Star Wars: Heroes of Another Kind

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 395: Suggestions

Marix sighed.

Of course this wouldn’t go well. She had known from the start it would be difficult...but still, somehow, it managed to give her a terrible headache. It didn’t particularly help that all of the vocal disagreement was being directed solely at her. This was, apparently, what she got for being direct.

“If we do not act, we’re showing weakness and they won’t hesitate to take more planets,” she said in a stern, but still calm voice, despite the reactions she was getting.

There were eleven others sitting around the table in the open-aired room. One for each of the different species living in the Empire. It had been a sound and logical idea at the time that the council would have one for each, plus the Empress, but sound ideas rarely worked out exactly as planned. All of the other species were just like the Alraxians...quiet and liked to keep to themselves. The Empire held well because of it, as everyone within did their best to keep it strong, and as one, they ignored the outside galaxy.

The hope had been to bring in alternative viewpoints to get a good idea of things...but that had failed miserably. The Empire truly was united, even if it wasn’t exactly in the best way.

“But the planets are uninhabited, my lady,” it was the human representative, a young woman named Huen, that was the first to respond after Marix had managed to get them all quiet again.

“Exactly,” Marix tried not to show her frustration, “Test the waters in a safe place before you dive in.”

Arelin, the Jendari that had greeted her on arrival to the planet, nodded, “The Jendari agree that action must be taken to protect the Empire.”

Any other responses were silenced by that one statement. All eyes turned to the avian Jendari, who sat off to the side, his large eyes idly looking forward at nothing in particular. After a few moments, the others began looking around to each other, keeping silent but taking in the situation as best as was possible. The Jendari were a wise people, and everyone respected them. It was interesting that Arelin normally kept quiet at these council meetings, and perhaps the reason was shown right then.

When the Jendari spoke, everyone listened. The very idea of what Marix had been suggesting, retaking the planets from the Mrrakesh, was shocking to all of them. The arguments were all against it and were quite heated considering that, when the council was first formed, Marix had found it difficult to get anyone to speak their mind. They were just so used to the Empress making decisions on her own that it had been surprising to have such a strong voice all of a sudden. But Arelin had never spoken up unless all the others had said their pieces...except for now.

If the Jendari agreed that something had to be done, then perhaps something truly needed to be done.

The uneasy silence did not last long, however. Sitting next to Marix was Jyren’s father, the Alraxian representative on the council, and he turned to face her, asking loud enough to make sure everyone listened to the response, “My lady...what are you suggesting we do?”

* * * *​

“I’m suggesting that there’s a lot more going on here than just some Peace Brigade cell!” Jyren growled. He was currently cornered by a pair of Fleet Marines and a real member of New Republic Intelligence.

“And so you lied about your identity to get in this building?” the Intelligence man, who was half bald and a little too short for his own good, raised an eyebrow, “Not to mention disturbing the scene of an investigation.”

Running a hand through his hair, Jyren tried not to punch the man, “And, in the process, I found something you didn’t. Sounds to me like you’re just angry some idiot starfighter jockey did your job better than you could.”

“Explosives didn’t break down that door, Captain,” the response was filled with anger and venom, but nothing like Marix could manage and so, Jyren barely noticed it, “We tried everything we had on hand.”

“And I got it open,” Jyren made sure to put as much arrogance and pride into his voice as he could manage without being sick.

“Sir,” one of the Fleet Marines, a Twi’lek male that was about Jyren’s height, cut in, “Because of the discovery of the Vong, the Admiral will not be taking any action against you.”

Jyren repressed a smile.

More and more, he was starting to like the Admiral.

The Intelligence officer shot a quick glance over his shoulder to the marine before pointed a finger at Jyren, “But don’t make this a habit.”

He then turned, and left.

The Fleet Marines didn’t.

Once they were left alone in what was left of a communications room, the Twi’lek holstered his blaster rifle and adopted a more casual stance, “He was worse when the cleanup started.”

“Hard to imagine that.”

“You’d be amazed, sir,” the second marine, a young man from Kuat, if Jyren remember correctly, raised his helmet slightly, “Also, Commodore Nok sends his congratulations on a successful survey.”

Now allowing himself to smile, Jyren nodded. The entire fleet was behind him. Well, no, they were behind the Zephyrs. It was not unique to just the one squadron, of course, but it was a bit stronger since the name had gotten around a great deal after Agamar. It also helped, in this particular case, that Jyren knew these two marines. A fact that was probably not known by the Intelligence officer.

“If they’re done with the questioning, would you mind taking my son back up to the ship?” Jyren asked. These were two of the marines that rotated shifts...guarding Tobias. Truthfully, they were really meant to make sure he didn’t wander off, but that wasn’t anything that bothered Jyren.

“Yes, sir,” the Kuati man nodded. There was a series of weak salutes that were only done for formalities’ sake, and the two marines left.

Jyren sighed and looked down at the computer console off to his side. It was damaged and, by the time he’d got to it, the marines and the Intelligence man had found him. He had managed to ask if any information had been gathered from the consoles, but he had been brushed off. Which meant something had been learned. Which, to Jyren, was a good thing...even if he didn’t get to see things.

But it wasn’t time to leave just yet.

“Excuse me, sir.”

Jyren looked up to see Loro step into the room, and Rea poking her head around the corner carefully. Jyren motioned for them to come in, and decided to just skip the question and get straight to the answer, “We’re not going to be able to poke around here unnoticed anymore.”

Rea stepped into the room completely and asked, “So we’re heading back?”

“Not yet,” he shook his head and stood up straight, “There’s still something I need to check on down here.”

“You mean ‘we’?” Loro asked after a moment.

That got a sigh from Jyren. He didn’t like the idea of the two of them coming with him. It was going to bring up a lot of questions that needed to be avoided. But he couldn’t send them back without raising too many questions. Which meant, “Sorry...yes. Something we need to check on down here.”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Just an update...

No, I'm still alive. But the new semester has started and its taken a bit to get settled in and such. However, things are good now and I'm into a schedule that's working well.

This means, of course, that updates should be getting back to some sense of normal by tomorrow.

 

[Angcuru]

Huzzah!

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 396: One Step Forward

Names were things that Marix had grown up learning as unnecessary. Or, at least, not for her or her ‘kind’. Because of this, then, it was not surprising that many times, Marix simply did not pay names any attention. It was the reason she did not know the name of the planet hanging in space in front of her, despite having been to it more than once. In fact, it was where she had taken Jyren not long before the twins were born as an escape from the general chaos of the Palace on Alraxia.

But even without a name, she knew the planet. It was on the edge of Alraxian space, and only inhabited by small, generally harmless creatures. Unlike Alraxia, it was not forested and had very little oceans. Instead, it was mountainous and dotted with a small number of rivers and lakes near the equator, where most of the native life survived.

From this distance, it was impossible to see the Mrrakesh, but Marix knew they were there. She could feel them...a heavy veil in the distance, making it difficult to see beyond. Shaking her head, she looked down at the various lights and objects in Loki’s cockpit and asked, “Still no response?”

[They are ignoring us.] the ship answered, a hint of a sigh(or whatever a Kanyak considered a sigh) at the end of that.

It was not surprising, though. They had sat there for over an hour, transmitting a simple, unencrypted signal to the planet and waiting for some kind of response. The fact that the Mrrakesh were obviously ignoring something as simple as that was not a good sign. In their own space, they had a habit of treating outsiders this way, but Marix refused to accept that this was, in fact, their space now.

“Are you sure they’re getting it?” she asked yet again, not really wanting to move beyond this point but knowing it was going to have to be done very soon.

[Absolutely.] Loki couldn’t nod, but the feeling was there. [There are two warships in orbit easily within range to detect both us and the signal...they are simply ignoring us.]

It had now been long past the time that had been originally planned on to wait. Marix wasn’t going to be able to hold this position any longer and just watch the blank nothing in front of her. A heavy sigh escaped her and she ran a hand through her hair, getting a few loose strands of it out of her face as she tried to think. She was glad Jyren wasn’t here for this. That would have been one more distraction that she didn’t need right now...

...but this wasn’t like previous times. Jyren wasn’t all that was on her mind. The twins were safe back on Alraxia in the Palace, but unlike everything else, she simply could not find a way to thrust them from her thoughts. They just hung there, getting in the way of what she needed to do in the form of worries that never in her life had she expected to encounter. There was no way Marix could find to just put them out of her mind, or at least bury the thoughts as she was able to do with Jyren when it was necessary.

And so, Marix decided, she would just have to find a way to survive with them.

“Send a message to the Knights,” she said quietly, “Tell them to make their way here immediately.”

* * * *​

“There’s something here,” Jyren stated firmly as the three of them stood in the middle of the street off in the outskirts of the main city on Obroa-Skai.

The Mon Calamari, Loro, gave him a sideways glance before saying, “It is an unmarked residence...but yes, I expect there is something here.”

“Something important,” Jyren grumbled, already tired of trying to hide the fact that he was allowing the Force to guide him from these two.

On his others side, his Twi’lek wingmate wrinkled her nose, “And you know this...how? We’ve been wandering in circles following nothing for half an hour.”

Jyren turned to give her a look he’d learned from Marix, then said flatly, “And now we’ve found something. Just trust me.”

The last part had been repeated so many times now that Jyren was beginning to sound like a broken holorecorder. However, every time he said it, the two of them went quiet. At least Tobias had gone back to the ship in orbit without much of a fight.

But without allowing this to go any farther, Jyren stepped up the couple of steps to the door and hit the small button to its side. For a long moment, they just stood there looking awkward, but soon the door slid open with a soft hiss to reveal a human female roughly Jyren’s age. Her hair was pulled back and she was wearing the kind of clothes that one would expect from someone who did a great deal of work...however, her features showed none of the details that would confirm that.

She looked confused for a half second after the door opened, but even the other two pilots caught the sudden change in her expression afterwards. However, the two of them didn’t know why. Jyren did.

“Afternoon,” Jyren nodded his head politely, “We are part of the New Republic Intelligence and are following up some leads...would you mind answering a few questions?”

“Of course,” she spoke with a thick Coruscanti accent, and motioned for them to come in before leading them to a very small room with a few minimal pieces of furniture. Both Loro and Rea were not foolish enough to ignore how odd all of this was. She was being too cooperative and a little too helpful without asking any questions at all. Something was up.

When they’d sat down, the two younger pilots got another surprise, as Jyren leaned forward to look the woman in the eyes and got straight to the point that neither of them knew was coming, “What were you doing in that Peace Brigade cell earlier today?”

“What are you talking about?” she was a good liar.

“Please, its been a long day and I’m not in the mood for games,” Jyern shook his head, “I know you were there. You left a trail leading here easy enough for a kowokian monkey lizard to follow. And that,” Jyren pointed to a small, hand-sized cylindrical object that was ‘decorating’ a nearby table, “Is not very well disguised.”

For a long time, there was nothing but the silence that the shock of his direct questions had brought up. But then, the woman sighed and hung her head before looking back up at Jyren and grumbling, “Those were for Master Skywalker to follow, not whoever the hell you are.”

“Well I found them,” Jyren snapped, “And I’m here, and I need to know what is going on here.”

“And why, exactly, should I trust anything you say?” that question seemed to be more of a default one to ask rather than something that actually needed to be spoken out loud.

And because of it, one more thing was added to confuse the two non-humans in the room when Jyren said, “You know you can. You wouldn’t have let us in if you didn’t. And, as far as I know, Skywalker isn’t anywhere near this planet, so I wouldn’t be expecting any help from him if that’s what you were hoping for. You’re stuck with what you can get, and that’s us. So I suggest you tell us what the New Republic wasn’t able to figure out and why you hid that Vong’s body in the storage room.”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 397: Two Steps Back

The stunned silence that hung in the small room where Jyren, Rea, Loro, and the currently-unnamed human woman sat was most definitely not a comfortable one. Rea and Loro were completely lost, wondering if Jyren was even more out of his mind than they’re originally thought...and the woman...she was...unreadable. In fact, so was Jyren. That was the most unsettling part about the entire time after he’d gone quiet.

But eventually, it went away, when the woman said quietly, “You’re Jedi.”

“No,” Jyren’s voice was just as firm as before, a trick he’d picked up after being around Tobias so long. It worked extremely well with...well...anything, “But we found the trail you left behind, and now we’re here. What is going on here?”

There was another silence, but this one didn’t last nearly as long. It seemed as if she was going through the last few motions of trying to understand if she really could trust any of them. However, something definitely won out, as her shoulders slumped slightly and she said in the same quiet voice as before, “The Vong found something nearby. A system or something like that. The Peace Brigade had some kind of records of whatever it was, but it was destroyed in the raid.”

“What about the dead Vong?” Jyren asked, adopting a more helpful tone and doing his best to exude a sense of calm through the Force, “What was a Yuuzhan Vong doing here?”

“I...I’m not really sure...” she mumbled, sighing and shaking her head. While the woman was definitely the age that Jyren should have been(he tried not to think about that too much, as it had a way of causing headaches), Jyren couldn’t help thinking of her as much younger. But maybe that was mostly his fault, and so he tried not to push too hard as she trailed off, simply trying a helpful nudge through the Force. After a bit, she shrugged and looked to the other two in the room, “They have to know about the libraries here...about all the information. Maybe...maybe the Vong was here to find more information?”

It was a fairly logical thought...but rarely did logic dictate Vong actions, and so, it was bothering Jyren greatly, “What is your name?”

The sudden change had a way of shaking things up...but Jyren had meant it to alleviate tension and get as much information as he could. Something here was very wrong, he could feel it. He was sure of it. After quickly recovering from the sudden change, she managed an answer, “Venda.”

Jyren nodded, and motioned to the two very-confused pilots with him, “This is Rea and Loro. My name is Jyren. We’re a part of Starfighter Command and we arrived just a matter of hours ago with the defense fleet...we aren’t here to get in the way of any Jedi business. We just want to help...the same as you.”

“Starfighter Command?” Venda mumble, obviously going over it herself, before giving him a confused look, “But you’re a—“

”I’m a pilot,” he cut her off quickly, not wanting her to even suggest the next part and, honestly, knowing it wasn’t necessary. He was a pilot. And that was all that was important. But, while she obviously didn’t accept that completely, Venda held back anything else, allowing Jyren to push back to the first subject, “You know more about what was going on here, Venda...don’t you? You wouldn’t have left a trail here if you didn’t have something to tell that you didn’t want broadcasted across the Holonet. I know we aren’t who or what you expected, but we can help...we need to know what you found out.”

The woman let out another sigh but this one was coupled with the slightest of nods. She took a few moments in which Jyren could feel she was putting together a lot of chaos in her mind, and then, looked up again and spoke in a much calmer voice, “I infiltrated the Peace Brigade cell...that’s why I was there during the raid. It was hard enough getting in, considering they kill Jedi on sight. But I earned their trust, and I was able to keep just on the edge enough to stay out of view of the Vong. They’re just puppets of the Vong...they don’t realize it...or maybe they do and they simply don’t care, but the Vong are using them.”

She paused a moment, letting the information sink in. While it was suspected that there was a deeper connection than just sympathizers, a true, deep connection between the Peace Brigade and the Yuuzhan Vong was a dangerous thought that had remained in the world of people with unfocused imaginations.

“The Shaper...” Venda paused a moment and shook her head, “The Vong arrived two local days ago to coordinate some kind of information gathering. She was a Shaper...whatever that means. Her Basic was sketchy, but I was able to listen in on her orders to the leaders of the cell. She was looking for information in the Great Library here...information on a planet or a system or something like that near the Imperial Remnant. The only details she expressed was something about a scout group finding evidence of a large power in the Unknown Regions,” she shrugged and shook her head, “Obviously, there’s nothing in any kind of detail about the Unknown Regions. If there was, they wouldn’t be unknown. So that’s all I know.”

There was something in that which was causing Jyren’s stomach to turn. The uneasiness was growing considerably, and he still couldn’t pinpoint why. Quickly, he scrambled into a pocket in his jacket and produced a datapad, as he was bringing up some information, he said quickly, “If I can bring up a map of the galaxy can you show me where?”

Venda nodded, leaning forward to try to look at the datapad, “I think so. The Shaper spent a lot of time looking at maps while she was here. I managed to get a glimpse or two of where she was looking.”

In the time it took for all of that to be said, Jyren was able to bring up a rather crude holo of the galaxy on his datapad. The Core Worlds were green, the Mid Rim blue, and the Outer Rim orange. He tilted it down so that the Jedi woman could see it more clearly, and then waited. When she placed a finger on the screen to indicate the location, Jyren felt his heart skip a beat.

Nearly snatching it back to look more carefully, and putting the pieces together, himself, his head shot up and he couldn’t help the sudden hint of panic that shot across his face, “You’re sure?”

“I think so,” she said, trailing off and then asking, “What’s wrong? You feel...terrified.”

“Are you alright, Captain?” Loro spoke up from his side, leaning in to get a look at the map, himself, but having no trouble seeing the distress on Jyren’s face.

Rea was doing the same on the other side of him, leaning in and asking, “What’s there?”

Jyren’s mouth opened and closed a few times as he tried to find a way to dig himself out of this. But there wasn’t a way. Now, not only did both Rea and Loro have a lot of suspicions about Jyren, but this Jedi here was also able to see his reaction to where she’d pointed...where nothing should have been, but everything was. And to make it all the worse, the Vong knew where the Gate was...they could get to Alraxia...they even sounded interested in it...

A beep from his belt caused Jyren to jump just slightly. He immediately dropped the datapad onto the floor and grabbed the comlink, switching it on and asking a little too quickly, “What?!”

The voice that came back was that of Rulae Nok, “Captain, we need you three back up here now. A large Yuuzhan Vong force has just arrived in the system.”

And now that.

“We’re on our way,” Jyren got to his feet immediately, pocketing the comlink and ignoring the datapad on the ground. Rea and Loro got up just as quickly, still concerned about Jyren but knowing where they needed to be. Even Venda got to her feet, heading for the lightsaber that was a ‘decoration’ on a side table as the other three quickly headed for the exit.

Jyren stopped as the other two headed out into the street and turned to face the woman, “I need you to come with me.”

She had just finished hooking the lightsaber to her belt when she reached him. Of course, she had to ignore that and say something else entirely, “They don’t know you’re a Jedi, do they?”

“I’m not a Jedi,” he said firmly, not wanting to get into this again, “And they don’t even need to hear you suggest that. Do you understand?”

Venda just shook her head, “You bury yourself like no one I’ve ever encountered.”

He tried to ignore that, and instead asked, “Are you coming or not?”

“Lead the way.”

He did.

But when they exited the small building to meet Rea and Loro in the street, they were greeted by the two of them staring up into the sky. Of course, that meant both Jyren and Venda’s heads went up, too.

“I think they arrived in system earlier than just now,” Rea mumbled.

The usually clear sky of Obroa-Skai was pocketed with asteroid-like objects careening down. Red and green turbolaser fire could be seen arcing up towards the rocks, but nearly all of it was absorbed by the dovin basals aboard each of the Vong ships.

The Mon Calamari looked to Jyren first, “Its not going to be easy to get up there in a shuttle craft with the Vong already landing.”

If the Vong were already landing, the planet was already lost.

But Jyren didn’t say that.

Instead, he looked to the others, then said simply, “Then it won’t be easy.”

And then he broke into a spring towards the docking port, with the three others right behind.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

As you can tell, updates are going to be a bit erratic for a bit. This is mainly because I'm loaded down with the requirement to do tons of sketches a night. So, obviously, that takes priority.

However, wanted to peek in here and let you guys know that I AM going to do something I'd mentioned before the crash a few months ago. It may take a bit, but I'm going to compile a list of all the music and such that either goes with the story at points, or just fits the characters, etc. Once its together, I'll post the list with song name, etc etc...it'll be EXTREMELY random, though, as there's so much that has gotten things going that I just stick to certain scenes and such.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 398: Diving In

A wave of Kanyak was not something normally seen. Alraxian space was safe enough that one could normally travel alone with little difficulty. And so, even to Marix, the sight of a thirty of the ships of various sizes darting straight towards the planet in front of them was like nothing ever seen. But that wasn’t actually holding her attention for the moment. Her eyes, and all her other sense, were focused the nothern edge of the planet where two Mrrakesh battle cruisers were approaching them. The metal sheen of the ships was easily visible thanks to the system’s nearby blue star, and it was obvious how alien the ships were compared to the living Kanyaks. Not to mention four times their size.

“We need to move faster,” Marix said, her hands on the control yoke despite the fact that Loki was taking a direct course straight for the planet.

[Thirty seconds before the Mrrakesh are close enough to fire.] Loki announced, a hint of nervousness in his voice. Kanyak had thick hulls and some even had very unique shields that were unlike anything in the rest of the galaxy due to being integrated with an actual lifeform, but Mrrakesh weapons were extremely powerful. In the few instances of a fight between the two ships, the Kanyaks rarely survived. Their sole advantage was in speed.

Eyes darting down to the sensor board, Marix focused on the Network and sent a simple message to the other pilots and their ships. [Everything to the drive systems. Head straight for the camps that have set up on the surface.]

‘Camps’ was not the right word. In fact, what was really down there was another of the cruisers that a small series of encampments had been built up around. The other planet in the system that the Mrrakesh had taken was likely occupied in the same way.

As they darted for the planet below, the group of ships pulled in closer together, forming a much tighter group in the process. It was not necessarily the best of plans to avoid any fire from the Mrrakesh, but it was a habit of Kanyak when they traveled in groups to stay close to one another. There was only so much that could be done to counteract that instinct.

And then there was a flash off to the side. Marix’s eyes shot up to see a bright green beam fly straight from the cruisers towards them...but it hit nothing. Instead, it passed a good distance in front of them.

[A warning shot.] Loki announced.

Marix shook her head, “Mrrakesh don’t fire warning shots.”

Yet another thing that just plain didn’t add up. By now it was starting to make her angry, but Marix held that down and kept her focus.

She glanced over to the side again to see the small shining spots where the cruisers were as the planet grew to encompass the entire viewport, “Why isn’t the second ship coming up behind us?”

Again, something else that didn’t fit. Surround and destroy. They Kanyaks were close enough to the planet that it would be very difficult to escape at all if they were cut off from behind, and the Mrrakesh had to know that...yet both of the cruisers were simply coming towards them.

[They’re firing again.]

Loki spoke up before Marix caught the flash. The green beam lanced towards them, and suddenly there was a violent shock of pain that wracked through the Force. The Network immediately explained, as one of the outer ships had taken a hit to its wing. The pilot and others aboard were alive, but the Kanyak had been knocked unconscious from the violence of the impact. This meant the pilot was doing his best to control a half-dead ship.

One down.

It wasn’t long before there was another flash, but this one came from the surface directly below them. Another green lance shot up, just barely streaking over Loki and hitting one of the rear ships directly on its nose. There was another violent shock through the Force, and then a sudden nothingness.

Two down.

With the Kanyaks entering the atmosphere and charging straight down towards the surface, the fire from the three cruisers was intensifying. Beam after beam of green energy shot out towards the formation of Kanyaks from their left flank and directly ahead. Again and again, a Kanyak was hit...only two survived direct hits.

With only twenty Kanyaks left, the cruiser on the ground was visible. By now, the two in orbit could not fire without risking hitting their ally, and the formation of Kanyaks had come so close to the surface that the remaining ship on the ground could not fire accurately at all.

The Network did all the work of coordinating the remaining ships movements, and so no call was needed when they reached a very low point to the surface. All of a sudden, the formation broke up and pulled up, dispersing in various directions around the still-firing cruiser beneath them. They were headed for the ground now, surrounding the grounded ship and finding safe, guarded places on the surface to set down.

Loki was one of the first to set down on the planet, wedged beneath a small rock outcropping just north of the large Mrrakesh cruiser. As he was setting down, Marix was already out of the cockpit and headed for the hatch. She wore the light armour that she had always carried with her as a Tam’Day’U, with a short, metal blade at her hip and her lightsaber hidden in a small pocket on her leg.

The hatch opened to a hot, dry air that Marix ignored and immediately stepped out into, her eyes darting along the immediate area as her ears, nose, and Force senses checked for any sign of an ambush. There was none, so she started up around the hill that led out and to where the cruiser was landed. On the way there, she caught sight of a group of five other Tam’Day’U who had landed nearby. All were similarly equipped and moving like she was, low to the ground but extremely fast. There were a few Knights among the landing groups, and they were distinguishable only by the weapons they carried...short blades much like the Tam’Day’U, but crafted of a hardened crystal from Alraxia that was not nearly as dangerous to them as metal was.

And so, from all sides, the Tam’Day’U and the Knight approached. The twenty ships that had made it to the ground meant there were sixty three Alraxians on the ground. The ship they were all approaching easily held three times that many Mrrakesh, who, individually, were easily a match for even the strongest Tam’Day’U. And they had no element of surprise here. This, at least, was planned for.

Marix and ten others would be heading to find the leader that would most definitely be on the ground. Alive or dead, dealing with him was currently the best option in driving the Mrrakesh away. And with the ship on the ground, it was likely he was near the bridge watching and coordinating the efforts to stop this attack. It meant finding him would not be nearly as hard as getting to him.

But that would, hopefully, be made easier by the remainder of the ground force who carried explosives and other devices designed to act as a major distraction. They simply had to hold the majority of the Mrrakesh away from the bridge until the leader was dealt with. Easier said than done, but it was something all of them, Knights, Tam’Day’U, and Empress, were determined to make happen.

They had no other choice.

If this didn’t work...what was to stop the Mrrakesh from taking other planets?

So, as quickly and carefully as they could, the Alraxians approached the grounded cruiser that was being fortified and prepared for an attack every second it took them to arrive.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Sorry for the lack of updates lately...but for some reason I'm just not feeling it for the moment. Trying to get through this, as I can't seem to get a damned sketch down on paper, either.

Going to push a little harder this week and TRY to get something down. Just one of those weeks, it seems.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 399: Regrets to Come

Flames engulfed most of the city by the time that Jyren and the others got anywhere near the docking bays. Not moments earlier, waves of tear-dropped shaped Coralskippers broke through the minimal defenses of the planet and performed a series of random, but very destructive, strafing runs. It had been hard to tell, then, what exactly had been hit beyond random buildings...but now it was obvious.

“I think we have a problem,” the Mon Calamari pilot, Loro, said flatly as they stared at the mostly destroyed series of docking bays that were concentrated in the area of the city they had taken a long five minutes to run to.

They all exchanged a series of quick glances, and it was Venda who spoke up, “The other port is on the north edge of the city...” as she trailed off, she caught on to the fact that they were all staring at her, then clarified, “A ten minute walk on a good day.”

Rea sighed and shook her head, resting a hand on her blue forehead, “So an hour today. Wonderful.”

Jyren had only considered trying to check the other port for a few short moments. This ended when his eyes glanced up to see more of the rock-like ships coming down and littering the entire sky. He shook his head, “We don’t have time for that. This planet is lost and we need to get out of here now.”

There was a silent agreement on this, and all eyes turned to what was left of the docking bays. It was about that time, conveniently enough, that four very large, very well armoured Yuuzhan Vong rounded the corner right in front of them.

They stopped short when they caught sight of the four others, and Jyren took that moment to step in front of the rest and say, “Find a ship and get off this rock. I’ll keep their attention.”

Any and all arguments to that were silenced when Jyren withdrew a small object from his jacket’s inside pocket. Though he knew, if he survived this, that he was going to regret this, Jyren eyed the four Vong, who were now starting towards them, and thumbed the activation switch on his lightsaber.

Snap-hiss!

The noise alone caused another slowing by the Vong, their eyes locking onto the bright, blue-green blade immediately. One of them growled something that Jyren couldn’t undersand, and in another second the four Vong were charging at him, amphistaff’s rigid like giant staves.

“This is the part where you run, dammit!” Jyren growled over his shoulder. It was all he had time for. And, unlike every other fight he’d been in, the Force wasn’t screaming at him to move. Thankfully, Jyren was expecting this and his eyes and ears were doing their jobs.

In a quick motion, he dropped to the ground and rolled to his left, barely dodging both a vertical and a horizontal slash of two amphistaff. As he came up into a crouching position, he whipped his lightsaber around and slashed at one the nearest warrior. There was a grunt of pain as the blade cut through the armour at his ankle and found the skin beneath. It was enough to throw the warrior off balance and to the ground, putting him out of the fight for maybe ten seconds.

The long sweep of Jyren’s blade ended just above his head, catching another vertical slice at him, and parrying away the amphistaff meant to cleave him in two. While delivering a strong kick to the Vong’s stomach to throw the warrior back a few steps and give Jyren room, he caught sight of Venda, Rea, and Loro running past towards the docking bays.

Finally.

But it wasn’t going to be that easy, apparently.

Just as the kicked warrior charged in for another violent series of strikes and the injured one got off of the ground and came for Jyren’s flank, the two remaining warriors turned and headed for the fleeing trio.

That was typical.

The minor distraction that provided meant that Jyren’s felt a sudden, sharp pain across his right shoulder. He spun away to end the amphistaff’s blade from going any deeper, backing up and parrying two more fast strikes meant to carve him to pieces.

This was not a fight he was going to win.

Resisting the urge to remorph the wound and simply ignoring it for the moment, Jyren took another two steps back, sidestepping a heavy swing from the first Vong and then using the Force to propel him over the two warriors. Jyren landed easily and started sprinting after the two others warriors as fast as he could, calling on the Force both to help him ignore the pain and give strength to his legs. Realizing he wasn’t going to catch them and knowing that the other three were being smart enough not to turn and fight and instead simply run for it, Jyren decided on an alternate course of action.

One good thing about the heavy attacks on the city was that there was debris everywhere. While it made running somewhat difficult, it also provided Jyren with a series of very heavy, very lethal weapons. Reaching out with the Force, Jyren found a rather large piece of rubble and took a mental hold of it. Then, with all of his ‘strength’ he hurled it at the two Vong in between him and the other three.

This was much easier said than done...as, normally, the Force could be used to aim the projectile, also. In this case, however, the Vong were simply not there according to the Force, and so, Jyren had to aim with his eyes and throw with the Force...something very awkward and unlike anything he was used to.

Perhaps that was why the thud of the human-sized piece of duracrete hitting the two Vong and flinging them to the ground felt so damn good. The heavy noise also caused the other three to turn around and see Jyren catching up to them. But they stopped when they turned, with both Rea and Loro drawing their blaster pistols finally and waving at Jyren to move.

He didn’t risk glancing behind him, and instead ducked as low as he could while still running to give them clear shots. A series of blaster bolts shot straight over him, some close enough that Jyren could smell the ozone burn in the air, and it wasn’t long before he heard two more thuds. At that time, he stood up straight and managed a glance back to see the other two Vong were down, unmoving.

By now, he’d caught up to the others, two of whom were staring at him in disbelief. The human woman, Venda, however, was giving him a very cautious look. Jyren simply ignored it and looked to the two pilots, still somewhat out of breath, “This is no time for what both of you are about to say so keep it sealed,” he shook his head then pointed to the docking bay facilities in front of them with his lightsaber, “We’re not out of this yet.”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 400: Getting Worse

Only four of them remained.

Marix looked over her shoulder a moment to the other three Alraxians who had survived their infiltration, if it could be called that, into the currently-grounded Mrrakesh ship. They were safe for the moment, though...hidden within a smaller air duct that was easy to climb and also very much ignored. It also helped that it was just the right size for an average Alraxian to fit into.

And so six, at least, were dead...leaving herself with a single Tam’Day’U and two Knights. The Knights were behind her, with the other Tam’Day”U, a nameless female with nondescript brown-black hair, brought up the rear. In silence, they were heading upwards as far as this would take them. The metal walls made the other three nervous, but it wasn’t so much that they could not go on...they were forced to touch it, and all had taken the ‘precaution’ of putting on gloves and boots over their light armour. All except for Marix, of course.

While they moved up and Marix put the image of the very violent deaths of the other six out of her mind, a vicious fight was going on outside. The distraction to get the ten inside. It was not going well...but it wasn’t truly meant to. But it did mean that Alraxians were out there dying when they didn’t even have to be anymore. They were in, and so the distraction was no longer necessary.

...but it would continue until they were out. The only way it would stop would be if all of the Alraxians outside were killed, which was, sadly, a distinct possibility considering the force of Mrrakesh that had met them outside.

These, too, Marix pushed aside, focusing on the moment. Trying to put her mind back into the old ways of thinking. Focus. Focus on the kill. But no...this wasn’t necessarily a kill but...yes. Focus on the kill. Ahead. Above....near.

The bridge was two more decks up, roughly midway into the ship and slightly off center of the bulky warship’s body. If all went well, and it probably hadn’t, there would be very little people there beyond whoever was in charge. Again, if all went well, the Mrrakesh had no idea at all that there were four Alraxians inside their ship. Their group had met the attack force outside, and the six had died outside...but so had the attackers...which meant Marix and the others had been able to slip through, hopefully, unnoticed.

And then they were at the top.

She made no signal at all, knowing that the Mrrakesh could easily detect them through the Force if they attempted any kind of communication through the Network. Thankfully, the others did not need signals. There were unspoken commands that were like instincts to even the Knights now.

In front of her face was a somewhat large panel that looked like it could be removed to exit the duct and into the actual ship itself. It was a risk, but Marix reached out very carefully through the Force before trying anything...

...empty.

Focusing on the moment, still, and not letting the feelings of the fighting outside get to her, she extended her claws and quietly cut the panel off. She pushed it out, and quickly followed, getting to her feet and finding herself actually on the bridge...that was a surprise.

Marix was near the back corner, shielded from view by a number of bulkheads and consoles, all of which had very sharp, slightly triangular, features to them. There was speaking and barking of orders in the Mrrakesh language ahead of her, and she very carefully risked a glance around the bulkhead she was now pressed against to get a better view of the situation.

The bridge itself was rectangular, with two sets of doors to Marix’s right, and a small viewport on the opposite wall that provided a somewhat limited view of the world outside. In between were consoles, all triangular, as were the chairs in front of them, and all a shiny, polished metal. The quick scan of the room showed four Mrrakesh. Two were sitting in chairs monitoring consoles, while two others were standing at the viewport looking out carefully.

It was not hard to identify the commander, as he wore a flat green uniform and was a head shorter than all of the others...who wore the normal Mrrakesh grey. Short...hmm...that was odd. He was about her size, actually, which was odd enough for a Mrrakesh in general, but especially for a commander. He would have been seen as weak and...hmm...something was odd about this.

By now, the two Knights had escaped the confines of the air duct and were next to her, tightly pressed to the wall and clinging crystalline weapons close and ready to move the second she did. And then, just as the Tam’Day’U was getting to her feet, the door next to them slid open with a loud hiss.

It was bad enough that the two Mrrakesh at the viewport turned to look...but the real problem was that three very large Mrrakesh soldiers stepped in, immediately seeing the four Alraxians who had snuck into the bridge. The lupine features of each of the soldiers curled into snarls and a sharp growl was elicited from one as he snatched for an energy weapon at his side.

He never got to it.

The Tam’Day’U with them swung her feet around, sending the Mrrakesh onto his back with a heavy thud before she bounded up to her own feet and landed on his throat, making a distinct twist as she landed to crush his windpipe. A half second later a powerful, clawed arm slammed into the Tam’Day’U, sending her into the opposite bulkhead with an immense amount of force.

Marix saw the girl’s head snap back and the streak of soft blue when the body went limp. Dead. Another dead...

And two more were trying to follow, apparently.

The Knights had taken the opportunity to take two quick steps to the door and attack the two remaining Mrrakesh soldiers. One managed to drive his blade through a weak point in the monstrous creature’s armor and then slid it across its chest, rupturing vital organs and creating more than one mortal wound...but this was answered by the Soldier firing his already-drawn weapon into the Knight’s stomach. Marix’s eyes saw the green pulse shake the Knight’s body before literally tearing through him and not only leaving a hole in the Alraxian, but a black mark on the bulkhead.

As the last remaining Knight grabbed the arm of the last of the Mrrakesh who had just entered, pushing its energy weapon to the side so that it couldn’t fire on either of them, Marix moved. Without time to draw her own weapon and seeing that the Mrrakesh soldier, who was nearly four meters tall, was about to simply tear the Knight’s arm off, Marix instead delivered a strong punch to the Mrrakesh’s nose.

It was stunned for a half second, long enough for the Knight to wrench the energy weapon out of the Mrrakesh’s hand. Not foolish enough to simply ignore this slight opening, Marix took the time to draw her small, metal blade, and drive it up through the underside of the Mrrakesh’s chin. If that didn’t kill it, nothing would.

The loud burst of sound from next to her indicated that the Knight had changed priorities, having turned the Mrrakesh’s own gun against them. One of the two seated Mrrakesh now had a very large, smoking mark across his face and was sprawled out on the deck unmoving. The other had drawn his own weapon and nearly squeezed off a shot, but Marix used the Force to violently launch him out of his chair and into the two others, only one of whom was actually drawing his own weapon.

The three Mrrakesh hit the deck together, all scrambling against one another to get back to their feet while two of them tried to fire their weapons at the two remaining Alraxians. But time seemed to stop for Marix...as she immediately noticed something that was very, very wrong.

When she had opened up herself to the Force to throw that Mrrakesh, she had only felt a one other Mrrakesh in the room...there should have been two. In fact, now, as they were standing in slow motion, the Force screamed at her that only two were standing, not three.

But her eyes told her something different...and according to them, the green uniformed commander was there, pushing to the side and not drawing an energy weapon, but a large Mrrakesh knife, which just happened to be a sword by most of the galaxies size standards.

By now, though, Marix knew exactly what the difference between her eyes and the Force meant...and it was a horrible, horrible thought. Something she didn’t want to be true but knew, right here and now, was.

A green pulse jolted her back into reality, and she dove forward and under it. Staying low, another pulse went over, hitting one of the two the Force told her was there and ending his short stint in this fight. Seeing the other taking aim at her, Marix flung her blade, using the Force to guide it. The metal weapon did not hit the Mrrakesh, but instead his gun, sending both weapons off to the side as the large Mrrakesh reeled back. It was enough time for the Knight to fire another shot to send the Mrrakesh sprawling.

And then the commander had reached her, swinging his weapon like she’d never seen a Mrrakesh swing one. She rolled to the left, reaching up with her arm to catch a backhanded swing from the short commander. Her arm hit his wrist, and she immediately twisted her hand around to grab his wrist, wrench the weapon from him, and then throw him hard onto his back.

That had been the intention at least.

Marix had only gotten as far as getting the weapon out of his hand, when the throw had been reversed, and she had been tossed into a nearby console to hit it hard at the same time as the pang of the metal knife hitting the ground off to the other side echoed through the room. The pain was short from her back, but before she had a chance to get to her feet and catch a very oddly placed strike that was coming towards her, another, final, pulse was fired, and the commander was flung to the side and then to the deckplates.

Silence took over.

Marix turned to look at the only remaining member of their infiltration team, and gave the Knight a simple nod. He half bowed before dropping the disgusting, metal weapon to the deck and then stepping over to her. He was not foolish enough to ask if she was alright.

Besides, she likely would not have heard him. The second she had remorphed the wounds from the fight, Marix stepped over to the commander of the Mrrakesh and rolled his body over. Very gently, she ran her hand up the back of his neck...then stopped.

There it was.

She shook her head and got to her feet, motioning to the Knight that it was time to transmit a retreat message to the Mrrakesh and then get off of the ship itself. As he did this, Marix’s mind reeled. There was a reason that Mrrakesh was short. It was a Vong. A Yuuzhan Vong...in a Mrrakesh suit. She’d seen human and Alraxian now...but Mrrakesh...attacking here...pushing the borders...

It was getting worse.