Ankh-Morpork Guard
First Post
Chapter 573: An Alien World
Coruscant had a way of continually amazing Tobias. Every part of the planet, despite the fact that it was one huge city, seemed completely different. After speaking with Anakin Solo at length about their various exploits, Tobias had followed the young man from where they had been to a much less crowded area of the planet that seemed completely dominated by starship hangars. There were countless guarded areas with the symbol of the New Republic Starfighter Command on them, and even a few with a symbol that was similar, but not one that Tobias recognized. Anakin had told him it was the New Republic Navy, and that was confirmed as they continued on to the civilian hangars and, from a walkway looking down at the long stretches of flat nothing, various warships could be seen being loaded with troops, supplies, and in the case of one carrier, E-Wing starfighters.
But then they had reached the various civilian areas, with so many different kinds of ships that Tobias didn’t even bother attempting to identify any of them. Public berths for transports eventually gave way to closed off hangars that were likely privately owned before the pathway they were following, which was large enough to accommodate most speeders, began to split off on one side into various round platforms. Some were pulled in against the walkway, while others, usually empty, were extended out and beyond the overhang above. Eventually, they came to a stop next to one of the extended platforms which had a newer model X-Wing resting on it.
Anakin then turned to face Tobias, bowed and said with a smile, “Take care of yourself, Toby. And if you ever need anything...I’m not that hard to track down.”
Returning the bow, Tobias nodded, “You, too, Anakin. Its not much, but if for some reason I can ever help you out...well, yeah.”
“Don’t sell yourself short,” was the last thing that Anakin said before turning and walking out to his X-Wing. Tobias stood there and found himself watching the other Jedi leave. He even waited a few minutes after the X-Wing was gone, just staring off into the vast city beyond. This collection of hangars was up much higher than most of the other areas Tobias had been on Coruscant, providing a view down before tops of many buildings could dominated again. In fact, it almost looked like, hundreds of meters below, there was a ground of metal, with great rivers and canyons carved out in geometrical patterns that didn’t seem to make any sense at all.
Eventually, though, after realizing people were staring at him, Tobias headed back the way he’d come. He walked slowly, hands in his jacket pockets, and continued to take in the alien world as he wandered through the hangar district. There were speeders passing him now, most transporting crates or even larger groups of people in rather expensive looking clothes. It wasn’t just the sights that was so odd about Coruscant...it was the feeling of it all.
Tobias had spent the majority of his life, or at least, the majority of it that he could remember, on Alraxia. It was a planet so full of life that, much like Yavin IV, it glowed brightly in the Force. But the Force wasn’t necessary to know how full of life the planet was; one needed only to open their eyes, their ears, their noses, and take in the very essence of life around them. But Coruscant...it looked dead, smelled dead, and sounded dead. All of Tobias’ senses told him this was a planet without life...except for the Force, where he could feel so many living beings that somehow, this dead world shone brightly.
Everything about that seemed wrong to him.
And yet...
The thought trailed off as Tobias noticed something odd. Truthfully, most things were odd to him on Coruscant, but that didn’t dampen his senses in the Force. He felt something. It was almost the same as the feeling he got when something that wasn’t a Yuuzhan Vong attacked him, but not as intense or direct. Still, Tobias found himself stopping and looking around.
He had left the hangars just moments before. The large, half-dome structure was behind him and nothing seemed to catch his eye as to the source of the odd feeling. It didn’t look like anyone behind him was trying to shoot him or stab him or worse. Instead, he just saw the same collection of various beings that seemed to be all over Coruscant.
Okay...but no, the feeling was still there in the back of his head, gently pushing in an oddly uncomfortable way. Looking to his left and right, Tobias knew saw the two sides of the walkway he was on. There were large buildings, of course, to both sides, but they were likely at least a kilometer away on both sides. In fact, the nearest collection of people beyond the hangar behind him, the levels of he city above and below him, and the distant areas to both of his sides, was back in the direction Tobias had already been going.
So, he continued forward, but now with a focus on that feeling in the Force. Something was wrong. He could feel that much for sure, but what? Where? And was it just because he was surrounded by so many billions of beings? Of course there was bound to be something wrong with so many people around!
But no...no it wasn’t that simple. The feeling had grown into an odd pressure, almost creating a headache but not yet reaching that point. Instead, it was more like an annoyance, something pushing on Tobias’ mind that he just couldn’t do anything about. Which was why he was trying to find it. Something told him that would make it go away...no, no that wasn’t important.
That was selfish. This was more important than just trying to relieve an odd pressure. Something was wrong. Somewhere relatively nearby and it was his duty as a Jedi to find out what it was and fix it. The more he walked back towards the areas that Anakin had found him in hours earlier, the more Tobias was sure that it was more than just a simple feeling. Something was truly wrong. It was danger. Danger for someone nearby...
Again, Tobias stopped.
Now, he was surrounded on all sides by countless beings, droids, and they were all tightly packed between the nightclubs, restaurants, and stores that dominated the huge spires on either side of the walkways. A speeder lane was below, adding to the constant noise and meaning that Tobias didn’t even bother trying to listen for something.
But he was close now. He could feel that.
As people moved around him like he wasn’t even there, Tobias’ eyes darted around. It was nearly impossible to identify anything or anyone specifically. All his eyes could tell him was that he was surrounded by more species than he’d ever seen in one place in his entire life. And that, while amazing, was also amazing unhelpful. So he turned to the Force again, feeling the same mess of life around him but trying to identify that pressure that had grown considerably and was becoming more intense as every moment passed. He couldn’t just stand around like this forever. He had to...
Suddenly, the feeling erupted into an outright scream in the Force and Tobias knew exactly where he had to go. Pushing through the crowd, he broke into the fastest sprint that he could manage and made his way towards the buildings on his right side. Eyes darted into open doorways as a new feeling appeared...a lack of that distress. It had gone. It had been right here and it was gone!
There!
A few meters in front of him was another building. This one was not a shop or place to eat or anything like that. In fact, the main entrance was a closed door and there weren’t any windows looking in. A simple sign stated it was an apartment complex, but that didn’t matter to Tobias. He could feel a lingering pain in the Force from right there.
As he headed for the doorway, Tobias ignored the fact that being a Jedi wasn’t a very popular thing and removed his lightsaber hilt from his belt. Due to the amount of people around him, he didn’t activate the weapon, but if he had been thinking a bit more clearly rather than with a mind clouded in worry and confusion, he would have known at least some people would have identified it as a lightsaber. But nothing happened to him when he reached the door and hit the switch to open it.
In fact, Tobias dashed into the circular entrance room around him without thinking to really look around first. When the door slid shut behind him, eyes took in the scene. A turbolift access directly in front of him, a few chairs to his left and a corridor going off on a gentle curve that direction and to his right...
“Put the weapon down, Jedi.”
The source of the gruff voice was a human male, taller than Tobias and dressed in simple clothes. The man had dark hard, deep set eyes, and a thick beared covering his face. But, most importantly, he was aiming a blaster pistol directly at Tobias’ fact. And he wasn’t alone, either. Two other men were aiming blasters at Tobias, looks of surprise on their faces and clearly emanating from them in the Force. And then, at their feet behind them, was a body. All that Tobias could see was that it had been humanoid and looked to be bleeding. He also couldn’t see any movement from it. Or feel anything in the Force...
“Put the weapon down,” the same man said again, slowly and much more dangerously.
This kid’s wandered into the wrong place.
Jedi or not, we outnumber him. Not a thing he can do.
Jedi?! The hell is a Jedi doing down here? Did they follow us? Warrn was supposed to be watching out backs better...this can’t be good.
Through the stress, Tobias was losing his control and realized he was hearing thoughts of others again. But he heard more than that. He felt other things from these three men. One of them had been right, too...for the moment, without knowing what was going on and having stupidly wandered into this without thinking, Tobias couldn’t do a thing.
Without a word, Tobias let his lightsaber fall to the carpeted floor beneath him.
Coruscant had a way of continually amazing Tobias. Every part of the planet, despite the fact that it was one huge city, seemed completely different. After speaking with Anakin Solo at length about their various exploits, Tobias had followed the young man from where they had been to a much less crowded area of the planet that seemed completely dominated by starship hangars. There were countless guarded areas with the symbol of the New Republic Starfighter Command on them, and even a few with a symbol that was similar, but not one that Tobias recognized. Anakin had told him it was the New Republic Navy, and that was confirmed as they continued on to the civilian hangars and, from a walkway looking down at the long stretches of flat nothing, various warships could be seen being loaded with troops, supplies, and in the case of one carrier, E-Wing starfighters.
But then they had reached the various civilian areas, with so many different kinds of ships that Tobias didn’t even bother attempting to identify any of them. Public berths for transports eventually gave way to closed off hangars that were likely privately owned before the pathway they were following, which was large enough to accommodate most speeders, began to split off on one side into various round platforms. Some were pulled in against the walkway, while others, usually empty, were extended out and beyond the overhang above. Eventually, they came to a stop next to one of the extended platforms which had a newer model X-Wing resting on it.
Anakin then turned to face Tobias, bowed and said with a smile, “Take care of yourself, Toby. And if you ever need anything...I’m not that hard to track down.”
Returning the bow, Tobias nodded, “You, too, Anakin. Its not much, but if for some reason I can ever help you out...well, yeah.”
“Don’t sell yourself short,” was the last thing that Anakin said before turning and walking out to his X-Wing. Tobias stood there and found himself watching the other Jedi leave. He even waited a few minutes after the X-Wing was gone, just staring off into the vast city beyond. This collection of hangars was up much higher than most of the other areas Tobias had been on Coruscant, providing a view down before tops of many buildings could dominated again. In fact, it almost looked like, hundreds of meters below, there was a ground of metal, with great rivers and canyons carved out in geometrical patterns that didn’t seem to make any sense at all.
Eventually, though, after realizing people were staring at him, Tobias headed back the way he’d come. He walked slowly, hands in his jacket pockets, and continued to take in the alien world as he wandered through the hangar district. There were speeders passing him now, most transporting crates or even larger groups of people in rather expensive looking clothes. It wasn’t just the sights that was so odd about Coruscant...it was the feeling of it all.
Tobias had spent the majority of his life, or at least, the majority of it that he could remember, on Alraxia. It was a planet so full of life that, much like Yavin IV, it glowed brightly in the Force. But the Force wasn’t necessary to know how full of life the planet was; one needed only to open their eyes, their ears, their noses, and take in the very essence of life around them. But Coruscant...it looked dead, smelled dead, and sounded dead. All of Tobias’ senses told him this was a planet without life...except for the Force, where he could feel so many living beings that somehow, this dead world shone brightly.
Everything about that seemed wrong to him.
And yet...
The thought trailed off as Tobias noticed something odd. Truthfully, most things were odd to him on Coruscant, but that didn’t dampen his senses in the Force. He felt something. It was almost the same as the feeling he got when something that wasn’t a Yuuzhan Vong attacked him, but not as intense or direct. Still, Tobias found himself stopping and looking around.
He had left the hangars just moments before. The large, half-dome structure was behind him and nothing seemed to catch his eye as to the source of the odd feeling. It didn’t look like anyone behind him was trying to shoot him or stab him or worse. Instead, he just saw the same collection of various beings that seemed to be all over Coruscant.
Okay...but no, the feeling was still there in the back of his head, gently pushing in an oddly uncomfortable way. Looking to his left and right, Tobias knew saw the two sides of the walkway he was on. There were large buildings, of course, to both sides, but they were likely at least a kilometer away on both sides. In fact, the nearest collection of people beyond the hangar behind him, the levels of he city above and below him, and the distant areas to both of his sides, was back in the direction Tobias had already been going.
So, he continued forward, but now with a focus on that feeling in the Force. Something was wrong. He could feel that much for sure, but what? Where? And was it just because he was surrounded by so many billions of beings? Of course there was bound to be something wrong with so many people around!
But no...no it wasn’t that simple. The feeling had grown into an odd pressure, almost creating a headache but not yet reaching that point. Instead, it was more like an annoyance, something pushing on Tobias’ mind that he just couldn’t do anything about. Which was why he was trying to find it. Something told him that would make it go away...no, no that wasn’t important.
That was selfish. This was more important than just trying to relieve an odd pressure. Something was wrong. Somewhere relatively nearby and it was his duty as a Jedi to find out what it was and fix it. The more he walked back towards the areas that Anakin had found him in hours earlier, the more Tobias was sure that it was more than just a simple feeling. Something was truly wrong. It was danger. Danger for someone nearby...
Again, Tobias stopped.
Now, he was surrounded on all sides by countless beings, droids, and they were all tightly packed between the nightclubs, restaurants, and stores that dominated the huge spires on either side of the walkways. A speeder lane was below, adding to the constant noise and meaning that Tobias didn’t even bother trying to listen for something.
But he was close now. He could feel that.
As people moved around him like he wasn’t even there, Tobias’ eyes darted around. It was nearly impossible to identify anything or anyone specifically. All his eyes could tell him was that he was surrounded by more species than he’d ever seen in one place in his entire life. And that, while amazing, was also amazing unhelpful. So he turned to the Force again, feeling the same mess of life around him but trying to identify that pressure that had grown considerably and was becoming more intense as every moment passed. He couldn’t just stand around like this forever. He had to...
Suddenly, the feeling erupted into an outright scream in the Force and Tobias knew exactly where he had to go. Pushing through the crowd, he broke into the fastest sprint that he could manage and made his way towards the buildings on his right side. Eyes darted into open doorways as a new feeling appeared...a lack of that distress. It had gone. It had been right here and it was gone!
There!
A few meters in front of him was another building. This one was not a shop or place to eat or anything like that. In fact, the main entrance was a closed door and there weren’t any windows looking in. A simple sign stated it was an apartment complex, but that didn’t matter to Tobias. He could feel a lingering pain in the Force from right there.
As he headed for the doorway, Tobias ignored the fact that being a Jedi wasn’t a very popular thing and removed his lightsaber hilt from his belt. Due to the amount of people around him, he didn’t activate the weapon, but if he had been thinking a bit more clearly rather than with a mind clouded in worry and confusion, he would have known at least some people would have identified it as a lightsaber. But nothing happened to him when he reached the door and hit the switch to open it.
In fact, Tobias dashed into the circular entrance room around him without thinking to really look around first. When the door slid shut behind him, eyes took in the scene. A turbolift access directly in front of him, a few chairs to his left and a corridor going off on a gentle curve that direction and to his right...
“Put the weapon down, Jedi.”
The source of the gruff voice was a human male, taller than Tobias and dressed in simple clothes. The man had dark hard, deep set eyes, and a thick beared covering his face. But, most importantly, he was aiming a blaster pistol directly at Tobias’ fact. And he wasn’t alone, either. Two other men were aiming blasters at Tobias, looks of surprise on their faces and clearly emanating from them in the Force. And then, at their feet behind them, was a body. All that Tobias could see was that it had been humanoid and looked to be bleeding. He also couldn’t see any movement from it. Or feel anything in the Force...
“Put the weapon down,” the same man said again, slowly and much more dangerously.
This kid’s wandered into the wrong place.
Jedi or not, we outnumber him. Not a thing he can do.
Jedi?! The hell is a Jedi doing down here? Did they follow us? Warrn was supposed to be watching out backs better...this can’t be good.
Through the stress, Tobias was losing his control and realized he was hearing thoughts of others again. But he heard more than that. He felt other things from these three men. One of them had been right, too...for the moment, without knowing what was going on and having stupidly wandered into this without thinking, Tobias couldn’t do a thing.
Without a word, Tobias let his lightsaber fall to the carpeted floor beneath him.