinder which he recognized right away to be ‘her’ lightsaber. The small Alraxian symbol at the bottom of the hilt was as much a dead giveaway as the sleek and almost organic design. But he shook his head, “I’ve already got one.”
Typically, Shadow also shook her head and thrust the object into his chest rather roughly, “And I don’t need one.”
He knew she was right about that, but still didn’t particularly like it. After her eyes slowly formed a stern, stubborn look that proved she’d made up her mind and would not be changing it within the next few thousand years, Jyren sighed, nodded, and took it from her hand.
Or tried to. When he grabbed it, her other hand reached up and held his. Quietly, she said, “It will keep you safe until I get to you.”
So that was the plan. They’d both thought about it, but neither had taken the time to actually say anything. The first one of them to finish their task would immediately head to the other. Considering that Shadow was only going to be dealing with Nine(and possibly Kyren, but that was put aside in thoughts) and Jyren was going after Ket and the army that would no doubt be protecting him...it was only logical to assume that, if she didn’t die of course, she’d be done first.
When he nodded, she let go and allowed him to hook the lightsaber on his belt next to the other. As a pair, the two weapons were nearly identical. Jyren couldn’t help but wonder if his mother had built hers after seeing the Alraxians’ design. It was too close to be any other way. But that wasn’t important right now.
After another of those long, awkward silences, Shadow took a step forward and embraced Jyren tightly. He, of course, returned the gesture and they both did their absolute best to ignore the sheer number of people that were undoubtedly watching.
Into her ear, he whispered, “Stay focused out there and be safe.”
He felt her nod into his shoulder before a muffled voice replied, “Same goes for you.”
However long passed in that moment, neither of them knew...it probably wasn’t long, though it felt like it was much, much shorter. But slowly they both came to accept that this was a necessary thing to do. They both had their jobs to do...and then things would be safe. That was the plan. It wouldn’t work perfectly, of course, but thankfully it was broad enough to take a good beating.
Then, after lifting her head up so her voice wasn’t muffled, Shadow said softly, “I love you.”
Jyren nearly said ‘I know’. Nearly, because, the second the thought came to mind, Shadow picked up on it and actually felt insulted. Or something like that...even if he’d been wrong, the plan was changed and his angle of attack took a more traditional turn, “I love you, too.”
And then, somewhat forcefully, they pulled apart. Shadow took a deep breath, managed a smile for him, and then turned to head for Hermes on the other side of Thor’s large, main hangar. Jyren stood next to his X-Wing an watched her go, not wanting to turn the other way but knowing he had to. Finally he did though, but instead of heading to his X-Wing, Jyren looked to the group a good distance away and to his father.
Father and son locked eyes. Conversation, be it through physical words or a mental link, was no needed. They both were right on the same page. Jyren wasn’t about to lose a father after all these years...and Navik Keros wasn’t about to lose his son, either.
With a smile of his own forming on his face, Jyren nodded to his father and then finally turned to climb into his X-Wing and head back to a familiar planet...wondering the whole time just how familiar it would be when he arrived.
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Chapter 244: Silence and Learning
The flight to Nine’s location, a surprisingly unoccupied planet not at all far from Alraxia, was nearly completely silent. The only noises were the usual inner workings and sounds of Kanyaks. Hermes had, at first, attempted to question Shadow about Kyren, but soon came to the conclusion that he wished to speak of it as little as she did. And so there was nothing else to say. Anything they did say would eventually lead down that path...sooner than later, most likely.
Shadow sat quietly in the small ship, finding another pain had grown. She missed Loki. It had been so long. She knew that Nine had definitely tricked the ship...but couldn’t help wondering, and worrying, what had happened since that initial theft...no...kidnaping. Would he just go on with Nine? Or did he even know?! If she sill had him...and Kyren was there, would Loki even believe the there was anything at all wrong with the Marix piloting him? Probably not. I made the situation all the more depressing...especially since she’d have to explain this all to Loki when she finally found him.
When. Not if.
Shadow didn’t leave friends behind anymore than Jyren did, and Loki was the one she’d known the longest. They had, quite literally, grown up together. Loki being hatched and raised specifically for her, and they bonded quickly. The only time she had been away from him was after Palpatine’s Empire had captured her and...and...
Yes, that had been a long time, but it was different. She had known Loki was safe...asleep and taking a well deserved rest while he waited for her to return. But now...now this was different. For all she knew, Loki thought he was with her the entire time. Which meant he may not believe that she really was the real Marix. And she was now. Though she still used the name Shadow, even when thinking of herself, she truly was Marix BlueIce. Eventually, that was going to have to be something she accepted.
Eventually.
[We are here.] Hermes cut in softly and cautiously.
Opening her eyes to an orange and green tinted world, Shadow sighed to herself and waited, leaving control to Hermes. He flew through the atmosphere and across the rocky, orange cliffs of the southern hemisphere before the scattered, oddly shaped trees began to appear. The planet, to a point, resembled Alraxia and the Capital...but then again, most worlds in the Empire did. The temperature would be warm enough that a morphsuit would not be required to keep her body warm, but Shadow would keep it on anyway. It was something familiar in a time of everything trying to go wrong.
Banking to the west and following the very specific coordinates, Hermes headed towards a large, open clearing. Exactly where they were supposed to be...and early, even. Nine would be watching and waiting. She would not be like Ket and put on a show, though it would likely be broadcast across the whole Empire. Shadow would have to be on her guard the second her foot stepped down into view.
“Thank you, Hermes,” she spoke quietly, standing up and readying herself for whatever was to occur out there.
Jyren’s flight to Alraxia was not nearly as silent as Shadow’s was. He spent the first few minutes in the swirling blue trying to sleep...knowing how badly he needed it. Typically, though, that hadn’t worked too well. Shifting in the uncomfortably human sized seat and trying not to sit on his tail became just as annoying after a short time, and then finally he decided he needed to stop brooding to himself and talk.
The soft blue, slightly shimmering image of his mother hung projected from the cube-shaped holocron in his hand. In a voice he’d already come to be strongly familiar with, she said, “If you do not believe in your abilities and trust in the Force, then you will fail.”
Obviously, he’d been venting and not saying the most productive things in the galaxy. Jyren nodded slowly, “I just don’t know what to believe anymore. I can’t even believe I’m actually doing this.”
“But you are doing it” his mother said in firm words, nodding her head at the same time, “If you go to this planet with even a seed of doubt, you will fail and lose everything you are fighting for.”
Jyren blinked, then grumbled, “Thank you for taking the pressure off of my shoulders. I feel so much better now, mother.”
Andrea Tavos’ image smiled gently, but she ignored his sarcasm. In fact, she went on as if he’d not even said a thing in the first place. There was a pause, a thoughtful look on her image’s face, and then she asked quietly, “What are you fighting for, Jyren?”
The question was simple. So simple, in fact, that it stopped him right in his tracks. He knew what he was fighting for, right?
...right?
His first mistake was to think about it, and he didn’t realize it until a few minutes later when he was no farther than before he’d started. Jyren sighed heavily, took a deep breath, and said quietly, “I’m fighting because I have to.”
“No, Jyren, you don’t have to,” his mother responded in an almost disturbingly calm voice. When he sared blankly at her image, she went on, “You have become so set in this need to fight and fight and fight that you haven’t even considered that this may not be your fight...or may not even be a fight at all.”
He opened his mouth to protest, but only an “Buh...” came out. There were no words at all forming. In fact, barely any sounds were forming either.
It was amazing how this holocron image of his mother took advantage of Jyren’s silence, “You have told me that you wish to be a Jedi. I can help you, and I can teach you...but I can do nothing for you if the only solution to a situation you can come up with is to fight. I may have learned much from the old Alraxian Force tradition, but that still does not change the fact that the Jedi way is not one in which violence is ever a solution. You do not simply charge in swinging a lightsaber at every situation presented to you.”
Jyren sighed heavily, hung his head, and managed a hint of a nod. She was right, of course. Not only was she right, but so was Shadow, who had been telling him the same thing in less blunt terms for a very long time. Looking down, Jyren’s eyes locked onto the two lightsabers hooked on his belt. They, along with the belt, to be truthful, looked horribly out of place when placed over the morphsuit he wore. Did they always look like that?
Glancing up, Jyren found at least some of his voice, “But there’s no other choice. Ket won’t listen to me...he’s got an entire army with him. Even without his army he’ll go on fighting...I can feel it. I...I have to stop him. I have to kill him.”
Except for the hum of the systems, the cockpit of Jyren’s X-Wing was silent. His mother had a knowing look on her face and was looking at him very closely. It made him feel like he had said something wrong. But there wasn’t anything else! Not now! Not after everything that had happened!
“Good,” the word nearly shocked Jyren. His mother had the usual soft smile on her face, “I did not say there was another way all of the time. Simply, that violence should never be your first solution.”
“But you said it is never the Jedi way...” Jyren mumbled, not really wanting to argue, but actually trying to understand.
His mother nodded, “It is not, and you must live with that. It is not an easy thing to accept, but the very nature of taking a life is contradictory to everything in the Jedi way. You must balance this contradiction with control of your emotions and give yourself to the Force. You must not be emotionless, but accept that what you are doing is not the best solution that could have happened. Learn from your mistakes, and hope to change things the next time...otherwise, you will quickly fall down a very dark path.”
((On another note, we're slowly nearing the 10k view mark. It's still a couple months off, probably, but I'd like to plan ahead and do some things. So, either here or in my art thread here I'd like to get some requests from you readers.
What would YOU like to see, sketch wise? Particular scenes, characters, whatever. Anything from the story hour is up for grabs, no matter how insane...I'll try every single one.))
The flight to Nine’s location, a surprisingly unoccupied planet not at all far from Alraxia, was nearly completely silent. The only noises were the usual inner workings and sounds of Kanyaks. Hermes had, at first, attempted to question Shadow about Kyren, but soon came to the conclusion that he wished to speak of it as little as she did. And so there was nothing else to say. Anything they did say would eventually lead down that path...sooner than later, most likely.
Shadow sat quietly in the small ship, finding another pain had grown. She missed Loki. It had been so long. She knew that Nine had definitely tricked the ship...but couldn’t help wondering, and worrying, what had happened since that initial theft...no...kidnaping. Would he just go on with Nine? Or did he even know?! If she sill had him...and Kyren was there, would Loki even believe the there was anything at all wrong with the Marix piloting him? Probably not. I made the situation all the more depressing...especially since she’d have to explain this all to Loki when she finally found him.
When. Not if.
Shadow didn’t leave friends behind anymore than Jyren did, and Loki was the one she’d known the longest. They had, quite literally, grown up together. Loki being hatched and raised specifically for her, and they bonded quickly. The only time she had been away from him was after Palpatine’s Empire had captured her and...and...
Yes, that had been a long time, but it was different. She had known Loki was safe...asleep and taking a well deserved rest while he waited for her to return. But now...now this was different. For all she knew, Loki thought he was with her the entire time. Which meant he may not believe that she really was the real Marix. And she was now. Though she still used the name Shadow, even when thinking of herself, she truly was Marix BlueIce. Eventually, that was going to have to be something she accepted.
Eventually.
[We are here.] Hermes cut in softly and cautiously.
Opening her eyes to an orange and green tinted world, Shadow sighed to herself and waited, leaving control to Hermes. He flew through the atmosphere and across the rocky, orange cliffs of the southern hemisphere before the scattered, oddly shaped trees began to appear. The planet, to a point, resembled Alraxia and the Capital...but then again, most worlds in the Empire did. The temperature would be warm enough that a morphsuit would not be required to keep her body warm, but Shadow would keep it on anyway. It was something familiar in a time of everything trying to go wrong.
Banking to the west and following the very specific coordinates, Hermes headed towards a large, open clearing. Exactly where they were supposed to be...and early, even. Nine would be watching and waiting. She would not be like Ket and put on a show, though it would likely be broadcast across the whole Empire. Shadow would have to be on her guard the second her foot stepped down into view.
“Thank you, Hermes,” she spoke quietly, standing up and readying herself for whatever was to occur out there.
* * * *
Jyren’s flight to Alraxia was not nearly as silent as Shadow’s was. He spent the first few minutes in the swirling blue trying to sleep...knowing how badly he needed it. Typically, though, that hadn’t worked too well. Shifting in the uncomfortably human sized seat and trying not to sit on his tail became just as annoying after a short time, and then finally he decided he needed to stop brooding to himself and talk.
The soft blue, slightly shimmering image of his mother hung projected from the cube-shaped holocron in his hand. In a voice he’d already come to be strongly familiar with, she said, “If you do not believe in your abilities and trust in the Force, then you will fail.”
Obviously, he’d been venting and not saying the most productive things in the galaxy. Jyren nodded slowly, “I just don’t know what to believe anymore. I can’t even believe I’m actually doing this.”
“But you are doing it” his mother said in firm words, nodding her head at the same time, “If you go to this planet with even a seed of doubt, you will fail and lose everything you are fighting for.”
Jyren blinked, then grumbled, “Thank you for taking the pressure off of my shoulders. I feel so much better now, mother.”
Andrea Tavos’ image smiled gently, but she ignored his sarcasm. In fact, she went on as if he’d not even said a thing in the first place. There was a pause, a thoughtful look on her image’s face, and then she asked quietly, “What are you fighting for, Jyren?”
The question was simple. So simple, in fact, that it stopped him right in his tracks. He knew what he was fighting for, right?
...right?
His first mistake was to think about it, and he didn’t realize it until a few minutes later when he was no farther than before he’d started. Jyren sighed heavily, took a deep breath, and said quietly, “I’m fighting because I have to.”
“No, Jyren, you don’t have to,” his mother responded in an almost disturbingly calm voice. When he sared blankly at her image, she went on, “You have become so set in this need to fight and fight and fight that you haven’t even considered that this may not be your fight...or may not even be a fight at all.”
He opened his mouth to protest, but only an “Buh...” came out. There were no words at all forming. In fact, barely any sounds were forming either.
It was amazing how this holocron image of his mother took advantage of Jyren’s silence, “You have told me that you wish to be a Jedi. I can help you, and I can teach you...but I can do nothing for you if the only solution to a situation you can come up with is to fight. I may have learned much from the old Alraxian Force tradition, but that still does not change the fact that the Jedi way is not one in which violence is ever a solution. You do not simply charge in swinging a lightsaber at every situation presented to you.”
Jyren sighed heavily, hung his head, and managed a hint of a nod. She was right, of course. Not only was she right, but so was Shadow, who had been telling him the same thing in less blunt terms for a very long time. Looking down, Jyren’s eyes locked onto the two lightsabers hooked on his belt. They, along with the belt, to be truthful, looked horribly out of place when placed over the morphsuit he wore. Did they always look like that?
Glancing up, Jyren found at least some of his voice, “But there’s no other choice. Ket won’t listen to me...he’s got an entire army with him. Even without his army he’ll go on fighting...I can feel it. I...I have to stop him. I have to kill him.”
Except for the hum of the systems, the cockpit of Jyren’s X-Wing was silent. His mother had a knowing look on her face and was looking at him very closely. It made him feel like he had said something wrong. But there wasn’t anything else! Not now! Not after everything that had happened!
“Good,” the word nearly shocked Jyren. His mother had the usual soft smile on her face, “I did not say there was another way all of the time. Simply, that violence should never be your first solution.”
“But you said it is never the Jedi way...” Jyren mumbled, not really wanting to argue, but actually trying to understand.
His mother nodded, “It is not, and you must live with that. It is not an easy thing to accept, but the very nature of taking a life is contradictory to everything in the Jedi way. You must balance this contradiction with control of your emotions and give yourself to the Force. You must not be emotionless, but accept that what you are doing is not the best solution that could have happened. Learn from your mistakes, and hope to change things the next time...otherwise, you will quickly fall down a very dark path.”
((On another note, we're slowly nearing the 10k view mark. It's still a couple months off, probably, but I'd like to plan ahead and do some things. So, either here or in my art thread here I'd like to get some requests from you readers.
What would YOU like to see, sketch wise? Particular scenes, characters, whatever. Anything from the story hour is up for grabs, no matter how insane...I'll try every single one.))
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Chapter 245: Over the Ocean and Through the Trees
In the emptiness of space, there hung a nearby star. It was large, a bright yellow-orange, and shimmering in a way that was beyond comprehension. Multiple planes orbited the lone star, but it was the nearest one that was of interest. The turquoise and bright green sphere was only a tiny dot when compared to the star it orbited...but that did not make it any less important.
The planet was Alraxia. Covered in oceans and forests, all of which were much harder to see against a large series of metallic dots that lined is surface. Jyren’s X-Wing had exited hyperspace not long before, and he was now heading in system and trying to get a feel for the situation. Currently, it didn’t feel good.
The very fact that he could see what could only be Ket’s fleet was extremely unsettling. Not that it was any larger than before...but he’d never had the chance to see it against the Capital world like this. It brought a whole new perspective to things. It almost looked like a swarm of insects was surrounding and preparing to engulf the planet...which was not all that wrong when looked at from a certain point of view.
“I don’t know where he is...” Jyren said quietly, more to himself than the still active holocron, which rested on an unused panel off to his left side.
The holo of his mother nodded in that way that all mother’s could, “I should not have to tell you to reach out and feel.”
“No,” Jyren sighed, “You shouldn’t.”
But she did. It had been a long flight and he wasn’t exactly in the best of conditions anymore on the mental side of things. No longer was he so confident in...well...anything. His mother’s words on the Dark Side had confused him, as he’d gotten far too used to ignoring any such warnings and just doing what he needed to get the job done. But now that hung over his head far more than he would have ever expected.
The holocron surprised him again, though, and picked up on the unsaid thoughts, “Trust your feelings, but do not dwell on them,” she paused, then smiled softly, “You have a task in front of you that requires your concentration.”
Jyren nodded slowly as the X-Wing arced around towards the southern pole of Alraxia. He was heading that direction due to the lack of metal gleaming there, which he took to mean as either no, or a small amount at least, of those ships. At the same time, he started to reach out with the Force, not for anything in particular, but just feeling his way through this and looking for some hint of...well, anything.
Below, he could feel the strength of the life-covered planet...but above, emptiness. Or at least, mostly emptiness. There were a few pockets of dim light which he interpreted as living beings. None were very strong, either too distant, weak in the Force, or hiding themselves. All of them were equally possible at this point. And despite the fact that this hadn’t located Ket(which was, of course, at least a slight hope), Jyren had a destination.
If he was in Ket’s position, the first target would be the Palace, if only because it was a symbol, and Ket truly seemed to be after crushing those symbols first. So he started the X-Wing in that direction even before reaching the planet’s atmosphere.
There was a quick series of beeping noises from the sensors. Jyren cursed. Of course it wasn’t going to be easy. Glancing down at the panel, he saw six objects moving in quickly towards him from what would be the north section of the planet. Very, very quickly. So quickly, in fact, that Jyren only had about three minutes to decide whether to fight or run.
Alright, so that wasn’t a tough decision. The real choice was whether to fight while running or to just put everything to the sublight drives and go. He bit his lip as the chrono counted down. It wasn’t completely accurate, as these ships had an odd range on those weapons, but it was better than nothing. And at least the shields were back to working...which meant he could take one hit this time and survive. In all honesty, it wasn’t all that comforting, but it was something and Jyren wasn’t about to complain anymore.
Reaching up, he set the shields to full rear, not sure if that would even do him any good but deciding it was worth a try. Then, glancing down at the planet below, Jyren picked up on the location of the Palace and started his dive for it.
Just as the starfighter began its descent through Alraxia’s atmosphere, the other fighters had come into range. This was immediately apparent not through the sensors, but through the two bright green flashes that shot past his cockpit on both sides. Instinctively, Jyren glanced back over his shoulder. It was nearly useless in this two-seater, as he only really saw the gunner’s sea behind him. And got no real view of the ships on the X-Wing’s tail. Sighing at this realization, Jyren then turned back and, almost prying a hand off the control stick, reached over and switched the holocron off.
It was a distraction for the moment, and he needed to focus. He retook he stick just as the snubfighter exited the atmosphere, revealing one of the larger, blue-green oceans below. Jyren quickly arced the ship around to head north, but also tilted the nose down and started a steep dive. He fighters were right on him, though, and so the dive became more of a swerving and spinning fall as Jyren did his best to stay out of the way of the now-constant attack of the six fighters that were pursuing him.
Quickly diverting power from the weapon systems to the engines, Jyren did his best to push the X-Wing faster and faster, as the other ships were getting closer with every second. Just as his full attention went back to piloting, the realization of just how close he was to the surface of the water hit him. And, before the water also hit him(or rather, the X-Wing), Jyren pulled hard on the stick and half-rolled to avoid dunking only half of his starfighter into the water.
Skimming only five or so meters above the surface, Jyren heard two loud crashes behind him. With a quick, and truthfully, unwise, glance back, he saw huge plumes of water behind him, and quickly through them came four more of the fighters, still spewing their green-coloured weapon’s fire from underneath the two stubby wings.
Now there was a problem Jyren hadn’t considered. This close to the ocean’s surface, it was near impossible to maneuver. Banking too hard to avoid the shots would mean submerging half one of the S-Foils. And, obviously, this would not be a good thing.
At least there were only four of them now.
A sharp jolt hit him through the Force, and Jyren immediately did his best to pull the X-Wing to the side without taking a dive into the ocean. It worked...to a point. The X-Wing didn’t drop into the water, but the warning through the Force proved useless, as a half second later the entire X-Wing rocked violently from a strong hit to the rear shields. But they held. Barely, yes...but he still had rear shields thanks to putting all the power to that side.
So it hadn’t been such a futile move after all. For that second, at least. Another second and it nearly was.
Jyren’s attention returned from the shield’s readout in his HUD to the viewport ahead of him. Very quickly, he realized that skimming the ocean on a planet like Alraxia was really not something he was going to try again if given the chance. Alraxia, or at least this section of the planet, did not have beaches. It had cliffs, and then densely forested mountains. Currently, a cliff was approaching at lightning speed.
Suddenly no longer caring that he was being shot at by four ships with some serious firepower, Jyren decided that, no, the shields wouldn’t do him any good if he slammed straight into the rock face. At least that was something. Not something he planned on, however. Almost praying it wasn’t too late, Jyren pulled the nose up as hard as he could. The X-Wing shot up at a steep angle, just barely passing over the rock wall and grazing through the tops of a collection of trees that rested there.
He didn’t continue the steep angle, but instead pulled down more to start skimming the tree line. Not learning from part mistakes, however, Jyren looked down to the sensor board. Two of the previous little dots were no longer visible. So it wasn’t all that bad.
A green energy blast grazed quiet literally grazed the top of the S-Foil on his left. Jyren’s eyes widened in surprise and tried to ignore the new scorch marks. He managed to bank to the side just in time to avoid a similar shot to the other S-Foil...one that would quiet definitely have taken the entire thing off and ended this flight before he’ d had a chance to at least thank Ket for such a warm greeting.
And then, as if to make things worse, there was a sudden roar that even Jyren could hear loudly through the cockpit and the sublight drives. A deep instinct in him that really wasn’t even his identified the sound right away, causing him to pull back on the stick again and start climbing up. When Jyren realized this, though, he didn’t fix the angle, as it became apparent that there were not green energy blasts following him up. Rolling the X-Wing to get a look down, Jyren looked...well, up through the cockpit at the ground below.
A huge, reptilian creature with great wings had risen up out of the forest. Underneath it, a burning wreckage in the tree could be seen. There was still one of the fighters in one piece, though. It was no longer after Jyren, but instead spinning around and heading out towards the ocean. The...dragon, did not simply let the intruder on its territory escape. With an amazing speed that caused Jyren to realize why the Alraxians were so terrified of the creatures, the dragon darted out and its massive jaws suddenly clamped down on the rear of the fighter. There was a detonation, but it didn’t seem to phase the large reptile at all.
And then Jyren came to another realization...he wasn’t leaving the dragon’s area. Deciding it was mostly likely a bad thing, he rolled the ship back over so as to not get sick on himself, and put everything to the engines...heading north towards the Palace, which wasn’t very far off now.
He didn’t bother looking up, though. If he had, Jyren would have seen a sky eerily similar to the one on the Capital just days earlier.
In the emptiness of space, there hung a nearby star. It was large, a bright yellow-orange, and shimmering in a way that was beyond comprehension. Multiple planes orbited the lone star, but it was the nearest one that was of interest. The turquoise and bright green sphere was only a tiny dot when compared to the star it orbited...but that did not make it any less important.
The planet was Alraxia. Covered in oceans and forests, all of which were much harder to see against a large series of metallic dots that lined is surface. Jyren’s X-Wing had exited hyperspace not long before, and he was now heading in system and trying to get a feel for the situation. Currently, it didn’t feel good.
The very fact that he could see what could only be Ket’s fleet was extremely unsettling. Not that it was any larger than before...but he’d never had the chance to see it against the Capital world like this. It brought a whole new perspective to things. It almost looked like a swarm of insects was surrounding and preparing to engulf the planet...which was not all that wrong when looked at from a certain point of view.
“I don’t know where he is...” Jyren said quietly, more to himself than the still active holocron, which rested on an unused panel off to his left side.
The holo of his mother nodded in that way that all mother’s could, “I should not have to tell you to reach out and feel.”
“No,” Jyren sighed, “You shouldn’t.”
But she did. It had been a long flight and he wasn’t exactly in the best of conditions anymore on the mental side of things. No longer was he so confident in...well...anything. His mother’s words on the Dark Side had confused him, as he’d gotten far too used to ignoring any such warnings and just doing what he needed to get the job done. But now that hung over his head far more than he would have ever expected.
The holocron surprised him again, though, and picked up on the unsaid thoughts, “Trust your feelings, but do not dwell on them,” she paused, then smiled softly, “You have a task in front of you that requires your concentration.”
Jyren nodded slowly as the X-Wing arced around towards the southern pole of Alraxia. He was heading that direction due to the lack of metal gleaming there, which he took to mean as either no, or a small amount at least, of those ships. At the same time, he started to reach out with the Force, not for anything in particular, but just feeling his way through this and looking for some hint of...well, anything.
Below, he could feel the strength of the life-covered planet...but above, emptiness. Or at least, mostly emptiness. There were a few pockets of dim light which he interpreted as living beings. None were very strong, either too distant, weak in the Force, or hiding themselves. All of them were equally possible at this point. And despite the fact that this hadn’t located Ket(which was, of course, at least a slight hope), Jyren had a destination.
If he was in Ket’s position, the first target would be the Palace, if only because it was a symbol, and Ket truly seemed to be after crushing those symbols first. So he started the X-Wing in that direction even before reaching the planet’s atmosphere.
There was a quick series of beeping noises from the sensors. Jyren cursed. Of course it wasn’t going to be easy. Glancing down at the panel, he saw six objects moving in quickly towards him from what would be the north section of the planet. Very, very quickly. So quickly, in fact, that Jyren only had about three minutes to decide whether to fight or run.
Alright, so that wasn’t a tough decision. The real choice was whether to fight while running or to just put everything to the sublight drives and go. He bit his lip as the chrono counted down. It wasn’t completely accurate, as these ships had an odd range on those weapons, but it was better than nothing. And at least the shields were back to working...which meant he could take one hit this time and survive. In all honesty, it wasn’t all that comforting, but it was something and Jyren wasn’t about to complain anymore.
Reaching up, he set the shields to full rear, not sure if that would even do him any good but deciding it was worth a try. Then, glancing down at the planet below, Jyren picked up on the location of the Palace and started his dive for it.
Just as the starfighter began its descent through Alraxia’s atmosphere, the other fighters had come into range. This was immediately apparent not through the sensors, but through the two bright green flashes that shot past his cockpit on both sides. Instinctively, Jyren glanced back over his shoulder. It was nearly useless in this two-seater, as he only really saw the gunner’s sea behind him. And got no real view of the ships on the X-Wing’s tail. Sighing at this realization, Jyren then turned back and, almost prying a hand off the control stick, reached over and switched the holocron off.
It was a distraction for the moment, and he needed to focus. He retook he stick just as the snubfighter exited the atmosphere, revealing one of the larger, blue-green oceans below. Jyren quickly arced the ship around to head north, but also tilted the nose down and started a steep dive. He fighters were right on him, though, and so the dive became more of a swerving and spinning fall as Jyren did his best to stay out of the way of the now-constant attack of the six fighters that were pursuing him.
Quickly diverting power from the weapon systems to the engines, Jyren did his best to push the X-Wing faster and faster, as the other ships were getting closer with every second. Just as his full attention went back to piloting, the realization of just how close he was to the surface of the water hit him. And, before the water also hit him(or rather, the X-Wing), Jyren pulled hard on the stick and half-rolled to avoid dunking only half of his starfighter into the water.
Skimming only five or so meters above the surface, Jyren heard two loud crashes behind him. With a quick, and truthfully, unwise, glance back, he saw huge plumes of water behind him, and quickly through them came four more of the fighters, still spewing their green-coloured weapon’s fire from underneath the two stubby wings.
Now there was a problem Jyren hadn’t considered. This close to the ocean’s surface, it was near impossible to maneuver. Banking too hard to avoid the shots would mean submerging half one of the S-Foils. And, obviously, this would not be a good thing.
At least there were only four of them now.
A sharp jolt hit him through the Force, and Jyren immediately did his best to pull the X-Wing to the side without taking a dive into the ocean. It worked...to a point. The X-Wing didn’t drop into the water, but the warning through the Force proved useless, as a half second later the entire X-Wing rocked violently from a strong hit to the rear shields. But they held. Barely, yes...but he still had rear shields thanks to putting all the power to that side.
So it hadn’t been such a futile move after all. For that second, at least. Another second and it nearly was.
Jyren’s attention returned from the shield’s readout in his HUD to the viewport ahead of him. Very quickly, he realized that skimming the ocean on a planet like Alraxia was really not something he was going to try again if given the chance. Alraxia, or at least this section of the planet, did not have beaches. It had cliffs, and then densely forested mountains. Currently, a cliff was approaching at lightning speed.
Suddenly no longer caring that he was being shot at by four ships with some serious firepower, Jyren decided that, no, the shields wouldn’t do him any good if he slammed straight into the rock face. At least that was something. Not something he planned on, however. Almost praying it wasn’t too late, Jyren pulled the nose up as hard as he could. The X-Wing shot up at a steep angle, just barely passing over the rock wall and grazing through the tops of a collection of trees that rested there.
He didn’t continue the steep angle, but instead pulled down more to start skimming the tree line. Not learning from part mistakes, however, Jyren looked down to the sensor board. Two of the previous little dots were no longer visible. So it wasn’t all that bad.
A green energy blast grazed quiet literally grazed the top of the S-Foil on his left. Jyren’s eyes widened in surprise and tried to ignore the new scorch marks. He managed to bank to the side just in time to avoid a similar shot to the other S-Foil...one that would quiet definitely have taken the entire thing off and ended this flight before he’ d had a chance to at least thank Ket for such a warm greeting.
And then, as if to make things worse, there was a sudden roar that even Jyren could hear loudly through the cockpit and the sublight drives. A deep instinct in him that really wasn’t even his identified the sound right away, causing him to pull back on the stick again and start climbing up. When Jyren realized this, though, he didn’t fix the angle, as it became apparent that there were not green energy blasts following him up. Rolling the X-Wing to get a look down, Jyren looked...well, up through the cockpit at the ground below.
A huge, reptilian creature with great wings had risen up out of the forest. Underneath it, a burning wreckage in the tree could be seen. There was still one of the fighters in one piece, though. It was no longer after Jyren, but instead spinning around and heading out towards the ocean. The...dragon, did not simply let the intruder on its territory escape. With an amazing speed that caused Jyren to realize why the Alraxians were so terrified of the creatures, the dragon darted out and its massive jaws suddenly clamped down on the rear of the fighter. There was a detonation, but it didn’t seem to phase the large reptile at all.
And then Jyren came to another realization...he wasn’t leaving the dragon’s area. Deciding it was mostly likely a bad thing, he rolled the ship back over so as to not get sick on himself, and put everything to the engines...heading north towards the Palace, which wasn’t very far off now.
He didn’t bother looking up, though. If he had, Jyren would have seen a sky eerily similar to the one on the Capital just days earlier.
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Chapter 246: Knight Takes Queen
The hatch irised open silently, revealing the entire area of the clearing to Shadow. Hermes had known well enough to set down at one edge, and even though it didn’t prevent anything from jumping at her from behind, it would limit the likelihood because of his size, even if he was small for a Kanyak. Shadow’s eyes surveyed the lightly grass-covered ground. There were patches of dirt here and there, kicked up by time more than anything else from the look of it, but this clearing was obviously not completely natural. At least a few of the spots looked like trees had been pulled out, roots and all. The general feeling of the area didn’t help this case, either.
All of her senses alert and ready, Shadow slowly stepped out onto the hard ground. When nothing jumped out or showed any signs of jumping out at her, she moved forward a few cautious steps. Nine was watching. She could feel it...no, not just Nine. The Empire was watching. The faint and still recovering Network revealed this, also proving to be at least a slight distraction.
After only a few steps away from Hermes, Shadow caught sight of movement directly in front of her. The vegetation shifted and moved before Nine stepped out, smiling that maniacal smile that was seemingly glued onto her face. Shadow remained emotionless, but keenly alert and her muscles ready for anything sudden as Nine continued forward.
Nine finally stopped her casual walk about two and a half meters in front of Shadow. Tilting her head, the clone said in a somewhat unnerving voice, “I was beginning to think you weren’t coming.”
Shadow only narrowed her eyes. There was something wrong with this. Nine was acting like Ket...putting on a show. This wasn’t like her. She wasn’t the kind to just stand around and...wait. Not in a situation like this, and especially not when she’d had the upper hand and could have easily slain Shadow before stepping out of Hermes. It confirmed that the Empire was watching, yes, but that still worried Shadow. Nine didn’t play games...yet she was.
When Shadow failed to respond, Nine shrugged and stretched for a moment, her tail flicking back behind her in a gesture of at least slight annoyance. So she didn’t like putting on this little show. Good. That was at least one thing going for Shadow at the moment. There was silence for a long moment before they both came to an unsaid agreement. The talking was useless and wasting time. They were both there to finish things, even if both had different outcomes planned.
This time, with a sudden flash of movement, Nine was back to what Shadow expected of her. He clone darted to Shadow’s left at lightning speed, slashing at Shadow’s lower torso with sharp claws. Shadow spun back, grabbing Nine’s wrist in the process and attempting to use the momentum to fling her around and onto the ground. But Nine didn’t allow this to happen, instead reaching over with her free hand and raking her other claws along Shadow’s arm.
There was no sound of pain beyond the gritting of teeth from Shadow as she relinquished her grip on Nine and dropped back a few steps. Nine did not, of course, stop moving. Regaining her footing, she charged forward again, this time kicking up some of the loose dirt on the ground as a distraction. Shadow saw through it, quickly ducking under a high slash to her face before rolling to Nine’s side and lashing out with her own claws. She caught no skin, though, as Nine somehow managed to bend her torso out of the way of the claws.
Through all of this, Shadow had already remorphed he long claw marks across her arm, a minor inconvenience more than anything. When Nine attempted a third quick attack, this time moving low again and feinting to the right, Shadow was ready, thanks to the Force and her own natural instincts. She gave Nine a slight surprise by moving into the feint, and as Nine dove to where Shadow had been, a heavy kick met her instead. Shadow’s foot hit Nine hard across the side of the face, but somehow the kick that should have broken the clone nose(among other things), didn’t even phase her.
With an amazing reaction speed through what had to be an intense pain, Nine’s arms shot up and grabbed Shadow’s ankle before it could be pulled away. Nine roughly twisted the leg around, getting a snap from a joint before Shadow was thrown hard into the dirt. She hit hard, nearly landing on her tail, but before Nine could take advantage of the situation anymore, Shadow lashed out with a hard snap-kick from her still free right leg. This kick also caught Nine across the face, though on the other side this time.
The force of the kick caused Nine to stumble back a half step and loosen her grip on Shadow’s leg. It was enough. In another second, Shadow was back on her feet and Nine was attempting yet another charge forward. There was a growl in her throat this time as she forewent the use of her claws, instead her fist arced in at Shadow. She caught the attack, twisting Nine’s wrist around for a half second before Nine’s other fist hit her hard in the face. Before Shadow could stumble back, Nine’s leg swept her feet out from under her, and in another second, Shadow was on her back again.
Nine dove down this time, striking with a hard punch that only impacted with the ground as Shadow rolled to the side and then up onto her feet. Now, though, Shadow didn’t give Nine the chance to attack first. Instead, Shadow took advantage of the situation and darted around towards Nine’s back, striking out with a clawed hand towards the back of the clone’s neck.
Instead of ducking out of the way, however, Nine’s arm wrapped around and caught Shadow’s in the wrist before any damage could be done. Nine’s body then followed, as did a fist that dug hard into Shadow’s gut. This was ignored fairly easily, and Shadow returned the favor by grabbing the wrist with one and raking her claws across Nine’s face with the other.
That got a reaction.
Nine yelped suddenly, a sound more of anger and surprise than any kind of pain. When she tried to fall back and open her eyes again(which were still in the process of remorphing from a claw that had gashed through one), Nine was pulled back by Shadow’s grip on her other arm. Yanked back, Nine was met with a knee to the stomach, but even with the pain and her repairing vision, she wasn’t down.
With her free arm, Nine struck Shadow with all of her strength in the side of the head. The impact caused Shadow’s vision to blur and her head to spin...a side effect of this being she let go of Nine’s hand and nearly hit the ground from the sudden dizziness. Nine, as usual, used her opponent’s weakness to her advantage. Like a blaster bolt, she shot around Shadow, an arm suddenly wrapping around Shadow’s neck from behind and a clawed arm digging deep into her spine.
As Nine held her tightly, slowly depriving her of air, Shadow somehow managed to catch sight of a familiar figure. Taller than her(and Nine, for that matter), and about four or so meters in front of them. Though her vision was blurry, Shadow picked up on the emerald coloured hair and knew immediately it was Kyren.
This was only confirmed with Shadow heard Nine snap loudly, “Kill her now!”
So that was the plan. A Knight to kill the Empress. And in her impaired vision, Shadow sill managed to catch sight of the long blade in Kyren’s hand. Slowly, he was walking towards her, and Shadow could only fight unconsciousness as she tried to figure out what to do.
The hatch irised open silently, revealing the entire area of the clearing to Shadow. Hermes had known well enough to set down at one edge, and even though it didn’t prevent anything from jumping at her from behind, it would limit the likelihood because of his size, even if he was small for a Kanyak. Shadow’s eyes surveyed the lightly grass-covered ground. There were patches of dirt here and there, kicked up by time more than anything else from the look of it, but this clearing was obviously not completely natural. At least a few of the spots looked like trees had been pulled out, roots and all. The general feeling of the area didn’t help this case, either.
All of her senses alert and ready, Shadow slowly stepped out onto the hard ground. When nothing jumped out or showed any signs of jumping out at her, she moved forward a few cautious steps. Nine was watching. She could feel it...no, not just Nine. The Empire was watching. The faint and still recovering Network revealed this, also proving to be at least a slight distraction.
After only a few steps away from Hermes, Shadow caught sight of movement directly in front of her. The vegetation shifted and moved before Nine stepped out, smiling that maniacal smile that was seemingly glued onto her face. Shadow remained emotionless, but keenly alert and her muscles ready for anything sudden as Nine continued forward.
Nine finally stopped her casual walk about two and a half meters in front of Shadow. Tilting her head, the clone said in a somewhat unnerving voice, “I was beginning to think you weren’t coming.”
Shadow only narrowed her eyes. There was something wrong with this. Nine was acting like Ket...putting on a show. This wasn’t like her. She wasn’t the kind to just stand around and...wait. Not in a situation like this, and especially not when she’d had the upper hand and could have easily slain Shadow before stepping out of Hermes. It confirmed that the Empire was watching, yes, but that still worried Shadow. Nine didn’t play games...yet she was.
When Shadow failed to respond, Nine shrugged and stretched for a moment, her tail flicking back behind her in a gesture of at least slight annoyance. So she didn’t like putting on this little show. Good. That was at least one thing going for Shadow at the moment. There was silence for a long moment before they both came to an unsaid agreement. The talking was useless and wasting time. They were both there to finish things, even if both had different outcomes planned.
This time, with a sudden flash of movement, Nine was back to what Shadow expected of her. He clone darted to Shadow’s left at lightning speed, slashing at Shadow’s lower torso with sharp claws. Shadow spun back, grabbing Nine’s wrist in the process and attempting to use the momentum to fling her around and onto the ground. But Nine didn’t allow this to happen, instead reaching over with her free hand and raking her other claws along Shadow’s arm.
There was no sound of pain beyond the gritting of teeth from Shadow as she relinquished her grip on Nine and dropped back a few steps. Nine did not, of course, stop moving. Regaining her footing, she charged forward again, this time kicking up some of the loose dirt on the ground as a distraction. Shadow saw through it, quickly ducking under a high slash to her face before rolling to Nine’s side and lashing out with her own claws. She caught no skin, though, as Nine somehow managed to bend her torso out of the way of the claws.
Through all of this, Shadow had already remorphed he long claw marks across her arm, a minor inconvenience more than anything. When Nine attempted a third quick attack, this time moving low again and feinting to the right, Shadow was ready, thanks to the Force and her own natural instincts. She gave Nine a slight surprise by moving into the feint, and as Nine dove to where Shadow had been, a heavy kick met her instead. Shadow’s foot hit Nine hard across the side of the face, but somehow the kick that should have broken the clone nose(among other things), didn’t even phase her.
With an amazing reaction speed through what had to be an intense pain, Nine’s arms shot up and grabbed Shadow’s ankle before it could be pulled away. Nine roughly twisted the leg around, getting a snap from a joint before Shadow was thrown hard into the dirt. She hit hard, nearly landing on her tail, but before Nine could take advantage of the situation anymore, Shadow lashed out with a hard snap-kick from her still free right leg. This kick also caught Nine across the face, though on the other side this time.
The force of the kick caused Nine to stumble back a half step and loosen her grip on Shadow’s leg. It was enough. In another second, Shadow was back on her feet and Nine was attempting yet another charge forward. There was a growl in her throat this time as she forewent the use of her claws, instead her fist arced in at Shadow. She caught the attack, twisting Nine’s wrist around for a half second before Nine’s other fist hit her hard in the face. Before Shadow could stumble back, Nine’s leg swept her feet out from under her, and in another second, Shadow was on her back again.
Nine dove down this time, striking with a hard punch that only impacted with the ground as Shadow rolled to the side and then up onto her feet. Now, though, Shadow didn’t give Nine the chance to attack first. Instead, Shadow took advantage of the situation and darted around towards Nine’s back, striking out with a clawed hand towards the back of the clone’s neck.
Instead of ducking out of the way, however, Nine’s arm wrapped around and caught Shadow’s in the wrist before any damage could be done. Nine’s body then followed, as did a fist that dug hard into Shadow’s gut. This was ignored fairly easily, and Shadow returned the favor by grabbing the wrist with one and raking her claws across Nine’s face with the other.
That got a reaction.
Nine yelped suddenly, a sound more of anger and surprise than any kind of pain. When she tried to fall back and open her eyes again(which were still in the process of remorphing from a claw that had gashed through one), Nine was pulled back by Shadow’s grip on her other arm. Yanked back, Nine was met with a knee to the stomach, but even with the pain and her repairing vision, she wasn’t down.
With her free arm, Nine struck Shadow with all of her strength in the side of the head. The impact caused Shadow’s vision to blur and her head to spin...a side effect of this being she let go of Nine’s hand and nearly hit the ground from the sudden dizziness. Nine, as usual, used her opponent’s weakness to her advantage. Like a blaster bolt, she shot around Shadow, an arm suddenly wrapping around Shadow’s neck from behind and a clawed arm digging deep into her spine.
As Nine held her tightly, slowly depriving her of air, Shadow somehow managed to catch sight of a familiar figure. Taller than her(and Nine, for that matter), and about four or so meters in front of them. Though her vision was blurry, Shadow picked up on the emerald coloured hair and knew immediately it was Kyren.
This was only confirmed with Shadow heard Nine snap loudly, “Kill her now!”
So that was the plan. A Knight to kill the Empress. And in her impaired vision, Shadow sill managed to catch sight of the long blade in Kyren’s hand. Slowly, he was walking towards her, and Shadow could only fight unconsciousness as she tried to figure out what to do.
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Chapter 247: Headfirst
The palace was, thankfully, in the same place it had been left. The curved, U-shaped and cream coloured building was not, however, exactly as Jyren remember it. For one, the soft and barely visible shimmering of the shield was usually noticeable...something which he couldn’t see(or detect with sensors, but he didn’t know if that was possible anyway) at the moment. Also, Jyren didn’t remember the large collection of metal ships.
The same transports were scattered all across the area. Some still hovering above and slowly descending, with others down and spilling out droids. Jyren could feel life down there, and reaching out with the Force, could feel that the Knights were putting up the best fight they could. He wished he could be down there to help.
Pulling the X-Wing up to a higher altitude for a good view of the situation, Jyren sopped thinking to instead feel. Where was Ket? There had been ships in orbit, yes, but Jyren hadn’t felt anything to immediately give away the presence of the other Alraxian. So where was he? Storming the palace seemed to fit the idea that Jyren had come to attribute with Halpak, but he still couldn’t be sure. And there was that lingering worry about Shadow that was definitely not doing him any good.
“Sooner or later, they’re going to notice I’m sitting up here,” Jyren said calmly to the reactivated holocron.
The image of his mother nodded, “Yes, they are.”
“Are you sure you aren’t alive and this isn’t some kind of remote device?” Jyren asked critically, with a sharp glare at the image. He had been contemplating hitting the thing, but decided against it. She was better with sarcasm, dry remarks, and all those things he usually attributed to his own personality than he was. It was annoying. But, of course, the holocron didn’t answer his question, simply ‘standing’ and looking at him...that horrible stare of a mother(or a teacher) staring at the child and waiting for them to figure things out on their own.
He’d escaped it for near twenty years, but now it was right back to haunt him. Jyren had quickly come to the conclusion that, yes, the Force had a very cruel sense of humour...especially when it came to him. So think.
No! Don’t think. Feel.
It was harder than it sounded. Anyone could say ‘don’t think! Feel!’, but very few could really do it...Jyren couldn’t help but wonder if the Jedi of the Old Republic ever had the same problems. Probably not. In fact, it was probably just unique to him.
Calm down. Calm.
Taking a few deep breaths and closing his eyes so as not to continue staring at the sensor board, Jyren attempted to stop the tangent thoughts and focus on the task at hand. Almost like reaching out with an invisible hand, Jyren’s mind stretched out around the planet as far as he could reach. He felt hundreds(probably thousands, actually) of Alraxians below in the palace...some fighting, most hiding. These were not warriors. They needed people like Jyren and Shadow at times like this.
But right now they’d have to survive on their own.
Feel. Reach out...focus.
There! A spark in the Force seemed to jump out at Jyren. Ket was down there. Near the eastern edge of the city section! It had to be Ket. Immediately, Jyren opened his eyes and his hands took the controls. With a flurry of motion, he cut off the repulsorlifts and hit the sublight drives. Rolling around into a tight dive, Jyren then quickly hit the switch to open the S-Foils and power the weapons up. He wasn’t going to ignore all of those transports.
The image of his mother seemed to smile, but said nothing even when he reached over to shut the holocron off again. It was helpful, but would definitely get in the way at a time when he needed complete focus. He didn’t know if there were defenses set up, or if there were any more of those fighters nearby.
The second that a transport was in range of his weapons, the quad cannons lit up, red bolts of energy arcing down at the ship and hitting it in the rear engines. Like before, the lightly armored and unshielded craft went up(or rather, down in this case) in flames. Banking away from the wreckage and pulling up from the straight dive, another of the ships came into his sights and, in a moment, it too was a fiery hulk of metal slowly falling to the ground below.
Again maneuvering to avoid slamming into the flaming ships, Jyren looked up to find some place near where he could feel Halpak to set the X-Wing down. There. It would be a long way, but it was an area that looked to be behind the attack line. It also helped that he could see no droids guarding.
Pulling down even farther, now just skimming over the top points of the flower-like palace, the X-Wing took out one more transport that was nearly down to unload another cadre of those war droids. He pulled up and over the dead ship before ending up nearly on top of his landing spot. Reacting quickly so he didn’t have to pull around again, Jyren immediately closed the S-Foils and cu the sublight drives out. The repulsors cut in automatically, and in a few more seconds the X-Wing was down.
Jyren was actually pushing the canopy to open faster, climbing out when there was just enough room and forgoing placing the ladder. Instead, he simply jumped the distance down...which was, admittedly, short for an Alraxian of his current height.
As the canopy closed with a soft hiss behind him, Jyren’s eyes and ears took in everything they could. Though he couldn’t see anything but a few bright flashes here and there, the sounds of the firefights were easy to identify. Not hesitating any longer, Jyren started across the small courtyard attached to the petal-like landing pad to the nearest entrance of the near endless hallways and corridors of the palace. The exterior quickly turned into that familiar cream coloured but horribly indistinct corridor of the palace...they all looked alike. This could be a while.
Glancing around a corner where he heard some sounds, Jyren saw the backs of about five Alraxians wearing what he could identify now as relatively heavy armor. Blasts of light could be seen in front of them, and one of them dropped. Alright, so maybe he could do some good.
Knowing that Ket was nearby but making a decision he felt was necessary(and a typical one for him, truthfully), Jyren reached to his belt and detached his lightsaber. After a moment’s thought, he also removed Shadow’s with his left hand. Why not use it?
The snap-hiss of the two blades activating echoed loudly through the corridor, causing at least one of the Alraxians to glance back and see Jyren charging forward. The Knight was looking to be smart enough to duck.
The palace was, thankfully, in the same place it had been left. The curved, U-shaped and cream coloured building was not, however, exactly as Jyren remember it. For one, the soft and barely visible shimmering of the shield was usually noticeable...something which he couldn’t see(or detect with sensors, but he didn’t know if that was possible anyway) at the moment. Also, Jyren didn’t remember the large collection of metal ships.
The same transports were scattered all across the area. Some still hovering above and slowly descending, with others down and spilling out droids. Jyren could feel life down there, and reaching out with the Force, could feel that the Knights were putting up the best fight they could. He wished he could be down there to help.
Pulling the X-Wing up to a higher altitude for a good view of the situation, Jyren sopped thinking to instead feel. Where was Ket? There had been ships in orbit, yes, but Jyren hadn’t felt anything to immediately give away the presence of the other Alraxian. So where was he? Storming the palace seemed to fit the idea that Jyren had come to attribute with Halpak, but he still couldn’t be sure. And there was that lingering worry about Shadow that was definitely not doing him any good.
“Sooner or later, they’re going to notice I’m sitting up here,” Jyren said calmly to the reactivated holocron.
The image of his mother nodded, “Yes, they are.”
“Are you sure you aren’t alive and this isn’t some kind of remote device?” Jyren asked critically, with a sharp glare at the image. He had been contemplating hitting the thing, but decided against it. She was better with sarcasm, dry remarks, and all those things he usually attributed to his own personality than he was. It was annoying. But, of course, the holocron didn’t answer his question, simply ‘standing’ and looking at him...that horrible stare of a mother(or a teacher) staring at the child and waiting for them to figure things out on their own.
He’d escaped it for near twenty years, but now it was right back to haunt him. Jyren had quickly come to the conclusion that, yes, the Force had a very cruel sense of humour...especially when it came to him. So think.
No! Don’t think. Feel.
It was harder than it sounded. Anyone could say ‘don’t think! Feel!’, but very few could really do it...Jyren couldn’t help but wonder if the Jedi of the Old Republic ever had the same problems. Probably not. In fact, it was probably just unique to him.
Calm down. Calm.
Taking a few deep breaths and closing his eyes so as not to continue staring at the sensor board, Jyren attempted to stop the tangent thoughts and focus on the task at hand. Almost like reaching out with an invisible hand, Jyren’s mind stretched out around the planet as far as he could reach. He felt hundreds(probably thousands, actually) of Alraxians below in the palace...some fighting, most hiding. These were not warriors. They needed people like Jyren and Shadow at times like this.
But right now they’d have to survive on their own.
Feel. Reach out...focus.
There! A spark in the Force seemed to jump out at Jyren. Ket was down there. Near the eastern edge of the city section! It had to be Ket. Immediately, Jyren opened his eyes and his hands took the controls. With a flurry of motion, he cut off the repulsorlifts and hit the sublight drives. Rolling around into a tight dive, Jyren then quickly hit the switch to open the S-Foils and power the weapons up. He wasn’t going to ignore all of those transports.
The image of his mother seemed to smile, but said nothing even when he reached over to shut the holocron off again. It was helpful, but would definitely get in the way at a time when he needed complete focus. He didn’t know if there were defenses set up, or if there were any more of those fighters nearby.
The second that a transport was in range of his weapons, the quad cannons lit up, red bolts of energy arcing down at the ship and hitting it in the rear engines. Like before, the lightly armored and unshielded craft went up(or rather, down in this case) in flames. Banking away from the wreckage and pulling up from the straight dive, another of the ships came into his sights and, in a moment, it too was a fiery hulk of metal slowly falling to the ground below.
Again maneuvering to avoid slamming into the flaming ships, Jyren looked up to find some place near where he could feel Halpak to set the X-Wing down. There. It would be a long way, but it was an area that looked to be behind the attack line. It also helped that he could see no droids guarding.
Pulling down even farther, now just skimming over the top points of the flower-like palace, the X-Wing took out one more transport that was nearly down to unload another cadre of those war droids. He pulled up and over the dead ship before ending up nearly on top of his landing spot. Reacting quickly so he didn’t have to pull around again, Jyren immediately closed the S-Foils and cu the sublight drives out. The repulsors cut in automatically, and in a few more seconds the X-Wing was down.
Jyren was actually pushing the canopy to open faster, climbing out when there was just enough room and forgoing placing the ladder. Instead, he simply jumped the distance down...which was, admittedly, short for an Alraxian of his current height.
As the canopy closed with a soft hiss behind him, Jyren’s eyes and ears took in everything they could. Though he couldn’t see anything but a few bright flashes here and there, the sounds of the firefights were easy to identify. Not hesitating any longer, Jyren started across the small courtyard attached to the petal-like landing pad to the nearest entrance of the near endless hallways and corridors of the palace. The exterior quickly turned into that familiar cream coloured but horribly indistinct corridor of the palace...they all looked alike. This could be a while.
Glancing around a corner where he heard some sounds, Jyren saw the backs of about five Alraxians wearing what he could identify now as relatively heavy armor. Blasts of light could be seen in front of them, and one of them dropped. Alright, so maybe he could do some good.
Knowing that Ket was nearby but making a decision he felt was necessary(and a typical one for him, truthfully), Jyren reached to his belt and detached his lightsaber. After a moment’s thought, he also removed Shadow’s with his left hand. Why not use it?
The snap-hiss of the two blades activating echoed loudly through the corridor, causing at least one of the Alraxians to glance back and see Jyren charging forward. The Knight was looking to be smart enough to duck.
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Chapter 248: One Sword, Two Lives
There was an odd moment of silence and inaction in the clearing. The only sounds that could be clearly heard were the breathing of the three Alraxians. Shadow’s was the only one calm, strangely enough. On the back of her neck, she could feel the angry, half-growled breaths of Nine as she stared across at Kyren.
He had gotten about a meter away from the two of them, sword ready to thrust out at Shadow’s torso, but then had suddenly stopped. The hatred that had marred his face from before had been replaced by a blank, emotionless stare. And yet, somehow, he looked confused. Or maybe it was that he felt confused. Sometimes, especially when in such a critical moment, Shadow forgot the difference between the two.
“Kill her!” Nine snapped suddenly, causing Shadow’s left ear to twitch violently and bend down slightly. But Shadow didn’t give a single glance back to Nine.
The clone was holding Shadow’s wrist behind her back with one arm and the other arm was at Shadow’s neck...claws extended just enough to show that it would be a bad idea to struggle. Shadow knew this tactic well enough...it had been a favorite of hers for a very long time. The reason was simple. Struggle and die. Even Alraxians couldn’t survive if their throat was torn out.
But Kyren stayed in place. His blank eyes shifted from Nine, to Shadow, and then back. Shadow wanted to say something. No...needed to. But she couldn’t. If she spoke...if she told Kyren it was really her, yes he would believe it. She could see it in his eyes or feel it through the Force or something...she simply knew it, and that was all that mattered. But if she tried anything, Nine would kill her before she had a chance. Anything including using the Force...Nine would be looking for that. No, was looking for that.
Which meant all Shadow could do was look in his eyes, hope, and trust him to make the right choice. Shadow hated feeling so helpless.
The hand that held the sword shook very slightly and Kyren glanced down for a half second before looking back up blankly at the two Marix’s faces. Almost identical, save for a scar on the one in the front and a deep set look of focus and probably insanity in the eyes of the other. But what did that mean? Did Kyren really know who Marix was in the first place? She had always been so distant...closed and hidden away. And they said that Tam-Day-U were dangerous and usually insane. Perhaps both of these were...but...no! One of them was his Marix. But which? Both had told him about how horrible and evil the other was. Both had said the same things...but the one in the back...she...she was different. She had protected him, comforted him, and even loved him. Everything he had always wanted and dreamed of.
Everything.
Or was it everything?
Both Nine and Shadow saw the moment in Kyren’s eyes when he had made the decision. His face went from blank to focused and ready. Neither of them moved, though. It was impossible to tell where his mind had gone. And then he charged forward.
It only took a couple of steps before Kyren reached them. His feet came to a stop an arm’s length from Shadow, the sword pulled back and ready to thrust forward. But suddenly his foot caught her’s, sending Shadow out of Nine’s grip and to the hard dirt below. Nine took a step back, pulling away and glancing off to the side as if smiling at an unseen holorecorder. Obviously, she assumed that Kyren meant to execute Shadow the old fashioned way.
But Nine had not caught the short glance Kyren made to Shadow just before. In that one look, Shadow knew what he had decided. And a half second later, so did Nine. The knowledge came in the form of the sword, thrusting with lightning speed right through the center of her chest.
The clone’s eyes went wide, a gasp of pain and surprise escaping her mouth. To add insult to fatal injury, Kyren twisted the sword, digging through Nine’s insides and forcing them to attempt to remorph on their own. Through the pain, however, Nine reached up and grabbed the sword. With an obvious last act of strength, she ripped the sword out of her chest and then out of Kyren’s hand. Blue blood streaming own her chest and body slowly remorphing while turning the deadly silvery colour of the non-living metal, Nine pulled the sword around so that she now held the hilt.
There was an unearthly scream of rage that escaped Nine and before Kyren could react, the clone swung the sword. It cut across Kyren from left shoulder to right hip, digging in deep and nearly taking his arm off in the process. He did not make a noise.
And then the metallic sheen spreading over Nine’s body encased her anger-filled face and the entirety of her body. The sword left its place in her hand, dropping to the ground right next to the now blood covered Shadow. Nine’s body hit the ground a second later with a thud. A third impact came when Kyren collapsed.
Shadow looked over to Nine, then immediately back to her other side where Kyren had fallen. He was still breathing, even gasping for air silently. Frantically, Shadow scrambled over to him...then she saw how deep the wound really was.
A familiar smile found its way onto Kyren’s face and he slowly reached up with the arm he could still feel to rest a hand on Shadow’s cheek. Very quietly, he said, “I love you, Marix.”
Shadow knew what that meant. In fact, she knew every meaning of it...both the words and of what was about to happen next. She had seen enough holodramas back as a smuggler to know what it meant. A panic actually raced across her and she tried to lift up Kyren’s head and find some sign of life in his open, blank eyes, “Please no, Kyren...”
But he didn’t say anything. He couldn’t. Shadow bit her lip as she stared down at the lifeless body, fighting back something she had experienced maybe only once before. Tears. The fight lasted for a long five minutes, but Shadow was never going to win it. After leaning down and resting her forehead against his, Shadow took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
She didn’t want to move. She didn’t want to, but knew she had to. Enough of her family had died already, and she wasn’t about to lose another. Jyren was going to need her.
That did not, however, take precedence over the moment. Or the return of that odd feeling from the Capital again. This time, though, somehow despite the pain and sadness that filled the air, Shadow realized what it was. If it had been any other time, she would have smiled. But now she couldn’t. So instead, she nodded to herself and stood up, picking up Kyren’s body as she did so.
Turning back towards Hermes and ignoring Nine’s corpse, Shadow headed to the small Kanyak. When she reached the ship, Hermes allowed her in but quickly developed the same inability to speak, think, or do anything upon realizing that Kyren was no longer alive. Shadow silently walked to the cockpit and placed Kyren down in his old seat, even strapping him in over the long wound.
She idly fixed his hair, then sighed and looked up to the ship’s ceiling, “Hermes...take Kyren back. Make sure he gets the full honour he deserves for his actions.”
There was the mental equivalent of a nod from the ship. There was silence a moment before Hermes picked up on a hidden meaning in what Shadow had said. [You are not coming with us...me?]
Shadow bit her lip again at the ship’s misstep. She felt exactly the same. But Shadow shook her head, “No, I’m not, Hermes.”
[But how will you leave here without me...?] Hermes asked slowly, obviously extremely concerned with the lives of all the Alraxians he knew now.
After another deep breath, Shadow patted Hermes’ hull, “Your brother is here.”
If Hermes could have smiled, he would have. It was one piece of good news that the ship needed badly, and something that would spread to the rest of the Empire to help the situation. [Loki.]
There was an odd moment of silence and inaction in the clearing. The only sounds that could be clearly heard were the breathing of the three Alraxians. Shadow’s was the only one calm, strangely enough. On the back of her neck, she could feel the angry, half-growled breaths of Nine as she stared across at Kyren.
He had gotten about a meter away from the two of them, sword ready to thrust out at Shadow’s torso, but then had suddenly stopped. The hatred that had marred his face from before had been replaced by a blank, emotionless stare. And yet, somehow, he looked confused. Or maybe it was that he felt confused. Sometimes, especially when in such a critical moment, Shadow forgot the difference between the two.
“Kill her!” Nine snapped suddenly, causing Shadow’s left ear to twitch violently and bend down slightly. But Shadow didn’t give a single glance back to Nine.
The clone was holding Shadow’s wrist behind her back with one arm and the other arm was at Shadow’s neck...claws extended just enough to show that it would be a bad idea to struggle. Shadow knew this tactic well enough...it had been a favorite of hers for a very long time. The reason was simple. Struggle and die. Even Alraxians couldn’t survive if their throat was torn out.
But Kyren stayed in place. His blank eyes shifted from Nine, to Shadow, and then back. Shadow wanted to say something. No...needed to. But she couldn’t. If she spoke...if she told Kyren it was really her, yes he would believe it. She could see it in his eyes or feel it through the Force or something...she simply knew it, and that was all that mattered. But if she tried anything, Nine would kill her before she had a chance. Anything including using the Force...Nine would be looking for that. No, was looking for that.
Which meant all Shadow could do was look in his eyes, hope, and trust him to make the right choice. Shadow hated feeling so helpless.
The hand that held the sword shook very slightly and Kyren glanced down for a half second before looking back up blankly at the two Marix’s faces. Almost identical, save for a scar on the one in the front and a deep set look of focus and probably insanity in the eyes of the other. But what did that mean? Did Kyren really know who Marix was in the first place? She had always been so distant...closed and hidden away. And they said that Tam-Day-U were dangerous and usually insane. Perhaps both of these were...but...no! One of them was his Marix. But which? Both had told him about how horrible and evil the other was. Both had said the same things...but the one in the back...she...she was different. She had protected him, comforted him, and even loved him. Everything he had always wanted and dreamed of.
Everything.
Or was it everything?
Both Nine and Shadow saw the moment in Kyren’s eyes when he had made the decision. His face went from blank to focused and ready. Neither of them moved, though. It was impossible to tell where his mind had gone. And then he charged forward.
It only took a couple of steps before Kyren reached them. His feet came to a stop an arm’s length from Shadow, the sword pulled back and ready to thrust forward. But suddenly his foot caught her’s, sending Shadow out of Nine’s grip and to the hard dirt below. Nine took a step back, pulling away and glancing off to the side as if smiling at an unseen holorecorder. Obviously, she assumed that Kyren meant to execute Shadow the old fashioned way.
But Nine had not caught the short glance Kyren made to Shadow just before. In that one look, Shadow knew what he had decided. And a half second later, so did Nine. The knowledge came in the form of the sword, thrusting with lightning speed right through the center of her chest.
The clone’s eyes went wide, a gasp of pain and surprise escaping her mouth. To add insult to fatal injury, Kyren twisted the sword, digging through Nine’s insides and forcing them to attempt to remorph on their own. Through the pain, however, Nine reached up and grabbed the sword. With an obvious last act of strength, she ripped the sword out of her chest and then out of Kyren’s hand. Blue blood streaming own her chest and body slowly remorphing while turning the deadly silvery colour of the non-living metal, Nine pulled the sword around so that she now held the hilt.
There was an unearthly scream of rage that escaped Nine and before Kyren could react, the clone swung the sword. It cut across Kyren from left shoulder to right hip, digging in deep and nearly taking his arm off in the process. He did not make a noise.
And then the metallic sheen spreading over Nine’s body encased her anger-filled face and the entirety of her body. The sword left its place in her hand, dropping to the ground right next to the now blood covered Shadow. Nine’s body hit the ground a second later with a thud. A third impact came when Kyren collapsed.
Shadow looked over to Nine, then immediately back to her other side where Kyren had fallen. He was still breathing, even gasping for air silently. Frantically, Shadow scrambled over to him...then she saw how deep the wound really was.
A familiar smile found its way onto Kyren’s face and he slowly reached up with the arm he could still feel to rest a hand on Shadow’s cheek. Very quietly, he said, “I love you, Marix.”
Shadow knew what that meant. In fact, she knew every meaning of it...both the words and of what was about to happen next. She had seen enough holodramas back as a smuggler to know what it meant. A panic actually raced across her and she tried to lift up Kyren’s head and find some sign of life in his open, blank eyes, “Please no, Kyren...”
But he didn’t say anything. He couldn’t. Shadow bit her lip as she stared down at the lifeless body, fighting back something she had experienced maybe only once before. Tears. The fight lasted for a long five minutes, but Shadow was never going to win it. After leaning down and resting her forehead against his, Shadow took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
She didn’t want to move. She didn’t want to, but knew she had to. Enough of her family had died already, and she wasn’t about to lose another. Jyren was going to need her.
That did not, however, take precedence over the moment. Or the return of that odd feeling from the Capital again. This time, though, somehow despite the pain and sadness that filled the air, Shadow realized what it was. If it had been any other time, she would have smiled. But now she couldn’t. So instead, she nodded to herself and stood up, picking up Kyren’s body as she did so.
Turning back towards Hermes and ignoring Nine’s corpse, Shadow headed to the small Kanyak. When she reached the ship, Hermes allowed her in but quickly developed the same inability to speak, think, or do anything upon realizing that Kyren was no longer alive. Shadow silently walked to the cockpit and placed Kyren down in his old seat, even strapping him in over the long wound.
She idly fixed his hair, then sighed and looked up to the ship’s ceiling, “Hermes...take Kyren back. Make sure he gets the full honour he deserves for his actions.”
There was the mental equivalent of a nod from the ship. There was silence a moment before Hermes picked up on a hidden meaning in what Shadow had said. [You are not coming with us...me?]
Shadow bit her lip again at the ship’s misstep. She felt exactly the same. But Shadow shook her head, “No, I’m not, Hermes.”
[But how will you leave here without me...?] Hermes asked slowly, obviously extremely concerned with the lives of all the Alraxians he knew now.
After another deep breath, Shadow patted Hermes’ hull, “Your brother is here.”
If Hermes could have smiled, he would have. It was one piece of good news that the ship needed badly, and something that would spread to the rest of the Empire to help the situation. [Loki.]
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Chapter 249: An Old Friend
As usual, Shadow was right. Having two lightsabers proved to be an extremely helpful asset when dealing with the war droids. Since they couldn’t actually block the energy blades, Jyren just had to hack at the metal droids until they stopped reforming. Usually that meant taking off the head...but Jyren was always careful and decided to take as many limbs as possible, too.
The Knights had, thankfully, backed off. It gave Jyren the room to really swing the lightsabers without having to keep part of his attention on not cutting something. And in a matter of minutes, the mass of war droids that the Knights had been attempted to hold back were filling the corridor in five times as many pieces as they arrived in. Overall, Jyren wasn’t going to complain.
Instinctively, Jyren shut off the lightsabers. So that he’d have a free hand, he clipped Shadow’s back onto his belt as he walked over to the five remaining Knights. Stepping in front of him, he pointed back down the corridor and asked, “Have you seen Halpak?”
The Knights stared blankly at him. After a pause, they looked to each other and spoke in Alraxian quickly. In it, Jyren heard at least one word he recognized...the Alraxian word for Emperor, except with the usual ‘la’ he’d been used to hearing on the end of it. Then the one in front of him turned and spoke a series of words that made absolutely not sense at all to him.
Jyren sighed. Typical, “You don’t understand Basic, do you?”
Another blank silence. Then Jyren thought about it and remembered their term for Basic and tried again, “Trade. Do you speak Trade?! Does anyone speak Trade in this damned place?”
Silence. The one in front of Jyren turned to a Knight next to him and ran of another series of what Jyren assumed to be words. Then the Knight turned back to Jyren and pointed to a break in the corridor that went right. Not completely sure of what was going on, Jyren decided he didn’t have much of a choice. So he shrugged, motioned that direction, and waited for the Knights to lead the way.
The six of them rounded the corner and then followed the long, identical hallway for two minutes before reaching another turn. They continued on until reaching a nondescript door(admittedly, all the doors were nondescript in the palace). When it irised open, Jyren looked in to see a large chamber like the dining hall...except there was no sign of any furniture. Instead, there was a countless number of Alraxians. Some armed with swords and wearing armor, definitely Knights, but most looked to be the usual civilian attendants that lived in the palace. There was also a large group of children, most of whom Jyren recognized...a fact which scared him on at least one level.
All eyes turned on him as the Knights led him to the larger group of Knights. The situation was...well, Jyren hoped it was explained. All he could tell was that the Knights he was with started talking with the others. For all he knew, they were discussing the best way to polish their armor. And considering just how polished most of it looked...they were experts.
After a few more moments in which Jyren started to grow self conscious, one of the Knights, who looked to be an authoritative type, motioned off into the crowd of Alraxians. A few Knights then charged off in, and Jyren shared an awkward silence with the other Knights...none of whom could understand a word he said. It was amazing how that could make the silence worse.
Then, finally, the other Knights returned from the crowd. At first, Jyren was relieved, feeling that they had at least found someone who could understand and do some translation. They had. And the second Jyren saw who, he decided that these Knights really could understand him and were just out to kill him.
The soft violet haired figure of Kato smiled in that annoying as hell smile and nodded to Jyren. The lead Knight was saying something to her, so her attention was, thankfully, not on Jyren. That changed. When the Knight had finished, Kato’s eyes shifted to Jyren, again doing that predatory examination of him that was impossibly unnerving before speaking in her usual silky voice, “Apparently, I am the only one here who can speak Trade well enough to understand you.”
“How wonderful,” Jyren grumbled, rolling his eyes and resisting the urge to harm Kato, “I need to know if they’ve seen Ket Halpak.”
Kato smiled to him again and opened her mouth to say something, but the glare in Jyren’s eyes, thankfully, shut her up. Instead, she turned to the Knights and spoke for a short time. The Knight had a long response for ‘no’...or at least, Jyren assumed it would be ‘no’. It was his luck, at least.
“The palace says there is an Alraxian two levels up,” Kato reported to Jyren, idly taking a small step forward and putting herself far too close to him.
He quickly reached up and pushed her back two steps, “Don’t try it. Especially not now. Tell them I need a group to go with me to get Ket.”
A hurt look passed over Kato’s face and she suddenly looked like Tobias did when he didn’t get his way. Somehow, this didn’t surprise Jyren. Slowly, she turned to the Knight and relayed the information. When this was done, it didn’t take long for Jyren to have a group of ten Knights ready to go with him. The others, a large majority thankfully, would stay here and keep the civilians as safe as possible. The palace was, thankfully, not relaying any information to Ket and so he would have to be doing his searching the old fashioned way.
At least that was something.
But when things were ready and the eleven of them started to leave the room, Jyren realized that he was getting in far more over his head than was necessary. He had no form of communication with these Knights. In this kind of situation, that would definitely be a bad thing.
So he made a choice, “Kato! Come here!”
He’d spoken in just the right way. It only took a short moment before Kato was, quite definitely, right there. She also had an odd expression on her face and was giving off an equally odd feeling through the Force. Jyren didn’t care. Roughly, he grabbed her wrist and smiled, “You’re coming, too.”
Before she could protest, Jyren led the way and literally dragged her along.
As usual, Shadow was right. Having two lightsabers proved to be an extremely helpful asset when dealing with the war droids. Since they couldn’t actually block the energy blades, Jyren just had to hack at the metal droids until they stopped reforming. Usually that meant taking off the head...but Jyren was always careful and decided to take as many limbs as possible, too.
The Knights had, thankfully, backed off. It gave Jyren the room to really swing the lightsabers without having to keep part of his attention on not cutting something. And in a matter of minutes, the mass of war droids that the Knights had been attempted to hold back were filling the corridor in five times as many pieces as they arrived in. Overall, Jyren wasn’t going to complain.
Instinctively, Jyren shut off the lightsabers. So that he’d have a free hand, he clipped Shadow’s back onto his belt as he walked over to the five remaining Knights. Stepping in front of him, he pointed back down the corridor and asked, “Have you seen Halpak?”
The Knights stared blankly at him. After a pause, they looked to each other and spoke in Alraxian quickly. In it, Jyren heard at least one word he recognized...the Alraxian word for Emperor, except with the usual ‘la’ he’d been used to hearing on the end of it. Then the one in front of him turned and spoke a series of words that made absolutely not sense at all to him.
Jyren sighed. Typical, “You don’t understand Basic, do you?”
Another blank silence. Then Jyren thought about it and remembered their term for Basic and tried again, “Trade. Do you speak Trade?! Does anyone speak Trade in this damned place?”
Silence. The one in front of Jyren turned to a Knight next to him and ran of another series of what Jyren assumed to be words. Then the Knight turned back to Jyren and pointed to a break in the corridor that went right. Not completely sure of what was going on, Jyren decided he didn’t have much of a choice. So he shrugged, motioned that direction, and waited for the Knights to lead the way.
The six of them rounded the corner and then followed the long, identical hallway for two minutes before reaching another turn. They continued on until reaching a nondescript door(admittedly, all the doors were nondescript in the palace). When it irised open, Jyren looked in to see a large chamber like the dining hall...except there was no sign of any furniture. Instead, there was a countless number of Alraxians. Some armed with swords and wearing armor, definitely Knights, but most looked to be the usual civilian attendants that lived in the palace. There was also a large group of children, most of whom Jyren recognized...a fact which scared him on at least one level.
All eyes turned on him as the Knights led him to the larger group of Knights. The situation was...well, Jyren hoped it was explained. All he could tell was that the Knights he was with started talking with the others. For all he knew, they were discussing the best way to polish their armor. And considering just how polished most of it looked...they were experts.
After a few more moments in which Jyren started to grow self conscious, one of the Knights, who looked to be an authoritative type, motioned off into the crowd of Alraxians. A few Knights then charged off in, and Jyren shared an awkward silence with the other Knights...none of whom could understand a word he said. It was amazing how that could make the silence worse.
Then, finally, the other Knights returned from the crowd. At first, Jyren was relieved, feeling that they had at least found someone who could understand and do some translation. They had. And the second Jyren saw who, he decided that these Knights really could understand him and were just out to kill him.
The soft violet haired figure of Kato smiled in that annoying as hell smile and nodded to Jyren. The lead Knight was saying something to her, so her attention was, thankfully, not on Jyren. That changed. When the Knight had finished, Kato’s eyes shifted to Jyren, again doing that predatory examination of him that was impossibly unnerving before speaking in her usual silky voice, “Apparently, I am the only one here who can speak Trade well enough to understand you.”
“How wonderful,” Jyren grumbled, rolling his eyes and resisting the urge to harm Kato, “I need to know if they’ve seen Ket Halpak.”
Kato smiled to him again and opened her mouth to say something, but the glare in Jyren’s eyes, thankfully, shut her up. Instead, she turned to the Knights and spoke for a short time. The Knight had a long response for ‘no’...or at least, Jyren assumed it would be ‘no’. It was his luck, at least.
“The palace says there is an Alraxian two levels up,” Kato reported to Jyren, idly taking a small step forward and putting herself far too close to him.
He quickly reached up and pushed her back two steps, “Don’t try it. Especially not now. Tell them I need a group to go with me to get Ket.”
A hurt look passed over Kato’s face and she suddenly looked like Tobias did when he didn’t get his way. Somehow, this didn’t surprise Jyren. Slowly, she turned to the Knight and relayed the information. When this was done, it didn’t take long for Jyren to have a group of ten Knights ready to go with him. The others, a large majority thankfully, would stay here and keep the civilians as safe as possible. The palace was, thankfully, not relaying any information to Ket and so he would have to be doing his searching the old fashioned way.
At least that was something.
But when things were ready and the eleven of them started to leave the room, Jyren realized that he was getting in far more over his head than was necessary. He had no form of communication with these Knights. In this kind of situation, that would definitely be a bad thing.
So he made a choice, “Kato! Come here!”
He’d spoken in just the right way. It only took a short moment before Kato was, quite definitely, right there. She also had an odd expression on her face and was giving off an equally odd feeling through the Force. Jyren didn’t care. Roughly, he grabbed her wrist and smiled, “You’re coming, too.”
Before she could protest, Jyren led the way and literally dragged her along.
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Chapter 250: Blue Walls
There was a definite change in atmosphere when Jyren and the Knights(with Kato in tow, of course) arrived on the next level up. The cream white colours were now etched with black scorch marks and blue smears that were easily recognizable as Alraxian blood. But one didn’t need to see the blood to know Alraxian’s had been slaughtered. The hallways were literally filled with the bodies, all in various states of mutilation but none looking to have had a quick or painless end. Here and there, the armored corpse of a Knight could be spotted, but that was almost as rare as the metal of a lost war droid limb. There were no dead husks of metal to show that the war droids had been taken down.
Kato had been sick.
Twice.
In all honesty, Jyren couldn’t really blame her. Even though he was used to death, this was something completely different. His eyes did their best to simply glance over the carnage, not wanting to focus on any of them at all, especially the many smaller bodies that were undoubtedly children. But the visible pain was not all their was.
Through the Force, Jyren could feel an air of pain permeating through the entire building. The palace itself hurt. Biting his lip and thinking quickly, Jyren took a glance down the corridor to make sure that nothing was coming before stepping back to Kato and kneeling next to where she was crouched behind a couple of the Knights.
Getting her attention, he asked, “I need to know what Ket would be doing to hurt the Palace...and why, if anyone has any ideas.”
Kato nodded in that slow, distant nod of someone confronting death for the first time. Slowly, she relayed his request to the Knights. It took another couple of minutes as the Knights thought about it before he got a response.
“He could be extracting information from the Palace,” Kato translated slowly, “They said he tried the same thing on the Capital but the building there wasn’t strong enough to survive.”
Jyren didn’t like the sound of that. Ket was treating the palace like a prisoner. Extract information violently, and if it dies...oh well. He probably planned to kill the palace in the end, anyway. But why extract information from it in the first place?
That was something Jyren didn’t need to ask about. The palace was...older than old. Thousands and thousands of years of knowledge and information collected right here. Ket was not stupid. He wasn’t going to just destroy an important resource. One thing that was comforting was that Jyren found that Ket seemed to be thinking like...well, a human. Whatever had happened to Ket, his outlook on life and how to do things was something Jyren could relate to and understand...to a point at least. The whole reasons for all of this were still a blur for him. It was yet to all add up, and Jyren couldn’t help but feel like it never would.
But that didn’t change the fact that Ket was killing innocent people by the thousands. No matter what was planned, that alone meant he deserved a swift justice. Jyren took a deep breath after that thought. Something was innately wrong with it, and for some reason he couldn’t pinpoint just exactly why. It wasn’t evil to kill someone in a situation like this...was it? He sighed as he got to his feet again. The Force had been so simple when he’d simply used it here and there and didn’t have to worry about what was right or wrong. But maybe that had been the problem all along. Even if the Alraxians were right about the lack of a Dark Side, Jyren was slowly starting to come to the point of no longer wanting to risk that fact and find out the truth the hard way.
One of the Knights said something to him. When Kato started to translate it, Jyren waved her off, “I know what he said...and we’re going.”
After a deep, calming breath, Jyren stepped back to the front of the group and led the way down the hallway. All the while he allowed the Force to guide him, but at the same time was doing his best to block out the intense pain and death he could both feel and see. He had to focus through it. They all had to. The Knights seemed to be doing about as well as he was. On the edge, yes, but holding together and focusing on where they needed to go. At least he wasn’t alone.
The group turned left at the end of the hallway to find no end to the carnage. In fact, it was arguably worse. Gripping his lightsaber a little tighter in his hand, Jyren stepped over the bodies and continued on. Ket was close. Very close. But there was something else. A lingering danger. A trap, definitely. Even knowing it was there, though, wouldn’t stop it from springing and possibly killing the whole lot of them.
A door opened. The only way Jyren noticed it was through the corner of his eye as the things made no noise at all. Immediately, he spun around to see it was between him and the Knights. No...the door wasn’t. The two droids that quite literally jumped out were. The snap-hiss of his lightsaber was echoed by a cry of pain from one of the Knights as a metal blade dug through his neck.
Jyren’s lightsaber went up by instinct, slicing in half a blade aimed at his face. Instead of cutting him, he got a good smack from the flat end of the ruined weapon. The pain was, thankfully, much more tolerable than losing one’s face. The next few moments were a blur for him. Jyren did not so much see as he did feel. The next thing he realized, two war droids were down and so were three of the five Knights.
The remainder of them stood in silence when the adrenaline rush faded, but it was one of the Knights who was the first to look into the still open door. Jyren leaned over to look, too, finding it to be a larger looking chamber. There were a few interestingly designed columns here and there, but the point that got all of their attention was a central cube-like structure about twice Jyren’s height and made of an odd, semi-translucent blue material that reminded him of crystals.
“One of the central um...brains for the palace,” Kato said quietly from about two meters away, translating something the taller of the two remaining Knights said.
Jyren nodded. No surprise there. After a quick thought, he looked to Kato and pointed back the way they’d came, “Get back to the others.”
Kato nodded slowly, a wide-eyed terror very apparent on her face. It took her a strangely long time to scramble up over the bodies and up to her feet before she made the same awkward escape down the hallway. Jyren sighed and looked to the two Knights. They both nodded, holding similar expressions to his own. They all knew what was likely to be found in there, and they didn’t need words anymore.
Lightsaber still bathing them in a soft blue-green light, Jyren stepped into the room, eyes and ears alert.
There was a definite change in atmosphere when Jyren and the Knights(with Kato in tow, of course) arrived on the next level up. The cream white colours were now etched with black scorch marks and blue smears that were easily recognizable as Alraxian blood. But one didn’t need to see the blood to know Alraxian’s had been slaughtered. The hallways were literally filled with the bodies, all in various states of mutilation but none looking to have had a quick or painless end. Here and there, the armored corpse of a Knight could be spotted, but that was almost as rare as the metal of a lost war droid limb. There were no dead husks of metal to show that the war droids had been taken down.
Kato had been sick.
Twice.
In all honesty, Jyren couldn’t really blame her. Even though he was used to death, this was something completely different. His eyes did their best to simply glance over the carnage, not wanting to focus on any of them at all, especially the many smaller bodies that were undoubtedly children. But the visible pain was not all their was.
Through the Force, Jyren could feel an air of pain permeating through the entire building. The palace itself hurt. Biting his lip and thinking quickly, Jyren took a glance down the corridor to make sure that nothing was coming before stepping back to Kato and kneeling next to where she was crouched behind a couple of the Knights.
Getting her attention, he asked, “I need to know what Ket would be doing to hurt the Palace...and why, if anyone has any ideas.”
Kato nodded in that slow, distant nod of someone confronting death for the first time. Slowly, she relayed his request to the Knights. It took another couple of minutes as the Knights thought about it before he got a response.
“He could be extracting information from the Palace,” Kato translated slowly, “They said he tried the same thing on the Capital but the building there wasn’t strong enough to survive.”
Jyren didn’t like the sound of that. Ket was treating the palace like a prisoner. Extract information violently, and if it dies...oh well. He probably planned to kill the palace in the end, anyway. But why extract information from it in the first place?
That was something Jyren didn’t need to ask about. The palace was...older than old. Thousands and thousands of years of knowledge and information collected right here. Ket was not stupid. He wasn’t going to just destroy an important resource. One thing that was comforting was that Jyren found that Ket seemed to be thinking like...well, a human. Whatever had happened to Ket, his outlook on life and how to do things was something Jyren could relate to and understand...to a point at least. The whole reasons for all of this were still a blur for him. It was yet to all add up, and Jyren couldn’t help but feel like it never would.
But that didn’t change the fact that Ket was killing innocent people by the thousands. No matter what was planned, that alone meant he deserved a swift justice. Jyren took a deep breath after that thought. Something was innately wrong with it, and for some reason he couldn’t pinpoint just exactly why. It wasn’t evil to kill someone in a situation like this...was it? He sighed as he got to his feet again. The Force had been so simple when he’d simply used it here and there and didn’t have to worry about what was right or wrong. But maybe that had been the problem all along. Even if the Alraxians were right about the lack of a Dark Side, Jyren was slowly starting to come to the point of no longer wanting to risk that fact and find out the truth the hard way.
One of the Knights said something to him. When Kato started to translate it, Jyren waved her off, “I know what he said...and we’re going.”
After a deep, calming breath, Jyren stepped back to the front of the group and led the way down the hallway. All the while he allowed the Force to guide him, but at the same time was doing his best to block out the intense pain and death he could both feel and see. He had to focus through it. They all had to. The Knights seemed to be doing about as well as he was. On the edge, yes, but holding together and focusing on where they needed to go. At least he wasn’t alone.
The group turned left at the end of the hallway to find no end to the carnage. In fact, it was arguably worse. Gripping his lightsaber a little tighter in his hand, Jyren stepped over the bodies and continued on. Ket was close. Very close. But there was something else. A lingering danger. A trap, definitely. Even knowing it was there, though, wouldn’t stop it from springing and possibly killing the whole lot of them.
A door opened. The only way Jyren noticed it was through the corner of his eye as the things made no noise at all. Immediately, he spun around to see it was between him and the Knights. No...the door wasn’t. The two droids that quite literally jumped out were. The snap-hiss of his lightsaber was echoed by a cry of pain from one of the Knights as a metal blade dug through his neck.
Jyren’s lightsaber went up by instinct, slicing in half a blade aimed at his face. Instead of cutting him, he got a good smack from the flat end of the ruined weapon. The pain was, thankfully, much more tolerable than losing one’s face. The next few moments were a blur for him. Jyren did not so much see as he did feel. The next thing he realized, two war droids were down and so were three of the five Knights.
The remainder of them stood in silence when the adrenaline rush faded, but it was one of the Knights who was the first to look into the still open door. Jyren leaned over to look, too, finding it to be a larger looking chamber. There were a few interestingly designed columns here and there, but the point that got all of their attention was a central cube-like structure about twice Jyren’s height and made of an odd, semi-translucent blue material that reminded him of crystals.
“One of the central um...brains for the palace,” Kato said quietly from about two meters away, translating something the taller of the two remaining Knights said.
Jyren nodded. No surprise there. After a quick thought, he looked to Kato and pointed back the way they’d came, “Get back to the others.”
Kato nodded slowly, a wide-eyed terror very apparent on her face. It took her a strangely long time to scramble up over the bodies and up to her feet before she made the same awkward escape down the hallway. Jyren sighed and looked to the two Knights. They both nodded, holding similar expressions to his own. They all knew what was likely to be found in there, and they didn’t need words anymore.
Lightsaber still bathing them in a soft blue-green light, Jyren stepped into the room, eyes and ears alert.
Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Chapter 251: The Trap
It was one of those times where one had to wonder if everything was actually real. Maybe this was just a dream...it had been a thing for the pilots to laugh and watch cheesy holodramas so much that maybe Jyren was just dreaming this place. Really, it couldn’t be true, could it? The whole set up looked like something out of every single one of the bad ones...and they were rarely any good.
Not only was there that large, alien looking crystal in the center, but behind it in the round room(of course it was round, somehow that made it dramatic) was an opening to a large balcony outside. Jyren stood just inside the room, not even caring about Ket for the moment. Instead, he looked from the scene to the two Knights with him and gave them looks of disbelief. Unsurprisingly, they did not understand. So Jyren quickly gave up trying and looked around, both with his eyes and the Force...any second now...
“Yes, it is a bit cliched, isn’t it?” the familiar voice of Ket Halpak echoed through the room from an indistinct point. Ah, so that was why all these kind of encounters always happened in round rooms. One mystery solved, at least.
Jyren, of course, cheated and reached out with the Force to locate the other Alraxian. It took a half second and, again not surprisingly, the Alraxian was somewhere on the other side of that large, semi-translucent crystal. A darker blob that Jyren had assumed to be something inside of it moved and Ket stepped out casually on the other side.
The Alraxian managed a weak shrug, “I expected Marix.”
“I missed you, too,” Jyren grumbled under his breath, quickly noting that Ket was holding a sword eerily similar to the one that had caused so much trouble back on the Capital not very long ago.
“I believe this is when I tell you exactly what’s going on, you tell me how horrible I am, and then we fight, yes?” Ket suggested with a few idle steps forward. Jyren couldn’t help but notice the two Knights were at a complete loss as to what was going on. Just to be safe, he glanced to them both and held an arm in front of them to keep the back.
Turning back to Ket, Jyren shrugged, “That’s how I remember these things always working.”
“Then you wouldn’t mind a change of pace?” Ket said, a hint of a smile creeping onto his face this time. He paused a moment but held up a hand to stop Jyren from saying anything. The fact that it worked amazed even Jyren, “I’d prefer we skip the first parts and get straight to what we’re both here for?”
There was much, much more in that than was on the surface, and Jyren picked up on it right away. A slow realization crept onto his face, “You didn’t expect Marix. You came here to wait for me.”
While he did smile, Ket shook his head, “I believe I suggested we skip the section where I explain things.”
Why Jyren nodded was beyond him. Ket wasn’t a fool. This was too much in the open to be anymore than a simple trap just for Jyren...or Marix, really, but why would she be anywhere but where Nine was? And so Ket had staged one attack to put things in chaos, and then a second just to get Jyren. After that...did it really matter? With Jyren gone, so was Shadow and that was pretty much it for defense of the Empire. It was so simple when the pieces were put together that Ket didn’t even need to explain it all.
And now it was too late to turn back. The one time Shadow had actually let him go off and do his Jedi heroics was the one time she should have stopped him. It suddenly put into question just whether Jyren could handle Ket on his own. At first, sure he’d figured the tail-less Alraxian would be a challenge but still able to be dealt with. Now though...Ket had set all this up to separate him from Shadow. The two of them were stronger together. And while Nine was at least close to Shadow’s level, that was still beyond Jyren and he knew it. Jyren simply had the disadvantage of less experience. Ket was, from the looks of things, even more dangerous.
The worst part was that Ket was still just standing there, that damned grin on his face as he let Jyren work things out on his own. There was no way this had been all set up if Ket had any shred of confidence that Jyren would be a challenge for him. And, considering everything, he looked to be right. Jyren looked from the still thrumming lightsaber in his hand and then to the two Knights.
After a deep breath, he pointed back to the exit and motion with both his head and, inadvertently, his tail. It took pressing, but the Knights left the room and headed back the other direction. They didn’t need to see Jyren in this kind of situation. They had enough trouble to deal with than see his confidence completely sapped.
Turning back, Jyren looked to Ket and took yet another deep breath, “Lets get this over with.”
Ket smiled, nodded, and charged.
((Short update due to a major writing exam I've got to take in about ten minutes...sorry guys.))
It was one of those times where one had to wonder if everything was actually real. Maybe this was just a dream...it had been a thing for the pilots to laugh and watch cheesy holodramas so much that maybe Jyren was just dreaming this place. Really, it couldn’t be true, could it? The whole set up looked like something out of every single one of the bad ones...and they were rarely any good.
Not only was there that large, alien looking crystal in the center, but behind it in the round room(of course it was round, somehow that made it dramatic) was an opening to a large balcony outside. Jyren stood just inside the room, not even caring about Ket for the moment. Instead, he looked from the scene to the two Knights with him and gave them looks of disbelief. Unsurprisingly, they did not understand. So Jyren quickly gave up trying and looked around, both with his eyes and the Force...any second now...
“Yes, it is a bit cliched, isn’t it?” the familiar voice of Ket Halpak echoed through the room from an indistinct point. Ah, so that was why all these kind of encounters always happened in round rooms. One mystery solved, at least.
Jyren, of course, cheated and reached out with the Force to locate the other Alraxian. It took a half second and, again not surprisingly, the Alraxian was somewhere on the other side of that large, semi-translucent crystal. A darker blob that Jyren had assumed to be something inside of it moved and Ket stepped out casually on the other side.
The Alraxian managed a weak shrug, “I expected Marix.”
“I missed you, too,” Jyren grumbled under his breath, quickly noting that Ket was holding a sword eerily similar to the one that had caused so much trouble back on the Capital not very long ago.
“I believe this is when I tell you exactly what’s going on, you tell me how horrible I am, and then we fight, yes?” Ket suggested with a few idle steps forward. Jyren couldn’t help but notice the two Knights were at a complete loss as to what was going on. Just to be safe, he glanced to them both and held an arm in front of them to keep the back.
Turning back to Ket, Jyren shrugged, “That’s how I remember these things always working.”
“Then you wouldn’t mind a change of pace?” Ket said, a hint of a smile creeping onto his face this time. He paused a moment but held up a hand to stop Jyren from saying anything. The fact that it worked amazed even Jyren, “I’d prefer we skip the first parts and get straight to what we’re both here for?”
There was much, much more in that than was on the surface, and Jyren picked up on it right away. A slow realization crept onto his face, “You didn’t expect Marix. You came here to wait for me.”
While he did smile, Ket shook his head, “I believe I suggested we skip the section where I explain things.”
Why Jyren nodded was beyond him. Ket wasn’t a fool. This was too much in the open to be anymore than a simple trap just for Jyren...or Marix, really, but why would she be anywhere but where Nine was? And so Ket had staged one attack to put things in chaos, and then a second just to get Jyren. After that...did it really matter? With Jyren gone, so was Shadow and that was pretty much it for defense of the Empire. It was so simple when the pieces were put together that Ket didn’t even need to explain it all.
And now it was too late to turn back. The one time Shadow had actually let him go off and do his Jedi heroics was the one time she should have stopped him. It suddenly put into question just whether Jyren could handle Ket on his own. At first, sure he’d figured the tail-less Alraxian would be a challenge but still able to be dealt with. Now though...Ket had set all this up to separate him from Shadow. The two of them were stronger together. And while Nine was at least close to Shadow’s level, that was still beyond Jyren and he knew it. Jyren simply had the disadvantage of less experience. Ket was, from the looks of things, even more dangerous.
The worst part was that Ket was still just standing there, that damned grin on his face as he let Jyren work things out on his own. There was no way this had been all set up if Ket had any shred of confidence that Jyren would be a challenge for him. And, considering everything, he looked to be right. Jyren looked from the still thrumming lightsaber in his hand and then to the two Knights.
After a deep breath, he pointed back to the exit and motion with both his head and, inadvertently, his tail. It took pressing, but the Knights left the room and headed back the other direction. They didn’t need to see Jyren in this kind of situation. They had enough trouble to deal with than see his confidence completely sapped.
Turning back, Jyren looked to Ket and took yet another deep breath, “Lets get this over with.”
Ket smiled, nodded, and charged.
((Short update due to a major writing exam I've got to take in about ten minutes...sorry guys.))