Star Wars: Heroes of Another Kind

[DethStryke]

That sounds great, I'm looking forward to it.

/seconded

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Sorry for lack of updates...busy as hell the last couple weeks.

However...I have finished the first four of those cast images I talked about. So, in place of the update that shuold be here...here's four big images(in the spoiler tags because of size AND because a few of these people might not be recognized yet ).

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[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 449: Grounded

The one thing that the Duros native language had the most in common with Basic was the sheer number of curses that it contained. Thousands of years of space travel added onto the older parts of the language only added to such a wide variety of choices when things didn’t go well. When an explosion rocked the corridor that Rulae Nok was charging down to get to the hangar, he decided it was time to utter one of those words...and he picked one that didn’t have any equivalent in Basic, and was definitely far more foul than most.

There was a reason he decided it was a necessary word, even if no one was around to hear it.

The explosion had been nearby, so much so that it had thrown him to the ground. He heard a loud, violent crashing noise and when he looked up, saw that the corridor itself had collapsed in a good five meters ahead of him. Light from Gyndine’s native star was now seeping into the corridor from the large, open hole in the ceiling that was now above a section of very large pieces of duracrete that were blocking the way to the hangar.

Not one to let things get in between him and a starfighter, Rulae got to his feet and ran to the rubble. His first attempt was to dig through it, but it proved to be both too heavy to move most of the pieces and too deep. The sparks from severed wires weren’t terribly comforting, either. So the Duros took the second option, and started to climb the debris to get out instead of turning and going back the way he’d come.

The second he started up, he was able to see the sky above. The grey-blue sky of Gyndine was now littered with hundreds of objects. Rulae could make out the teardrop shapes of Yuuzhan Vong Coralskippers, as well as various other flying-rock-like designs that looked to be larger and gave Rulae a bad feeling. Amongst the Vong ships were everything from TIE Fighters, to X-Wings, to A-Wings, and even a few E-Wings from the looks of it. All of this was ignoring the bright flashes of red-orange molten fire from the Vong ships and the bright lights of the other starfighter’s laser cannons that lit the sky up. And looking even farther up, Rulae could see the shapes of the defense fleet in orbit...the larger ships, at least. The fact that they were in such a tight orbit to be seen with the naked eye was not a comforting feeling to him.

A piece of duracrete moved under his booted foot and Rulae nearly slid down the jagged wall he was trying to climb. When he caught himself, he decided it was best to focus on the task in front of him rather than above him. He took a careful scan of the so-called ‘wall’ again and this time took more time in selecting foot and handholds to scale the few meters to get out of the corridor. It paid off, and in a matter of moments he was up and on top of the building’s roof...

...and looking straight at a huge blaze of fire at the end of the corridor he’d been following. The large building at the end was the hangar, and from the looks of it, had been quickly identified and targeted by the Vong. Despite the flames, though, Coralskippers continued to strafe the building, firing globs of molten something from their nose cannons and causing showers of liquified durasteel and duracete to shoot into the air.

So much for getting to his X-Wing.

For the first time, Rulae’s two red eyes looked down to the chaos he was hearing from that direction. The corridor he had been in was an enclosed bridge, of sorts, between the hangar and the main administration building and it was a good two stories above the ground level. In the street below, Rulae could see a mass of people moving in every direction they could...panicking, obviously.

He cursed again, then felt the roof of the corridor under him start to give way to his weight. Typical. Immediately, he moved closer to the hangar, looking back as the roof where he’d been in also collapsed. The section he was now on would likely go soon, too...the entire structure wasn’t going to last...and not only was Rulae stuck on top of it, but the street below had far too many people and if it fell, it wasn’t going to be pretty.

Thinking quickly, Rulae retrieved a grappling gun from his belt, glad that he was in at least half of his flightsuit, then tried to figure out how exactly he was going to get off of the building and then down before it all collapsed. No elegant solutions came to mind, especially since none of the buildings around him got much higher at all. Most of the solutions he came up with would mean him being splattered against a building’s wall, and that wasn’t exactly ideal. The other option was...was...

...was something that he figured Jyren would have been crazy enough to do.

But there wasn’t much choice left and he knew the corridor wouldn’t hold much longer, not with the hangar still being pounded by Coralskippers and some of the shots getting closer and closer. So with a tight grip on the grappling gun and making sure he wasn’t a complete fool, Rulae took a few steps back.

When he felt the roof giving way under his feet again, Rulae was left with no chioce. He got a quick, running start, then jumped off the corridor. As he jumped, he was spinning himself around while at the same time trying to find a sturdy spot to aim at. Considering he was falling very quickly, there wasn’t time for that...and so he just pulled the trigger and hoped. The cable shot out, digging into the duracrete. In a fraction of a second, the cable went taut and yanked hard on Rulae’s arm, forcing the gun out of his grip and dropping him into a fall.

Thankfully, two stories wasn’t far at all, and he’d taken most of the distance down already...and though it wasn’t his plan to land hard on the ground below, he did manage to tuck into a quick roll and only barrel into a few people in the process. His entire body hurt from hitting the ground, as he had still fallen a good five meters unexpectedly, but Rulae was scrambling to his feet as fast as he could, yelling, “Clear this area, everyone!”

Despite his yelling of this, not many people seemed to get exactly why. And it sure didn’t help that he heard cries from some members of the crowd to not listen to him. But that was about the time the corridor above decided it was enough, and finally crumbled under the pressure of the attacks. Rulae glanced up again, then yelled again for people to move while he, himself, bolted away from where he was and tried to push as many of the currently stunned people with him as possible.

He got a good distance before realizing there had been no loud crash behind him. Rulae stopped and spun around, immediately noticing that there were hundreds of pieces of the corridor just...floating there above the heads of the few stunned people not smart enough to get out of the way.

Rulae’s eyes scanned the area, and quickly say a young looking human with his arms outstretched and a look of concentration on his face. Rulae wasn’t an idiot, and connected the dots quickly...also noting that there were still people in the way.

Against his better judgement, Rulae turned and ran back, grabbing the people still under the now-floating pieces of duracrete and durasteel and moving them out of the way as fast as he could, while yelling at them the whole while to motivate others. In a matter of seconds, they seemed to all come to their senses and were out of the way.

At that, Rulae looked to the Jedi who was now just a few steps in front of him and said, “Its safe now...thank you.”

Before he got any response, the Jedi slowly lowered the pieces of the rubble, then, once it was down, nearly collapsed from what looked like exhaustion. Rulae stepped over to help him, but was pushed away, “I’m all right.”

Even though he was being pushed away, Rulae helped the young man up to his feet again. Once the Jedi was straightened, a renewed strength seemed to take hold of him, and he quickly seemed to notice the rank insignias on Rulae’s uniform, “Shouldn’t you be in the sky?”

“Shouldn’t you be finding another place to make a dramatic entrance?” Rulae asked, a hint of a simle on his large mouth.

The Jedi chuckled slightly then looked over his shoulder and down the street towards a section of the city that was ablaze just like the hangar was, “I have to go.”

Rulae nodded, reaching for his comlink to figure out where he would be needed now that he was grounded, “May the Force be with you, friend.”

Though the Jedi had already turned to leave, the words stopped him. He looked over his shoulder to Rulae and allowed a smile on his hardened features, “And with you, sir.”

Then he darted off through the crowd of people towards the flames.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 450: Another Planet, Another Seedy Tavern

“You’re kidding,” Marix shook her head, not able to believe what she’d just heard.

Jyren, standing next to the window he seemed to enjoy looking out of in their rather large room inside the Palace, managed a weak shrug, “I spent most of my time in the Core.”

The look that Marix was directing at him was the same one that she would use if he had told her that he was, in fact, a bantha. It took her a moment to gather her thoughts, but the best she could manage was, “Jedi boy’s never been to Ryloth...”

Catching that tone, Jyren rolled his eyes, “I’m sorry if I wasn’t involved in the seedier aspects of the galaxy.”

“Ansion is seedier and you know it,” she raised a finger at him to stifle any objections on that end. It was odd, she’d been telling him about a planet in the Alraxian Empire that was close to the galactic rim, almost beyond it, in fact. Off hand, she’d just mentioned that it was very similar to Ryloth, and then he’d ruined the moment by actually saying that he’d never been there before.

Marix sighed and looked out the viewport to the dull, brown planet beyond. It only filled a part of the viewport, but it was growing slowly.

[We’ve been cleared to land in Sarazine City.] Loki announced in a rather bored tone. Obviously, he liked it when they had to break in, as it were, rather than being allowed in.

“Lets hope this Hutt isn’t far away from there...” she said idly. The odds weren’t great, as all the underground cities were connected by various tunnel networks that were seemingly endless. It wasn’t hard to hide on Ryloth, honestly.

She closed her eyes again as Loki took them to their destination. Once they were down it was back to business. But until then...until then Marix found herself doing what she always yelled at Jyren for doing. Gripping to the past. After that conversation with Jyren about Ryloth, Marix had told him that the next time they were in the rest of the galaxy she would make sure to drag him to Ryloth and show him just how seedy it was...and maybe try to sell him off...

Marix sighed and opened her eyes again, glaring idly at a black clump of hair that was obstructing her vision for the moment. The Alraxian ideal of celebrating the dead was so much easier when it didn’t feel real...when it was believed. But, despite everything, Marix still couldn’t accept it. That very fact scared her a little, as she knew that was the thought pattern that had driven Jyren crazy for so many years.

But she wasn’t Jyren. There was still a great deal of control within Marix that he never had, and she was able to clamp down on stray thoughts and emotions with relative ease...it was just...sometimes...she just didn’t want to. That was the new element. A wanting. Before it was just done, but after the merge between Shadow and Marix, and after becoming an adult...and then...falling in love...she started to find that it really did cloud her judgement. And now, even without him, it was affecting her strongly...perhaps even more so than before.

With a great deal of work, Marix pushed the stray, distracting thoughts away yet again. She had more important things to deal with now, and getting distracted like she was would likely also get her killed. Or worse.

By now, Loki was skimming the rocky surface of Ryloth’s night side, where it was cold enough to kill an Alraxian in a matter of seconds. Of course, the other side of the planet, which was always facing the system’s star, wasn’t much more habitable, with heats high enough to be dangerous even to an Alraxian that would usually consider a tropical climate ‘a bit chilly’.

Because of these conditions on the surface of the planet, and the heat storms that had a way of scorching the day side, most of the settlements and cities were underground and near the slim temperate zone of Ryloth’s equator. The various mountain ranges of the planet provided adequate space for underground cities, and thousands of years of tunneling by the native Twi’leks also helped out a great deal.

Sarazine was nearer to the surface that some of the cities that were scattered across the planet, and it was situated towards the middle point between the night and day sides. Marix had been there once before, trying to pick up a shipment of spice with Max to sell somewhere else...though she never found out where, as, with most deals on the black market, it went bad fairly quickly when the sellers tried to kill them. Marix and Max had escaped without trouble, but they’d also left without the spice, so it was pretty much a failure.

Loki approached a large, open cavern that had its interior lined with durasteel, an obvious way to announce that there was a settlement below...but Serazine didn’t try to hide, anyway. The cavern’s entrance was huge, enough to fit four Lokis with relative ease. A series of blue lights guided Loki to the docking bay they’d been assigned, and in a matter of moments, he was down within the confines of the rather space hangar.

[We have this birth for two days before they will request another payment.] Loki commented as Marix got to her feet and started towards the hatch. She wasn’t planning on morphing here. Certain parts of Ryloth were rather cosmopolitan due to the amount of smugglers that came in and out of the planet, and Serazine was one of them. A large, feline Alraxian wouldn’t be questioned...especially when she had that blank, deadly stare that she always adopted in places like these.

“If I’m not back in two days something’s wrong...” she paused, then stopped and patted Loki’s interior bulkhead in the corridor she was walking down, “...and considering how demanding the city’s council here is, I’d suggest getting out of here before they try to scrap you,” she grinned, then added, “Not that they’d find much useful.”

[Love you, too.] grumbled Loki as Marix patted him again before opening the hatch and heading out.

As she headed for the closed door that would lead to the rest of the city, Marix began plotting together her next moves. She needed to find the Hutt...who was definitely hiding as the local Twi’leks wouldn’t be happy with competition right under their noses. That also meant that any information on the Hutt wouldn’t be easy to find...and that it was going to mean she was heading to yet another dive in yet another city on yet another planet. Not that she had a problem with run down, dark, muggy, bad-smelling taverns but...well...

As she stepped into the mess that was the underground city of Serazine, with its walkways and buildings coming out of the cave walls in all directions, Marix made a decision. She was going to find Jyren. One way or another. And then, after severely beating him to within an inch of their lives, Marix would demand a vacation and make sure he did all the work.

And if he was really dead...well...she’d just find a way to do all of that anyway.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 451: From the Dark

The one thing that Tobias most clearly remembered from when he was younger was the stories Jyren would tell him. He would swear none of them were made up or even exaggerated, though that was...questionable. Even when he was a lot younger, Tobias wondered how much was really true. Through all of the stories, there was one constant event. There wasn’t a single one he could remember that didn’t have the words, “And that’s about the time I blacked out...and when I woke up, it was all fuzzy and I wasn’t quite sure where I was for a few minutes.”

It had always seemed strange to Tobias that Jyren had a habit of...well, going unconscious during critical moments. It was just a bit anticlimactic and sometime Toby couldn’t help but wonder if it was put in just because Jyren’s memory was off and he didn’t quite remember it all. That or Jyren wasn’t exactly the best under pressure...or very alert, considering the amount of times things seemed to sneak up on him and catch him off guard.

But as Tobias’ eyes open into a world of fuzzy, confusion, with his head spinning slightly, his first thoughts were that maybe, just maybe, Jyren hadn’t exaggerated that part. It was at least a minute before Toby was able to identify the ceiling above him was a mix of rock and durasteel panels, meaning he wasn’t outside...which wasn’t hard to figure out but considering his mind’s current state of dizziness, the conclusion was an accomplisment.

“Easy, Tobias...” the voice was calm, almost emotionless, and something he recognized but, at the same time, didn’t have the mental capacity going to identify it, “Draw on the Force...but don’t overdo it. Just enough to regain your focus.”

Some part of Tobias managed to make sense of those words and did as he was told, using the little strength he had to call on the Force...to...pull it to him, as it were. Slowly, but surely, his vision began to come into focus, as did his other senses, though when he relinquished his grip on the Force, Tobias felt even more exhausted from the effort.

“Well done,” it was Master Ral, sitting in a small chair next to a small bed that Tobias was on. After a quick glance around, he identified the room as the small infirmary within the Jedi Temple, which he’d only seen in an initial tour of the place just so he knew where it was. The blue-skinned Omwati Jedi then leaned forward in his chair slightly, “What you did was foolish and very dangerous.”

It was then that Tobias experience another constant in Jyren’s stories that always seemed strange to him. He opened his mouth, and no words went with it. Embarrassed, he quickly shut his mouth and tried to find his voice, realizing just how tired he was. A few deep breaths later and Tobias was ready to try defending his actions again, “I needed...to go back...”

“Do you know why?” the way Master Ral asked that was piercing and suddenly Tobias was glad they were the only two in the room.

But the question, despite its ominous tone, was an easy answer, “I...I ran away before...I failed. And I...had to go back.”

“Failure is a part of life, Tobias,” his Omwati Master said in that same tone, “Yes, you failed when you entered that temple the first time, but you failed because you weren’t ready yet. That is not a failure on anyone’s part but my own. But it called to you, didn’t it?”

Tobias was starting to figure out where this was going, and was getting a knotted feeling in his stomach because of it. This time, he only managed a slow nod, unable to lie at this point despite knowing what it probably meant to tell the truth.

Master Ral returned the nod and sat up straight again, “That Temple was built thousands of years ago by a powerful Sith Lord. His essence remained there long after his body was destroyed, tied to the very stones until not long ago. He was defeated by Master Skywalker first students, but the taint of the Dark Side was so strong that even though he is gone forever, that Temple will always carry a weight of Darkness. What called to you was the Dark Side, Tobias...and it spoke to you in exactly what you needed to hear, what you wanted to hear.”

“But I didn’t fail this time! I didn’t even take my lightsaber!” Tobias protested as best he could manage, feeling like he was cornered for doing what he thought was right.

The Jedi Master shook his head, though, “By answering that calling, you gave in to it. You opened yourself to the influence of that Darkness and you walked right into it. You didn’t even give yourself time to learn what your own mistakes were.”

“But I did, Master!” Tobias tried to fight it again. Now, though, Master Ral went quiet and gave Tobias a very careful look. Knowing what that meant already, Toby managed to look at least slightly sheepish before going on, “I had a dream. I saw my...my father. It was years ago and...and I’d asked him about why he was never afraid despite all the things that happened to him. And he explained to me that he was...that...that we couldn’t let our fears consume us. We had to face them, not run from them. And then...” Tobias closed his eyes a moment and said more quietly, “And the next thing I knew I was awake...and I knew what I had to do. I’d run...and...and my fear of what I found in that Temple was still there. I had to go back and face it.”

“Tobias...your father...” he stopped a moment there, obviously hesitating and unsure of whether he should go on. But then, after another moment from an uncertainty that Tobias had never seen in the Jedi Master, he said, “Your father gave you very dangerous advice. Sometimes facing our fears when we aren’t ready is the very way they can consume us.”

“But he was right, Master,” Tobias was doing his best to ignore the fact that his Jedi Master had just said things about Jyren that normally would have made Toby very angry, “I went back and saw the same things as before but...but I stood up to him. I faced him and...and I wasn’t afraid anymore. I didn’t hate him. I didn’t fight him. He tried to...to kill me but...but I don’t...I’m not even sure what I did. I just stopped being afraid and then he was gone.”

The words hung in the air for a few minutes, and Tobias carefully watched the Jedi Master, who’s face showed no hint of emotion. It was obvious the Omwati was thinking, but part of Tobias wondered if he was pausing just to make Toby think, too. It would fit with other things Master Ral had done...and it was working, too.

But, finally, the Jedi Master stood up and spoke, “Rest here for another few hours, Toby. I want you to understand why you succeeded this time. I apologize for my slight at your father, but I still wish for you to be cautious. Fears are driven by the Dark Side and they can consume you in many ways...they are not all the same. However, I am glad that his advice has done you well today, and you have made me proud. When you’re ready, I will be meditating outside. After that...I believe you are ready for the next step of your training.”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 452: Of Fire

The skies of Gyndine were in chaos, but it was the ground that had Rulae’s attention for the moment. He’d managed to contact a nearby group of New Republic troops who were holding off a Vong landing party. Rulae had found them by accident, and before he knew it was commanding them...finding that their commanding officer had been taking down before he’d arrived and they were just standing around firing wildly. He may have been a pilot, but he did know at least a bit when it came to ground tactics.

“Tell me you have some charges,” Rulae snapped to the nearest of the ten troopers while he held behind the cover as he jammed a new power pack into his blaster pistol.

The trooper ducked down behind a pair of heavy crates he was using for cover as two loud thuds hit it...thud bugs, the Vong equivalent of blasters but simply thrown little bugs that were much nastier than anything a blaster could do. The trooper was humanoid, but grey-skinned and with an odd ridge on his forehead that the helmet he wore half-covered...it took a moment for Rulae to realize he was a Chev, and he was surprised to see any of them off their home planet at all. They’d been slaves to a completely non-humanoid race for so long that it was still rare to see them around.

“Only one, sir,” his accent was also nearly impossible to catch. This one had learned Basic very well.

Rulae nodded, then risked a glance over his cover.

There were only a few seconds to scan the area, but what he managed to take in was, generally, the same scene that had been in front of him for the last ten minutes. There was a large, open courtyard from what had been a rather nice building that was now a heap of flames and rubble. The Vong landing craft was in the center of it all, looking more like a somewhat oval-shaped rock, with a giant hatch lazily opened at the back in an almost random carved shape. Out of it, the warrior had poured...at least thirty at first, but Rulae and the troopers he’d run into had found good positioning, covering the only exit to the courtyard and holding the Vong in. With crates hastily thrown down into a makeshift wall, the soldiers lined them, staying low under and firing their rifles when and if a warrior got close.

Rulae counted five Vong left standing.

Thermal detonators were all gone, but on their lower setting had caused most of the destruction in the courtyard...and to the Vong. But now they were out and it looked like all they had left were a few more power packs for their blasters and a handful of charges...but that would at least take the ship out.

He raised his voice so that all the other troopers could hear him over the firefight in front of them and above them, “Time to push back at them. Pairs on each end start laying down some covering fire...the rest of us are heading in,” he then lowered his voice and reached a hand out to the young Chev next to him, “Hand me that charge.”

The trooper handed it over hesitantly, and by now all of the others were staring at him. Well, all but the four on either side who had taken the orders seriously and were currently unleashing as much blaster fire as their rifles could manage without overheating the power packs. Shifting the charge into his left hand, Rulae gripped his blaster pistol and look to the rest of the troopers.

After a short moment to steel himself, he got to his feet over the cover, “Move!”

The other troopers were up in that second, and Rulae led the push, blaster pistol ablaze, straight for the Von’g landing craft. Two of the Vong were out in the open, huge, tattooed and scarred, they let loose a battle cry and went straight for the advancing soldiers, but were quickly cut down by the blaster fire.

The others remained behind their cover, tossing those damned thud bugs. To Rulae’s side, one of the troopers took a thud bug to the face, going straight under his helmet and sending him sprawling to the ground without anything more than a grunt. But the blaster fire was heavy enough to pin the Vong down for the few seconds that were necessary, and suddenly Rulae had his back to the strange material that made up the Vong’s landing craft. The three troopers were on the other side, still hurling their weapons when they could while the remaining troopers caught up to Rulae or continued to hold the Vong down.

Rulae turned and shoved the charge hard onto the ship’s hull, noting that it stuck to the thing just like it would a metal bulkhead, then got the timer set. Two other troopers caught on and attached a charge to other parts of the ship, and when it was set, Rulae didn’t need to tell them to move.

The advance quickly turned into a retreat, and though the four troopers still providing cover did their best, the Vong manage more hits...not to mention that one had come around on the opposite side of the ship and was chopping through the troops with the sharp end of his amphistaff. A volley of blaster fire from a nearby trooper took the Vong down, but by now it was getting too late.

Rulae and the main group of troopers had made it back to their cover, diving behind it and ducking low. A few seconds passed and then the charges went off. They were so close that the heat from the detonations was enough to scorch some of the uniforms, not to mention the crates they’d been using for cover. Yorik coral fragments from the ship rained down, as did duracrete and various unidentifiable pieces of both Vong soldiers and the unlucky New Republic soldiers that hadn’t gotten to the cover fast enough.

After a few seconds, and with his hearing slowly returning, Rulae sat up and got a careful look at what had once been a courtyard. The charges had definitely done their job. The entire area was a black mess of...everything. It was not a pretty site, and so Rulae quickly turned to check on the remaining troopers. Most had cuts and bruises, but of the six that were left alive, the worst wound looked to be some minor burns on a young human who hadn’t ducked down early enough. His face was a bit burnt, but he somehow didn’t seem to notice.

And by now, all eyes were on Rulae. He didn’t outwardly sigh, knowing the affect that would have and not wanting to bring the kids down at all. They weren’t his troops, but they had found an officer and latched onto him...and he had just led them to a minor victory. His place may have been in the sky, but that didn’t seem to matter to Rulae anymore. He was needed on the ground now, and this battle wasn’t over thanks to one minor success.

Remembering the short report he’d gotten through his comlink before finding these troops had told him, Rulae got to his feet and motioned for the others to follow. He purposely spoke in a yell, barely able to hear himself and figuring the others were in the same shape, “South end of the city’s got the most of the Vong attacks. They’ll need us there so lets get moving.”

That got a series of nods, and it wasn’t long at all before the seven of them were back on the main streets, running to through the still thick crowds of panicked citizens and watching for more Vong on the way. But they only got two blocks before a loud, alien roar ripped through the sky.

“That can’t be good,” one of the troopers, a grey skinned Twi’lek, shook his head and looked to Rulae for an answer.

Before Rulae could even guess what the source of that noise had been, a jet of flame shot across the sky just above the buildings a block ahead of them. This was followed by another roar, and through the arcing flames that were engulfing the nearby buildings, a huge, bulbous walking shape could be seen.

It was the Chev that asked a question most of them were thinking, “So they have fire breathing monsters now...when did anyone plan to tell us that had fire breathing monsters?”

“Apparently now, Raek,” the Twi’lek mumbled.

Rulae stared at the thing for a long moment, watching another jet of flame shoot from the creature’s mouth...which was a good distance up in the sky. The thing was about the size of an AT-AT walker...and breathing fire. He was starting to wonder how things could get any crazier. He was also starting to wonder how bad of an idea it was to just be standing in what looked to be the creature’s path.

“We need to bring that thing down,” Rulae finally said, giving the troopers a serious look, “Or at least get it out of the city. We’ll have to worry about the fires later,” he then turned and found a good back alley that looked like it would take them to another large street much closer to the creature and started for it, “Lets move!”

“But sir!” it was a human this time, the one who’d gotten his face burned from the explosion earlier, “How are we going to take that thing down?”

Rulae looked over his shoulder to the kid for a moment but didn’t stop running, “We’ll figure that out on the way.”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 453: Tracking

It didn’t take long before Marix remembered why she hated Ryloth. The cities, being underground within caves, no matter how big, still gave her a very claustrophobic feeling. That was, in itself, a curiosity to her, as she never felt like that anywhere else. It was something about the way the buildings came out of the walls and just...enclosed the entire limited area that were the streets and other walkways. Marix had spent a good hour scouring the city’s lower sections where, as on most planets, the scum usually gathered. It wasn’t hard to listen in and find out information on ‘some Hutt down in the lowest levels of the caves’.

But Marix hadn’t left the tavern she’d gotten the information from yet. Something was bothering her. A feeling. Distant but...still close. Small, rather. It made her feel like something was doing its best to hide. Maybe not from her, but from something. The chance that it was hiding from her, though, meant that Marix was suddenly reviewing the area around her again.

She was sitting at a small, for an Alraxian, table towards the side wall in a tavern that wasn’t small, but at the same time managed to feel cramped and enclosed. That was probably due to the low ceiling. The lighting was also like most places that were shady and hidden away in the lower sections of cities...dark. It made Marix glad she had remained in her Alraxian body, as she could see just fine and was able to keep an eye on the mostly Twi’lek clientele. It would likely even be dark for the Twi’leks within, also making her glad that she’d not gone in that form...which was ruled out for other reasons, mostly the way that Twi’lek females were treated.

Among the Twi’leks, Marix spotted six humans, two Trandoshans, four armoured figured who’s gender and species were unable to be determined, save for the single Ubese. It was a much less diverse crowd than she was used to seeing in places like this, but that wasn’t surprising on Ryloth. Her mind was wandering, though, and so she quickly brought it back into focus on that odd feeling. She brought it into focus, or rather, tried to...but couldn’t. Not only was it small but it was hard to pinpoint, slippery. As if it was...

Marix’s eyes latched onto a moving figure immedaitely. It was one of the humans, a woman from the look of the figure, though she was facing the other way and leaving. She had blonde hair that was pulled back in a way that reminded Marix of Jen, which made her start to put names to who it might be. But still, Marix waited for the woman to leave the tavern before getting up and leaving...or rather, following.

When Marix exited the tavern she was back in the lower sections of the city. Above her, were walkways carved from rock and lined with durasteel and duracrete, while above them small speeder paths to traverse the city that, since it couldn’t build up, was built outwards. She was down on the ground level, or rather, the lowest level, which was well below the ground and deep within the cave systems that netted Ryloth’s interior. Being taller than most Twi’leks, Marix had no trouble looking over their heads to spot the moving, blonde haired figure that she’d decided to follow. The feeling off oddness through the Force was definitely moving with her...

Calmly, and not walking at a fast pace at all, Marix started after the figure, who didn’t seem to have noticed she was being followed. Nevertheless, Marix did what she always did in situations where she was tailing someone...she drew her presence in the Force within as much as she could, and let her other senses pick up the slack. Currently, it was her eyes and ears doing the work. She did her best to filter out the noises of the bustling city to hear exactly what she needed to, while her eyes kept on her target. Sadly, the Alraxian sense of smell was strong, but not nearly good enough to track with it...at least, not in an environment as enclosed as this city was.

After five minutes, Marix’s target ducked between a pair of larger, more crudely crafted buildings. These, like most near this bottom level of the city, looked to be more rock than synthetic materials...and were more carved than built. Obviously, it wasn’t the rich that lived down here. Marix reached the tight alley between the buildings and looked down it to see no sign of the human. She did see, however, a small access hatch against the rock wall at the opposite end. That made things obvious enough, at least.

Keeping up the air that she owned the place, Marix casually walked over and knelt in front of the hatch. It was Twi’lek sized, and would be a tight fit. The panel next to it had a small key pad written in the native language, Ryl, and a series of five unlit panels that looked to be different security code levels. With none being lit, Marix assumed that the hatch wasn’t locked.

She hit a small button at the bottom of the panel that didn’t have any symbols on it, and the hatch hissed open to reveal a ladder that led down into darkness. The lower tunnels. Apparently, they connected most of the cities on the planet and were used, officially, for safe transport during heat storms on the surface. Of course, they got more use from the smugglers and other illegal merchants that pocketed the planet. It was going to be a squeeze, too, but Marix figured she could make it fine. Mostly.

After a careful look down, seeing nothing, she turned and grabbed the ladder to start the long climb down. Once she was in, she found an interior panel exactly the same as the one outside and hit the same switch.

The hatch hissed closed, and she was consumed by darkness. To her annoyance, Marix’s eyes did not adjust to the lack of light...which meant there was no light at all. She couldn’t see a thing. But...

Twisting her head, Marix looked in the direction she assumed was down. There was a faint hint of light down there. Good. Why they didn’t light the access tube, though...

Marix put the annoyances aside and climbed down as quickly and quietly as she could. She’d have simply jumped, and would have been fine, except for the noise it would have made. It was hard to tell how close she was to her target, and any clues to a pursuer was always a bad idea. Patience was more important...and Marix had a great deal of patience. Most of the time. When she wanted to.

When she reached the bottom, Marix turned to see the large, open tubes that would, on most worlds, be sewers. Thankfully, though, there was no gunk and sewage in the tubes. Instead, there were lights that lined the bottom and top of the tubes and showed that they went in both directions. Now came the hard part...in the dim light, she couldn’t see too far either way, and couldn’t tell where the human had gone. At least she was probably getting closer to the Hutt along with tracking this odd feeling instead of getting detoured.

Her ears suddenly picked up on a sound of movement behind her, seconds before the Force alerted her to an attack.

Marix spun around at the same time she heard a very familiar snap-hiss. Her claws extended at the same moment of the sound, and she stopped herself when she saw who the person was holding the green lightsaber and standing behind her...and had stopped the blade in mid-swing.

“You!” the Jedi Knight, Venda, exclaimed in surprise.

Lucky for the Jedi, Marix had similar restraint and didn’t use the opening to tear out the blonde-woman’s insides, “I thought it was you.”

The Jedi lowered her lightsaber, but didn’t deactivate it and instead gave Marix a curious look, “You were the one following me?”

Marix also assumed a more casual stance, though her claws did not retract, “You were hiding from me. Why?”

“I thought it was one of the Hutt’s people...”

“Chuba!” a thick, very angry voice echoed down the corridor, “Kee hasa do punyoo!”

Both Marix and Venda spun to see a group of six...two Twi’leks and four Trandoshans, pointed very large blaster rifles at them. Marix shifted a glance towards the Jedi woman, “I think they were following you.”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 454: Change of Heart

There was a lot to be said about Marix BlueIce for the simple fact that her cousin, Kato Ka’BlueIce, was still alive. Even in a society like the Alraxian Empire, which was generally weaponless and not at all militant, what she and Faban Sunrunner had done years before would have easily warranted their deaths. Faban Sunrunner was in exile, with his clan on the other side of Alraxia, and constantly watched by a well armed contingent of Knights.

Kato, though, had remained in the Palace. She couldn’t help but think that she was alive still simply because it would cause more pain and anger than simply having killed her years before. Knowing Marix like Kato did...that wouldn’t have surprised her at all. The damned woman didn’t deserve anything she had...not her life, her position as Empress, and especially not her mate. Of course, Jyren was also just as angering to Kato, though she still felt strangely drawn to him...likely due to the temporary and weak link they had shared for a short time.

But what was the most infuriating of it all was those damned noises! She could hear them now, outside her window and down in one of the Palace’s many courtyards. She’d heard it for years in various forms...and it had only gotten worse.

It was laughing...the children laughing. Those two little jai who looked just like their parents and seemed to be everywhere in the Palace that Kato turned as a constant reminder! Kato didn’t hate the children...their parentage was not their fault, but she hated that they were always there. Always so...so damned happy! They were silver-eyed freaks just like their mother and shouldn’t have been anywhere near any of them...and yet...and yet somehow that didn’t matter to anyone anymore! The Tam’Day’U were all over the Palace now! They were the guards, even! Killers as guards!! As the Empress! Her children!

Kato growled and resisted the urge to kick the wall.

[Thank you.] the Palace, which was, as always, bored with the usual dutires of being...well...the Palace, was obviously paying attention to her.

But the violet-haired Alraxian woman just waved her hand at the wall and sat back on her bed. There would be four guards outside. There always were. And, of course, they all had the silver eyes. That was obviously on purpose. The only place she could be alone was in this small room that had been her’s for as long as she could remember. She didn’t get a new room with more space...but she didn’t need one. She was alone, and likely would remain that way for the rest of her life. Attempting to steal another Alraxian’s mate was a very scandalous act, and the fact that it had been a very popular soon-to-be Emperor that had been Kato’s target...well...not many in the Palace gave her anymore than a scowl even a decade later. That is, if they bothered to look at her.

But now...now something was bothering her more than the sounds of two happy children. In the pocket of the loose-fitting tunic she currently wore, was a small note she’d received not an hour earlier. It was on a kind of film-paper used by the Jendari, but the writing was Alraxian. It was a message that she didn’t want. It was a message from someone she didn’t ever want anything to do with again. And yet...somehow it brought a distant hope back. A hope that she could return to a position of at least slight respect...but...

But it was something like she’d seen before. Perhaps that was why it was so...unnerving. Times were changing, she knew that much. But they weren’t changing the way some wanted them to, or the way anyone expected. Truthfully, this was exactly the climate that would have been needed for it to work years ago. But that was...long ago. Kato, despite any other delusions, knew that this wasn’t possible anymore. The chance was gone. And yet...

Kato sighed.

She had two options. One was using the frequency that was written on that note and doing as it was asked. Well, not asked. Told. That was another problem. He always talked like he was in charge and yet he never did anything right. He needed her more than she needed him, especially now...and he was still a bastard. It was his fault it all went wrong in the first place. He wouldn’t just kill her. Noooo. That was too easy. Besides, she was too ‘important’ to just kill! Idiot.

Of course, Kato’s other option was equally annoying. She could give the note to someone who could do something about it. She could rat that manipulative little animal out. She could get revenge on him instead of trying to get it on Marix a second time. She could also, possibly, redeem herself at least a small amount and not be guarded every hour of every day. But...

* * * *​

Navik Keros was enjoying another day with his grandchildren. Nights were difficult. Neither wanted to go to sleep, hoping for their mother or, worse, their father to tell them a story before they went to bed. It had even reached the point of asking for Tobias. Not to mention that they seemed to both wake up a great many times in the night wailing at the top of their little lungs. Their strength in the Force didn’t help, as it usually meant things were broken, too.

But days...during the day, all of that seemed to go away. Saaran and Andrea became the happy little children that they always were, playing with anything and anyone. Due to the fact that they’d been in Blackflame territory at his home for a few weeks, they were enjoying the Palace as if it was a brand new place again. The Palace, too, seemed to be enjoying the attention, shifting the outside walls in the courtyard into different shapes for the two little jai to jump around on and climb.

Navik sat under one of the large trees that was in the courtyard, smiling as he watched the two jumping and clawing their way up the random shapes the Palace was providing for them. They looked to be playing an intricate game of tag, but was slowly developing into ‘I can grab your tail before you grab mine’, and that meant he’d have to step in soon and put a stop to it before someone starting screaming. Usually it was Saaran, but that was because Andrea was...well...sneaky. Navik assumed she got that from her mother.

“Um...excuse me...”

The voice from behind him sounded both female and very timid. When Navik turned his head to see who it was, he was shocked at the latter observation. It was Kato Ka’BlueIce, who he knew only through the stories that Marix and Jyren had told him, none of which were positive. She was standing a couple of meters behind the tree, hands behind her back and shuffling her feet in the grass. Unlike the usual descriptions of her, she was not wearing a flowing dress or with a haughty expression on her face, nor was her hair in some odd, supposedly beautiful style. The latter part was Jyren’s addition in the description of her.

Instead, she wore a simple looking, loose green and blue tunic with a matching pair of trousers. Her violet hair simply hung behind her in no real style at all, and her tail was down, hovering just above the grass. But it was the look on her face that caught his attention...well, that and the four guards standing right behind her, all armed and watching her. She looked as the voice had sounded...timid...nervous, even.

Slowly, and with a slight groan, Navik managed to get to his feet. He gave another glance to the twins behind him, decided they’d survive without his eyes on them for a bit, and then turned back to Kato, “Yes?”

With great care, Kato reached into her pocket and retrieved an object. She did it slowly because the guards were watching for any sudden moves, and looked ready to simply kill her right there if she tried anything against the children or their current guardian. But what she retrieved was a small piece of film-paper and she handed it to Navik.

He raised an eyebrow, but took it and unfolded it a couple of times to the point where it was readable. It only took a moment before his eyes went wide and he looked back to her, “Who sent this?”

“Faban Sunrunner,” her answer was short, precise, and in the tone of voice that made it sound like it took a great deal of work to say it.

Biting his lower lip, Navik glanced at the note again, then realized there was an important question, “Why are you giving this to me?”

Kato had not yet worked this out. She’d spent the entire walk down to their courtyard trying to understand why she was doing it. Every time her answer was something about lessening the guards on her, getting back at least a little trust with her people, or something similar...but all of that felt...wrong. For some reason she didn’t want to lie because she truly wanted to know why.

And now, truly confronted with the question, she found herself speaking before the answer right away.

“Because it is the right thing to do.”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 455: I am...

Tobias looked out across the forest that covered Yavin IV. The usual look of the moon was now covered by a thick haze of rain, drenching everything below. Tobias was included in this, having been out in the jungle with Master Ral for a good hour before the rain had started. Now they were in the large clearing outside the Great Temple which was now covered in mud and underbrush rather than the usual dirt...and Toby felt like he was carrying two extra people with every step. His clothes were definitely not designed for the rain.

“Stand up straight, Tobias!” the Jedi Master, also drenched but seeming not to notice it, had to practically yell to be heard through the torrent.

Grudgingly, and with a bit of a growl under his breath, or at least, as much as a human could growl, Tobias stood up against the weight of his clothes and looked to his blue-skinned Master. The rain actually made it hard to see, despite the fact that Master Ral was only a few meters away. That was the point really...to limit his vision. It didn’t help that he was already tired from earlier exercises during the day, but that seemed to only encourage Master Ral’s sadistic enjoyment in watching Tobias reach new levels of exhaustion.

And then there was movement.

Tobias didn’t see it. He couldn’t see it. But he did both hear it and feel it through the Force. Left. Up high...arcing towards his head.

Quickly, Toby raised his left arm in a defensive position. A second later, he yelped as a sharp pain wracked through his arm. The object had to have been moving nearly as fast as a blaster bolt and was large, heavy, and, from the feel of it, very solid.

There was a thud a moment later that Toby could barely hear, though he felt the ground shift near his foot. He clenched his teeth to hold back another noise of pain when he moved his arm, then instinctively reached over to hold the injured limb...somehow managing not to remorph it.

Master Ral took a few steps towards him, close enough to be clearer in the rain, and let out a sigh, “Tobias, you were supposed to dodge that.”

A whimper escaped him this time, and it was because Tobias managed a shrug and it sent a shock of pain down his arm again. But he didn’t say anything, and it became obvious quickly that Master Ral was detecting something he’d been looking for. Without another word, himself, the Omwati placed a hand on his young apprentices shoulder and led him into the hangar bay.

Within the bay was the usual collection of various ships. All of them were off to the sides, leaving the open center section for training and, of course, room for the ships to arrive and depart through. Currently, with the weather as it was, many of the Masters were using the area for some of the more basic training for the younger students. This kind of rain was a bit difficult to deal with for the children, usually, and could easily get in the way of some of the early lessons.

Once out of the rain, Master Ral turned and gave Tobias a serious look, “Why did you raise your arm rather than avoid the object, Tobias? You knew it was coming...and you should have sensed the danger it possessed.”

“I...” Tobias shook his head, still clutching his injured arm gently, “I don’t really know. I just reacted.”

“You have reacted that way more than once,” the Jedi Master’s eyes narrowed. It wasn’t menacing, but what Tobias had learned occurred when he was thinking hard about something, “It is...dangerous. You seem to have no concern at all for your own personal safety. I can feel it from you. The Force does not make you invincible, Tobias.”

“Its not that...” Tobias mumbled, realizing he was being caught in a situation that Marix would probably know how to get out of. But he didn’t. Well...no...he did, but she’d kill him, probably.

Then again, she hadn’t killed him when he’d asked to come here in the first place, and that said a great deal. So...maybe...

“I cannot continue this training if you continue this way,” Master Ral was still going on, having taken Toby’s mumbling as idle defensive statements that most people made when confronted with an ugly truth, “I have known many young apprentices, Tobias. I have seen many nearly killed because they think the Force means nothing can hurt them. That they can simply do anything without worrying about the consequences. The Dark Side is a danger in that, yes, but not as much as the prospect of getting yourself killed.”

“No,” this time, Tobias’ voice was less defensive and stronger. That was because he’d come to a decision. Motioning to the lift tubes at the other end of the hangar, he asked, “There is something I need to show you...is there as...uh...place without so many people around?”

Through the Force, Tobias could easily detect his Master’s curiosity, though it was mixed with a strong concern. Despite this, though, Master Ral nodded and led the way. It was an awkward silence as he led the way, and to Tobias’ disappointment, he didn’t dry off during the process at all. Instead, they both left a good long trail of water from the hangar, to the turbolift, and then to a small, empty training room that was usually used for sparring from the looks of the mats that were everywhere.

Once the door slid shut, the Omwati Jedi turned to face his apprentice again, “You are terrified, Tobias. Why?”

He let out a long, deep breath to try to calm himself.

Why?

Because Marix could do worse things that kill him.

Of course, he couldn’t say that, but...he could say...

“I have kept this to myself for a reason, Master.”

“And why do you suddenly feel that this should be shared...whatever this is?”

“Because...” he trailed off, went over a thousand reasons in his head, then came up with one that seemed reasonable enough, “Because you are my Master. I should not keep things from you...especially when you are questioning my...my...well...me. Like that.”

When Master Ral did nothing but simply stand there, a blank expression on his face and his presence in the Force remaining the same as it had before, Tobias decided that continuing to explain things over and over wouldn’t do any good. So, very carefully so as to avoid more of those painful shocks, he removed the jacket that, for some reason, he continued to wear on this planet. It probably had something to do with Jyren...or at least, Marix had once commented about his idiocy in wearing heavy clothes on scorching hot planets.

Once it was off, he dropped the drenched piece of clothing to the mat at his feet and then rolled up the sleeve on the shirt he wore under it. It revealed that his arm had been not only bruised, but very well broken by the impact. The bone was bent at such an angle that the damage was disturbingly obvious. Tobias just tried to ignore this, holding the arm up as best he could for his Master to see...then closed his eyes, and let his body remorph the arm.

Soon, only the shadow of a pain was left in his arm.

For a few moments, Master Ral simply continued to watch him. Eventually, though, still showing no signs of what he was thinking, the Jedi stated, “That was not the Force.”

Tobias shook his head slowly, “No, it wasn’t.”

“You are a Changeling.”

“No,” he shook his head, then realized that the term didn’t really apply to just one species as he’d thought immediately, then corrected himself, “Well...yes.”

When his Master’s expression turned into a more curious one, Tobias realized he might have made a misstep and tried yet again, “Actually...no. I mean...not...really. Sort of,” he sighed and looked at the floor, “Its...not...that. I...”

Sensing, easily, that Tobias was having trouble here, Master Ral raised up a hand slightly to stop him, “Please, Tobias, calm yourself. I know that many are distrustful of Changelings and fear them...but I am not. Especially not one who has proven himself with me as you have.”

“But I’m not a Changeling,” Tobias was finally starting to sort out how to do this. He did his best to remember the stories Marix had told him to keep safe out here. Changelings were a reptilian species that most of the galaxy considered to be lying thieves...for good reason, as they mostly were. Using their shape changing abilities to get what they wanted no matter what.

“I am...” he started to say ‘Alraxian’, but realized the name would mean nothing to his Master. Instead, he decided he might as well just get it all over with. No point hiding any of it anymore. So, slowly, as he wasn’t exactly an expert at it, Tobias returned to his ‘natural’ form. He remained the same height, but a few muscles became apparent that humans didn’t have, especially near the arms. While his face remained mostly the same, it took on the subtle changes that shifted it to Alraxian, and his eyes returned to their natural silvery-green colour. Two large ears appeared through a dark blue streak of hair that cut through the black and, uncomfortably, his tail returned to a pair of trousers that were never designed with tails in mind.

Once it was done, Tobias shuffled his feet, managed to look a bit more sheepish somehow, and mumble, “I am an Alraxian.”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 456: Ground Assault

“Is anyone else offended that its just ignoring us?!” one of the troopers with Rulae yelled as he jammed a new power pack into his blaster rifle.

“Not at all,” another of them responded. It was the grey skinned Twi’lek and he had also been the first to stop firing his rifle at the huge, walking, firebreathing...thing that was going right past them. They’d been firing since it was a block away, having made it up on the roof of one of the smaller houses that populated this edge of the city on Gyndine.

Its bulbous form on spindly legs that didn’t seem capable of holding it up simply went past them, a mouth-like protrusion tilting to one side and sending a jet of liquid flame to consume another series of buildings in front of it. This one fire breather was causing enough problems for them, but to make matters worse, once he’d gotten onto the roof, Rulae had spotted at least three others in different parts of the city.

On the bright side, the coralskippers had been pushed back into orbit with the rest of that end of the fight.

Rulae lowered his own rifle, realizing, too, that their blaster bolts weren’t doing any damage to the creature. Instead, he reached into his jacket pocket and retrieved his comlink. Quickly switching it to one of the encrypted frequencies being used by the ground forces, he ignored the other voices coming through it already and hit the activation switch, “Has anyone figured out a way to take down these damned fire breathers?!”

So it wasn’t a usual military-style communication. But, at this point, Rulae didn’t care. These creatures were burning the entire city without anything in their way and they needed to be stopped immediately. So, though the blaster fire, general sounds of chaos, and the roars of the giant creature that was moving past away from them now, he tried to listen through the comm chatter.

From the sounds of things, it was bad all over. The north side of the city had two of the creatures working together and the fires had consumed all but a few buildings near the edge of the city, itself. The number of dead was unknown, but considering that many civilians had been evacuated to that end of the city...well...it was probably something that was best not to think about.

And then a voice cut off the others. It was hard to hear thanks to interference, but the speaker’s Corellian accent was still easy to catch, “This is Mobile Artillery Platform 325R. We’ve taken down two of the fire breathers that were burning the forests not far from your position and we’re moving as fast as we can.”

Once it cut off, another voice came through on the channel. The voice sounded gruff but thankful at the same time, “Is there anything we can do to help you out?”

“Contain the creatures if you can,” the Corellian spoke again, and now, off in the distance, Rulae could spot the large, round-shaped object that had to be the artillery, “If you can’t do anything about them just do what you can to get the civilians to the east. There are several transports on the ground waiting to get as many off as they can.”

And then the chatter returned to the comm channel. Rulae pocketed the comlink again and then called out, “Shoulder the weapons, boys, we’re heading east.”

“But, sir—“

One of the troopers started to protest, but was cut off by a loud, powerful sound that they all knew very well. Turbolaser blasts had a very distinct sound in any atmosphere, and their heads all spun to see a pair of green bolts arc from the distant, flying platform until they slammed into the large, fire breathing creature. There was an alien screech and pieces of the creature flew in all directions as its huge body fell to the ground, taking out a series of structures with it.

In the silence that followed, Rulae spoke up again, “They’re under control. Now, lets get moving. The transports that brought our new friend down here are waiting to on civilians. Its our job to get as many as we can there.”

As the artillery platform began to move to its next target, Rulae and the troopers he’d ended up commanding made their way through the mostly-ransacked residential building and back out to the street. Pockets of fires were abound through the street, but as bad as it was on the other end of the street where the fire breather had seemed to concentrate most of its efforts. The people on the streets were in the same state as before, panicked, and so it took a great deal of yelling from all of the troopers to calm them down enough to hear that there were ships ready to take them off-planet. With this information, the civilians started listening, and seemed perfectly fine to follow the relatively small group of soldiers.

It wasn’t long before they had a good forty or so civilians of various species following them. Despite a few injured within the group, they managed to keep a fast pace heading out of the city. What worried Rulae, though, was the lack of any Vong on the way. He had seen the transports, and they’d only encountered that first one. For an invasion, it was far too light.

Of course, as things normally seemed to go in the galaxy, Rulae was quickly shown that he probably should have just kept his thoughts on anything else.

“Sir!” the Twi’lek trooper called out at the same time they all heard the distinctive buzzing sound of a Yuuzhan Vong’s thrown thud bug. A half second later, there was a yelp of pain from another of the troopers as it hit him square in the neck, sending him to the ground with a disturbing and gruesome end.

“Everyone get cover now!” Rulae called to the group behind, pushing nearby civilians to small alleys and other areas out of the way of the open street. Coming around the corner, he could see a group of Vong. A very large group. Scarred, angry looking, and charging right for them. They weren’t going to keep this fight at range, and with the civilians taking cover, it left the New Republic soldiers out in the open...

All of them realized what this meant, and so took advantage of the very small amount of time they had to use their blaster rifles before the Vong and their deadly amphistaves came into reach.