Star Wars: Heroes of Another Kind

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 594: Surveillance

“I have to admit, I’m actually surprised I’m not down there waiting to get mauled,” Tobias commented quietly.

Perched next to him, back on the rooftops of Bestine and watching the streets below, Corinna tilted her head just slightly towards him, “But the bait has to be someone that can take care of themself.”

“I can take care of myself just fine,” he grumbled back, trying to keep his senses in the Force as pulled inward as possible and instead watching the distant, cloaked form of Master Ral with his not-so-great eyes, “Besides, what does that say about you?”

The Miraluka girl shrugged, “What it says about me isn’t important. You and your Master are the Jedi here, you two are supposed to be the noble ones. So that’s why he’s out there and we’re up here. You’d be eaten alive and he’s chivalrous.”

Tobias did his best to not let his mouth sit open. While on one level, he was absolutely sure that she was just having fun with him, the way she was keeping her focus elsewhere and her matter-of-fact tone of voice actually made it seem like Corinna was serious. There was, of course, a test for that. A test that Tobias decided to try, “Well you’d be more useful down there. Can you even see me right now?”

“Likely better than you can see me.”

Though she didn’t add to that, beyond the immediate rooftop, the street below, and Tobias, Corinna was blind. The plan was simple. The Force was involved in the previous attacks on the other Jedi, so Master Ral was out there doing everything he could to be easy to notice in the Force. Tobias and Corinna were waiting up high a good distance away, keeping their own Force presences as drawn in as possible. While that was a mere annoyance for Tobias, it meant that Corinna’s since of ‘sight’ was severely limited. So it was really just Tobias watching Master Ral, with Corinna calmly waiting and being surprisingly good about the whole situation.

It was still dark, and the streets of Bestine were emptying a bit more as the night began to grow even later. That at least meant it was easy to watch Master Ral, though Tobias was uncomfortable with the area around him, just expecting to get jumped by someone. In the hour since he and Corinna had been in position, there had been long, uncomfortable silences and short bursts of sarcasm-laced conversation. For having just met one another hours before, they got along surprisingly well.

As there was little else to do, Tobias decided to push it a bit further, “Are you sure your sight is that good?”

“Of course I’m sure,” finally, a hint of a smile was there on her face, though Corinna was doing a good job at keeping it in check.

“Really sure? Because uh...” he paused a moment and looked her over as if he was inspecting her, “...you do know you look a bit ridiculous, yes?”

Slowly and deliberately, Corinna turned to stare him down in a way that was entirely unmatchable, even if he had been using the Force to do so, “What is that supposed to mean, Jedi boy?”

For a moment, his resolve stumbled. Tobias stammered before jumping back onto his previous train of thought, “It means you look like a flag. Well, a bunch of flags. Flags and belts and weird colour combinations...did I mention you look like a walking flag?”

He was only exaggerating slightly. After reaching the rooftop where they sat, Corinna had removed her large robe to have something more comfortable to sit on. What she wore beneath it was unlike anything Tobias had ever seen. While the form-fitting, black bodysuit was reminiscent of the morphsuit he had underneath his clothes, she had a bunch of...belts was the best word Tobias could come up with. They hung at an angle around her waist and things that looked exactly like flagls hung from them down to her thighs all around. They were generally muted greens in colour, but in a few places the pieces were trimmed in a bright, vibrant red. Even her boots had a red lining at the top.

Corinna did not seem to be amused, “I do not look like a flag.”

“Well, what’s with the flag-like things, then?” Tobias pointed as if she had no idea they were there.

“What’s with that jacket?” she countered before giving his shoulder a rough punch, “You expecting snow on this planet or something?”

“I like my jacket,” suddenly, Tobias was on the defensive, grumbling under his breath and wondering how things had been turned around on him so easily.

“Well,” Corinna idly lifted up one of the pieces of fabric that hung from her belt, “I like my flags.”

For some reason, Tobias decided to attempt to turn things around again rather than just giving up while he was behind, “But really, greens and reds? I could spot you from orbit.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry I don’t want to look like every dirt-covered being on the planet,” this time, Corinna took hold of his jacket collar and tugged it a few times, “Grey and black. Wow. That’s very unique, Jedi boy. Did you get the idea from your other moody friends or did you just come up with this one on your own to show how deep and brooding you are?”

“It was my father’s.”

The way Tobias spoke those four words was enough. Corinna’s teasing stopped in that instant and she let go of his jacket and said softly, “I apologize.”

She knew nothing about Jyren. In fact, she barely knew anything about him. But Tobias’ voice relayed the message quite clearly. And while the jacket Tobias wore was not the same one that Jyren had held onto for years, it was one that Marix had given him at least six years prior. Tobias had picked it up one day and found it comfortable an then Jyren had died and...well, it was something he just did his best not to think about anymore. That line of thought was never good, and pushing it away was slowly becoming a way for Tobias to learn control over his emotions that he desperately needed.

The awkward quiet had returned, and Tobias felt it was even worse than the others. So he tried to break it by stepping back and asking an honest question rather than trying to start a fight, as it were, “Do you really see colour?”

“Yes and no,” Corinna tilted her head very slightly again and thought a few moments before explaining, “I know what red and blue and green and such are. I just...” she trailed off and motioned to his jacket again, “I don’t think what I see is the same grey that you see. Its more...well, you’ve seen in the Force. Its not really about colour. But I learned early on what things are based on how others see them. So I know its grey, not because of the colour, but because that...signature, I guess, is what I see grey as.”

When Tobias thought about it, he realized that, technically, everyone was that way. He didn’t know red was called red until someone else told him it was, indeed, called red. But then again, there was a deeper bit to what Corinna was trying to get across. She didn’t have eyes. As she’d said, he knew what it looked like to see through the Force. He could do that. It wasn’t colour at all. It was...the Force. While he was not well trained enough to pick out details, it was obvious that with practice, he could...and would likely see whatever she saw. But what she saw was not the same as everyone else. The Force didn’t give information in colours, so Corinna was really working as if translating things into a separate language at all times. It was actually quite fascinating, and something Tobias hadn’t even considered back when he’d met Tokarr.

He had been about to continue that line of thought out loud, but was stopped by a sudden feeling in the Force. The fact that he was so drawn in and still jumped in surprise at the feeling was a testament to both its strength and proximity. Corinna had to have noticed it, too, as her head yanked around to face directly where Tobias had started to look. Sadly, the lights in the street did Tobias’ eyes little good. He could see where Master Ral was, distantly, but couldn’t actually make out anything beyond the shape of his Master leaning against a building. There were other things moving nearby, but nothing that seemed to be the source of the feeling in the Force...though it was nearby and right in front of them...

Corinna was on her feet a moment later, “I think that’s it.”

“You don’t want to wait?” Tobias followed suit, getting himself up while still trying to get a better view of the source of the feeling.

“I can see it, Tobias,” she used his name. That was only the second time, “I can see it and I can’t see it. That doesn’t make any sense and its terrifying. Whatever it is shouldn’t be there but is. That’s what we’re looking for and its going for your Master.”

Tobias nodded as she leapt down to the street below. To himself, he just shrugged and said quietly, “Off we go, then.”

A moment later he was right behind her, and the two of them were sprinting down the dimly-lit street for Master Ral.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 595: Step Two

A great deal could always be learned about other species by simply inhabiting their bodies. Marix had always distantly hoped that she could get a DNA sample from a Vong, but now that she had that, there wasn’t really time to think about the details. Instead, it was the general facts that she made a note of. The body was strong, about on par with an Alraxian and definitely above human levels. Most of the senses were about the same as a human, though the hearing seemed a bit weaker. The only real difference of note was how the Force felt. It wasn’t gone, but it felt oddly distant. What that meant, Marix didn’t know and, honestly, didn’t really care. She could, and would, adapt.

It was always interesting trying to blend in with a species that one barely understood. Marix had been taught early on in ways to deal with such a situation, and so she found herself falling into very old ways of thought. She moved in a way that felt right, standing tall, powerful steps, and doing her best to look as if she didn’t give a damn about anyone around her. It seemed to work, as the smaller Vong in various odd clothing and scars didn’t even glance at her.

That seemed promising enough, so Marix continued moving down the path between the odd-shaped buildings and began to plan her next move. The Vong sense of smell was about on par with a human’s, meaning that it would do her no good in tracking down an Alraxian that may not have even been in the area...and even if the Knight had been here, she could have easily been moved days prior. Dampened sense of the Force was just as hindering, as it left Marix with no real tracking ability beyond her wits. Admittedly, that wasn’t bad, but she didn’t like having to guess.

Having watched the area for a good amount of time, Marix at least wasn’t completely blind. She was currently passing by one of the larger, more rock-like structures that had seemed to receive a large amount of traffic in and out. It could easily have been a mess of some sort, but Marix wasn’t about to venture in just yet. So far, she was able to avoid having to speak with anyone and simply acting as if she cared about none of the other Vong that were around. But that was only partially due to what made sense for a warrior-type to act like. The major reason behind it was quite simple: she didn’t know the Vong language. The second she was confronted with that difficulty, it would likely be time to make a quick exit, so Marix was going to do her best to avoid other Vong as she looked for clues to the whereabouts of the lost Knight.

One building in particular did have her interest. It was towards the cliff wall, backed up against it and shaped a bit like a giant, misshapen oval that could likely have fit a young Kanyak inside. From above, Marix had seen very few Vong enter and exit it. In fact, she had become fairly sure that there were only two and she had simply watched the same ones coming and going at various times. It had struck her as odd, seeing as every other structure was heavily used. There were at least a hundred Vong in the base, and only two going into one large building like that drew her attention.

Marix approached the building and found the entrance easily enough, as it looked like a large, circular membrane of sorts with a little switch next to it. She’d seen the switches on the other doors, and it looked as if one needed to simply depress them to activate the door. When she reached the door and tested this, Marix found that the round, palm-sized switch felt like a spongy material that might break under her hand. But it went in slightly, and not a moment later, the door slid open.

Without hesitation, Marix entered the odd looking structure, noting the light sources were something similar to glowglobes but with a more organic look to them. The walls themselves were arched and might have been a rib cage of some kind, but then again she might have just been making it seem worse that it really was. It was very unlikely the Vong used dead creatures for their structures, and the walls looked like that same coral-rock that the outside consisted of. Beyond an odd, claw-legged table, the entranceway was empty, so Marix headed across the slightly-bouncy floor material and made her way to one of the two other doors at opposite sides of the room.

It was hard for her to not try to stay in the shadows and carefully watch every corner. That didn’t seem the attitude of a Vong warrior, and Marix couldn’t risk acting out of character...even if she didn’t really know the part she was playing all that well. Instead, she had to walk with a force and sense of purpose, as if she knew exactly where she was going. That meant Marix simply headed to the right door without inspecting either of them, hoping that anyone that might see her would just figure she was going that way instead of looking suspicious...unless just being in the building was suspicious...

The door opened up to a hallway, which eventually led to what Marix could only guess was a lab of some kind. It, too, was empty, but there were a couple of chair-like objects and various...things all over the place. Much of what she saw on tables looked like limbs or muscle tissue, and there didn’t seem to be many tools at all. There were a few clear containers of various sizes, as small as her hand and a couple almost as large as a full-grown Alraxian. All of them contained other unidentifiable...things. All of it looked organic, and Marix found herself wondering what it really all was. Were they studying something, making something, or...something else worse than all of that? Deciding that it was likely at least a bit important, Marix began to search the room for anything at all that could provide a clue. Maybe they were researched Alraxians, or maybe something else entirely, but it was empty and she knew that this was a rare chance that would have been foolish to pass up.

“Eventually, you’re going to have to help me out of here.”

The voice was so sudden, and so very surprising that Marix was fairly sure her heart stopped for a second. The room had been empty! She’d already gone over it once before really looking like she was now and it had been empty. The voice was behind her, though...and in Basic? Since when did Vong speak Basic amongst themselves? And even then, the voice...

Realizing what was happening, or at least partially grasping things, Marix gritted her teeth and spoke quietly and angrily, in a voice that perfectly suited the Vong body she inhabited, “Not now. When I’m asleep, its fine. But not now. Not here. Its not funny.”

“I’m not trying to be funny. It’s a valid point.”

Marix refused to turn around. No, she would keep looking through all of these...things and not focus on the other...thing.

But the voice wasn’t about to let up, apparently, “Why come here if you’re just going to ignore me?”

Slowly, Marix turned to look over her currently-grey shoulder. Just as she expected, Jyren sat back against the far wall, knees up and arms wresting on them. He looked terrible, even though she knew he wasn’t actually there, “Go away. Do this when I’m not surrounded by Yuuzhan Vong.”

“When are you not?” he asked, and Marix realized that while he mouth was clearly moving, her ears were not picking up the voice. No, it was just her mind deciding to be crazy at a very, very bad time. Cursing herself, Marix turned away from the image and knelt down to inspect an odd mark along the floor. It was blue. Not just any blue, either. It was a dark, deep blue that looked just about right for dried Alraxian blood.

The image of Jyren still didn’t go away, though, “You’re surprised by blood?”

That caused Marix to freeze. Technically, if he was just a projection of what was left of the link, he would be able to see what she saw. Still, not once in the previous encounters with this not-Jyren had he really made any mentions of the surroundings. Why that got her attention, Marix didn’t know...but it did. Once again, she looked over her shoulder to where he sat, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Its blood,” Jyren half-shrugged, “Its everywhere in here. Has been for a while.”

“And you know this, how?” she was trying not to admit to talking her herself, but now it was going a bit far. Questioning herself was toeing a line. She really needed to do something about this.

The image of Jyren actually rolled his eyes at her, “Sometimes I don’t understand you at all.”

Now she was being berated by this image of something that didn’t exist. Definitely beyond the line. Just ignore him, then. Marix turned back to the blood and looked around. It was everywhere. How had she missed that? Blue streaks and marks all across the floors and even the walls. It was a mess. If the Knight had been here, there was no way she alive anymore. Not with this much blood lost. Not with the condition of the room around Marix...

Sitting up, Marix turned to one of the containers, not able to identify the substance within but fairly sure it was some kind of organic goo. If that had been part of an Alraxian, she would not have been surprised. As quickly as she could, Marix began to get samples of everything. Taking one of the empty containers, she tried her best to put as much in it as she could while keeping it all separate.

“They’re probably on their way back again...” Jyren’s voice reached her mind again, “This is the part where you disappear.”

What?

Marix turned around again, but this time Jyren was gone. In fact, she couldn’t help but notice that much of the blue bloodstains were, too. Had she imagined them? No...no, there were still others. She’d even collected some to confirm the origin. But where had all the rest gone? Gods, she was losing her mind.

And then, right on cue, the door opened and a six-fingered Vong entered. The Vong, a male about Marix’s current height, froze in place upon seeing her, “Gul dor es pral’kat?”

For the shortest of moments, Marix just stood there, staring blankly at the Vong. Then, knowing her cover was already blown, she tucked the container she was carrying under one arm and charged straight for him.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 596: To be a Jedi

On the other end of the street, Tobias saw Master Ral’s lightsaber ignite. There was no moment of solid colour, instead it was immediately a blur of motion in the darkness of Tatooine’s night. Seeing that, Tobias’ hand went straight for his own weapon, removing it from its place inside his jacket as he and Corinna ran as fast as they could to catch reach the Jedi Master.

“Can you see it?” Corinna asked, running beside him but not bothering to turn her head. She made the oddest movements and had such strange mannerisms, and Tobias figured all of them were due to not having eyes...but he just seemed to notice them so easily. Yes, he could feel her focus on him in the Force when she ‘looked’ at him, but without her head moving it didn’t seem as real.

Up ahead, Master Ral had grown into a roughly-humanoid shaped figure with a bright blue light dancing around a...a...something. Tobias couldn’t really make it out, even with the glowrods in the street. Whatever it was, it had to be at least a meter tall, but it wasn’t humanoid. Toias was fairly sure he could see at least six legs and a long tail, and it had to be over three meters in length, not counting the whip-like tail that Master Ral was ducking away from. The most noticeable thing about it, though, was not any physical features. Rather, it had completely disappeared in the Force. Where they had initially sensed it for a matter of short moments, the thing was now like the Vong...there but not. Likely why Corinna had asked the question in the first place.

“I can see it,” Tobias finally answered Corinna’s question, “But I don’t know what I’m seeing. Its big and I think its some kind of animal.”

Corinna half nodded, her staff in hand as she ran, but she didn’t slow down, instead tilted her head towards Tobias and spoke quickly, “Keep as quiet as you can. If I can hear your lightsaber I will know where you are but I need to hear that thing, too.”

“Are you sure?” Tobias didn’t like what she was suggesting. The Vong not existing according to the Force was bad enough, but he had his eyes and ears and nose to make up for that. Yes, Corinna had two of those...but could her hearing be that good? It wasn’t as if she was normally blind. The Force provided her a unique kind of vision.

“Yes,” her response was filled with a surprising amount of anger direction at Tobias, likely for asking that question. But she quickly followed it in a calmer tone, “I can fell your Master, however. He needs our help. Whatever that is, it’s the same thing that killed the other Jedi.”

Tobias just nodded. They were nearly there anyway, and what he could see of the creature told him little of it. Beyond what he had already seen, it looked to have countless fangs in its massive jaws that were snapping at Master Ral, who was barely fending the creature’s huge claws off with his lightsaber. The claws were dripping with...something, too. Some kind of gooey liquid that didn’t look at all pleasant. Not that the creature itself looked pleasant, of course.

Merely meters away, Tobias finally ignited his lightsaber. Just a few more quick steps, and he swung the weapon at the creature’s exposed right flank. But the lightsaber did not cut through its hide, instead slicing across its body and leaving a long, glowing mark while getting a deafening roar of pain from the creature’s mouth. Its hide had to be at least as strong as durasteel to take a lightsaber like that!

Before the creature could spin around to retaliate, a good sized crate slammed into its head. Tobias glanced over his shoulder to see that Corinna had not charged in, and instead was using the Force to deal with it indirectly. Considering she couldn’t see the thing, that had been an amazingly accurate shot. Maybe she would be fine...

“Tobias!” Master Ral’s voice was strained and not at all like his normal, calm self. That alone was enough to snap Tobias back into the reality of the situation. His eyes caught sight of a huge claw swinging right for his face, and Tobias immediately jumped back, instinctively swinging his lightsaber to parry the attack. His defense did little good, but at least he managed to avoid the claw.

Yellow eyes glared up at Tobias for a moment before the creature’s jaws opened and snapped at him, catching a loose bit of Tobias’ jacket as he twisted out of the way. It was so fast! How the hell was something so big so fa—

Movement out of the corner of his eye caught Tobias attention, ending his previous thought. Immediately, he ducked under the tail, which went right over him with enough speed to have taken his head off. Another large object hit the creature, causing it to recoil enough for Tobias to catch his breath and Master Ral to cut the creature across its muzzle and get its attention again.

But as the monstrous thing turned back to the Jedi Master, Ral called out sharply, “Tobias, go! Get away from here right now!”

“What?! We just got here!” he stepped in again anyway, swinging his lightsaber across the creature’s greenish-black scales and still doing no real damage to its thick hide. He dared not get close enough to really put the force into the blade that would be necessary, and its tail was whipping around again...

Diving back, the tail sliced across Tobias’ leg, grazing him but cutting like a blade. And there was something else...and extra stinging sensation that was seeping into the wound that caused Tobias to panic when he realized what it was. Poison. The tail was poisoned. By the Force, if that was poison what was that goo on its claws?! As he tried to use the Force to combat the poison working into his legs, Tobias managed to continue his protests through gritted teeth, “I won’t leave you, Master!”

“You must!” Master Ral snapped back, his blue lightsaber sweeping around to bat away a clawed arm. A second later Master Ral was diving to the side and rolling up to his feet again, avoiding a half-pounce and the powerful jaws of the monster, “You are not ready for this! I will hold its attention! Both of you, get away and warn the Jedi! This is not like anything we expected!”

“No!” Tobias was struggling to fight now, his healing ability in the Force failing him and his natural ability to remorph doing little good. Tobias had never learned how to use that to stop a poison. So he stumbled back a few steps, out of the reach of the creature, and his vision was blurring a bit. Still, he held his lightsaber up and in front of him, trying to force his body to do what he told it and help his Master, “You need my help, Master! Otherwise you’ll—“

”Either I die or all three of us die!” Master Ral cut Tobias off this time, stepped back from the beast and then used the Force to jump over it and place himself between the creature and Tobias. In the short moment in which the creature was forced to spin around and reorient itself, the Jedi Master did not attack. Instead, he looked over his shoulder to Tobias and his blue-skinned face presented the very image of calm, and suddenly, so did his voice, “The Jedi must know of this. Go. Go now!”

The creature pounced again, this time its claws raking across Master Ral’s side as he stepped out of the way. Tobias dove back out of instinct, avoiding any secondary attack to himself, but the poison was doing its work. He couldn’t make sense of things anymore, and the world was going blurry. He landed back on one foot, then lost his balance and fell, expecting to hit the sand-covered street on his back and then be killed a moment later.

Instead, something caught him.

Tobias tilted his head to see Corinna there, twisting him around so that his arm was over her shoulder and she could help him walk, “Turn that damned thing off before you kill us both and lets move.”

“We can’t leave—“

But Corinna was starting to drag him away, forcing Tobias to half-walk to keep up and try to ignore the sharp pain in his leg as he did so, “He is your Master! And that...thing is not what I expected. Now help walk, dammit. I will not leave you here to die, too!”

Yet again, Tobias was dragged away from someone he looked up to as they were about to die. Yet again, he knew nothing about the situation. Yet again, he wished he could do something, anything, to stop it. But this time, Tobias knew that his Master was right. Retreat was the only option. That creature was unlike anything they had ever seen...and while Master Ral had been struggling to fight it from the beginning, he could hold it long enough.

He would hold it. Because he was a Jedi Master. He knew what he was doing, and the consequences of those actions.

And as Tobias and Corinna managed to get away, Tobias understood for the first time what a true Jedi was like. He finally began to realize the foresight, wisdom, and intelligence necessary to truly be a Jedi Master. There was so much more to it than just the Force. That was what Master Ral had been teaching him all along. How to be a Jedi...not how to use the Force. How to be strong, courageous, and noble when no one else could. To do it not for attention or glory or money, but because it was right. Because it had to be done.

Tobias still didn’t understand all of Master Ral’s lessons. He still struggled with many important aspects of the Force and being a Jedi. But as he and Corinna got away from that monster and they both felt the shockwave in the Force of the Jedi Master’s death, Tobias understood immediately. Right then, he knew what it meant to be a Jedi, to serve the Force and to protect the galaxy. Right then, Tobias knew he could no longer turn around.

Because Master Ral had died for him.

And now Tobias had to get off of Tatooine and warn the Jedi of this new creature that the Vong had unleashed.

For the first time in his life, Tobias no longer thought of himself as a child or a student. He was a Jedi now.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 597: Emptiness

In a short time, Corinna and Tobias reached a small, mostly-empty warehouse a good distance away from where the creature had been. The only other occupants of the warehouse were some crates that looked to be filled with spare parts, a couple of barely-working glowrods that flickered annoyingly, and some small bugs that kept away from the two of them. The only assurance that they had not been followed was that they weren’t dead, as Corinna had not seen the creature follow them and Tobias hadn’t...well, he wouldn’t have seen it with eyes or the Force. By the time they reached the warehouse and Corinna had gotten them inside, he was nearly unconscious. The poison had worked slowly at first, but had soon left him delirious and unable to walk due to the ever-increasing pain. Because of that, Corinna had practically carried him the last few blocks, which had been an interesting endeavor in its own right. The fact that they hadn’t been killed while she struggled with that was indication enough for her that they’d not been followed.

“I’m not...really a healer,” she mumbled, more to herself than anything, as she knelt next to Tobias. He was up against one of the crates, staring off into nothing and struggling to keep his head up.

“...neither ‘m I...” he did managed to reply, though the words were slurred and hard to hear beneath his breathing. Tobias was doing everything he could to try, though. He couldn’t feel his leg anymore. The pain had grown so much that it had reached a point where he had completely lost feeling in it, and breaking that barrier was his greatest problem. How could he fix anything if he couldn’t feel it? But focusing enough on the Force was just as difficult, and that was ignoring the fact that he barely knew where to start when it came to healing. Sure, he’d done it before, but usually it had occurred in moments of panic and instinct had taken over. He’d never really done it intentionally before.

Carefully, Corinna twisted his leg around a bit to get a better view of the long slash that the creator’s tail had left. It was barely bleeding, and the wound didn’t look to have been very deep. The real problem was whatever poison had been in that tail. Tobias had barely been grazed by it, and yet he was on the edge of unconsciousness and likely worse...

“...gonna try something...” Tobias’ strained voice caused Corinna’s Force sense to tilt upwards from his leg to his face, though her head didn’t move at all with it, “Jus...jus don’t freak out or anything. ‘Kay...?”

She studied him carefully for a few short moments, very unsure of what he meant by that, but finally nodded, “Okay.”

Though he couldn’t concentrate enough to do much with the Force, Tobias did have another option. It required much less effort to morph back to his Alraxian body than it did to morph from it. Returning to his natural state was just something his body could do without much prompting. The problem, as Tobias could see it, was that he doubted that would get rid of the poison. But maybe it would...and if not...well...well...uh...he’d figure something else out, hopefully.

In a matter of seconds, a young human no longer sat there against the crate. In its place was an Alraxian with jet-black hair and a dark blue stripe, with a tail to making itself known by flicking slightly. Though Tobias’ eyes were closed, he could feel Corinna’s surprise through the Force. But it quickly faded, and the surprise turned into something else entirely. Tobias would have been able to identify it much more easily had his eyes been open to see the grin form on her face, “You’re not human.”

“Not...exactly...” Tobias answered as best he could, his voice very slightly different in a way that she couldn’t help but notice and he likely never had. Just a bit lower and with the hint of an accent she couldn’t identify there that had not been in his voice before. She also noticed something else. The wound on his leg was gone. The only hint of it left was the tear in his trouser leg.

Tobias felt the pain dim, too. In fact, he could feel his leg again. There was still a shadow of the pain, an odd stinging sensation that he knew wasn’t there without being able to explain it. Had the poison gone? Had it worked? Maybe...he didn’t really know the technical details, as it were, of morphing. Marix would have known. He’d have to ask her about that next time he had the chance. It suddenly struck him as very important information.

Finally, he opened his eyes again to take in the warehouse. The better eyes of an Alraxian did him little good, though. It was still dark, filled with crates, and otherwise empty. Of course, now he noticed a very horrid smell that had been much more tolerable before...

“Did it work...?” Corinna asked, watching him curiously and still with a grin on her face. She actually seemed happy with the discovery he wasn’t human rather than shocked or terrified. That was a new reaction.

Nodding, Tobias reached a hand down to feel his leg, not trusting himself enough to just know it was fine, “I..I think so.”

There was a short silence, and it was obvious that Corinna wanted to know more about him. Specifically, what he was. But she didn’t ask, and seemed oddly hesitant about it. But something else was on Tobias’ mind now that he was sure he was mostly alright, “Do you have a ship?”

At first, she was taken off guard by the quick shift, but then shook her head slightly and then shrugged apologetically, “Hitched a ride here and was planning to do the same getting out. I uh...think I know a way to get us off planet tonight, though. Do you have any spare credits?”

Tobias had to think about that. Did he? Well, actually...Marix had given him some when he’d first left to go to Yavin IV. He hadn’t used much of it, not really needing to beyond some food here and there while he and Master Ral had been traveling...Master Ral was gone now...

Quickly, he shook that thought off and just answered the question, “A little bit...why?”

“Well...” Corinna’s Force sense shifted away, as if she was sheepishly looking at the ground and trying to hide something she’d done, “We could uh...buy a ship.”

“I don’t have nearly enough for that!” in fact, he was fairly sure he barely had enough for a cheap, broken down landspeeder if push came to shove. In fact, buying anything of that caliber, not to mention a starship, likely would have required much more violent actions than just pushing and shoving.

Still not ‘facing’ him, Corinna spoke very quietly and directly at the floor, “I uh. I might...”

Eyes widening slightly, Tobias nearly yelled at her, “Why the hell did you ask me if I had any money then?!”

“I was hoping you’d pitch in!” she snapped back, pointing a finger at him and her Force sight quickly shifting right back to him, “I don’t particularly want to use all the credits I have if I don’t have to! I have to eat, you know!”

“I barely have enough money for that!” suddenly, it was a competition for Tobias...even if it made no sense.

“Then what good are you?” Corinna sighed heavily and tilted her head back some, “If we try to hire a ship right now and sound urgent, it’ll cost more than just buying one. And we have to get moving. The longer we stay here the more of a chance that thing’ll find us and...well, the less chance we have to warn anyone about it.”

Tobias nodded. It made sense. Hopefully Corinna actually knew what she was talking about, though. He sure as hell didn’t know the first thing about buying a starship, “I guess we get moving then.”

“No,” the word was spoken swiftly and Corinna added to her point by putting her hand on his chest to prevent him from getting up, “You stay here. Lay low and be patient. I’ll get us a ship and be back as soon as I can.”

“But if that thing finds you...”

“Then it will have only found me,” she got to her feet and picked up her staff, which had been lying on the floor next to him, “Just stay here. I won’t be long.”

“You can’t go alone,” Tobias shook his head, starting to get up but finding his body was still weak. Maybe the morphing hadn’t solved the problem of the poison entirely, “I’m not going to see someone else die today. I’m coming with you.”

The Force suddenly pressed against him, holding him down in a very uncomfortable way, “No. I have to do something else. Something you do not need to be around for. Not right now, at least. So you stay here, you stay alert, and you wait. If I’m not back within the hour...find a ship to stow away on.”

Though he couldn’t really move, Tobias struggled against Corinna’s hold on him with the Force. Quickly, he gave up, realizing she wasn’t going to relent. Instead, he turned his annoyance to what she’d said, “What are you going to do?!”

Slowly, Tobias felt the pressure of the Force around him lessening until it disappeared. Corinna was facing the other direction by then, but her sight was on him, “If we are going to report this creature to the Jedi to warn them...they need to know what its capable of. Bestine is the largest city on this ball of dust, and we were out in the open instead of in a back alley. There are security devices recording most of the main streets. I’m going to find where they’re kept and get a copy of...of what happened...”

“And buy a ship in less than an hour?!” he tried his best to focus on that rather than her other task. Yes, it was necessary. It made perfect sense. Too much. But...Tobias truly did not want to watch his Master die. Feeling it in the Force was still hurting him in a way that made no sense. To see the Jedi Master’s fight...to see the details that were lost when they ran...no, he couldn’t do that. Not now. Maybe not ever.

“If I’m not back, Toby...get off the planet,” was all she said before turning and heading out of the warehouse. The joy and sense of mischief that had surrounded her sense Tobias had met her only hours before was, for the first time, entirely gone.

And then Tobias was alone in the dark...without his parents, without any friends, and now without his Master. It was not like when Jyren had died. Then, Tobias had been filled with everything from rage and sorrow. Now, though, he felt only emptiness. There was no other word for it. And he knew the danger of that. Master Ral had taught him about it well. In that emptiness, the Dark Side could very easily come if he let it...and that would only take a single thought.

Tobias was not left alone in that warehouse on Bestine to hide silently from a monster of the Yuuzhan Vong.

He had a battle of his own to fight.

One that he had to win...for Jyren and for Master Ral.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 598: New Plans

Marix’s fist caught the surprised Yuuzhan Vong in the jaw, driving the much smaller man into the wall. The Vong wore short, bright coloured robes and was definitely not a warrior. He was about half Marix’s current size, and though it looked like he had a weapon at his side, he was too busy recoiling from the shock of her strike to grab it. She also noticed that he had a six fingered hand, and each finger looked more like some oddly designed, somewhat disturbing tool. The more she learned about the Vong, the more she didn’t understand.

For the moment, though, understanding was unnecessary. Before the other Vong could do a thing, she hit him again, this time in the gut, which caused him to double over so that she could bring her knee up into his face and knock him unconscious. The Vong crumpled to the floor and Marix looked out the open doorway to see another staring with wide eyes at her.

But the shock didn’t last for long, and this second Vong quickly reached for a weapon at his hip. Marix dashed for him, considering morphing back to her Alraxian body but thinking the better of it for the moment. This Vong did not simply let her attack him, though. He sidestepped her first swing with relative ease and brought a knife down to the back of her neck, growling some guttural words that likely were as rude as they sounded to be.

Marix twisted her body away, but didn’t avoid the blade entirely. Instead of driving into her neck, she got a good, long slice down her right arm. It cut deep, and she had to grit her teeth to hold back any sound. As soon as the blade was gone, she remorphed the wound, which closed before any of the black blood could even escape.

That was immediately noticed by the Vong, who’s eyes widened as he stepped back a moment. Then, he said a word that Marix did understand.

“Alraxian.”

He knew.

With just that little sight, he knew. Which means he’d seen an Alraxian before. No, more than that. Much more. To know the species name, to so quickly identify it. But how much did he know? Suddenly, Marix had a knew objective beyond just getting the samples she’d stolen back. She was going to have to interrogate another Vong.

Immediately, Marix took advantage of his surprise. She stepped inside his guard and swung her arm around, driving her elbow into his cheekbone with enough force to send him spinning until he hit the wall and then slammed into the floor. At which point he fell unconscious, Marix didn’t know. But it didn’t matter.

As quickly as she could, Marix morphed back to her Alraxian body and then knelt down in front of the unconscious Vong. She ripped a large piece of the fabric he wore off, noting that it was quite strong despite being very thin and having a very odd, almost leathery texture while looking much softer than that. Marix then fashioned a crude sash and slipped it over her shoulder then rested the small container in it and against her hip. Hopefully that would hold it so she could have a hand free.

Then, in one swift motion, she lifted the Vong up over her shoulder and got to her feet. It was not a very elegant or inconspicuous way to travel, but she could find little other alternative. She wasn’t about to risk trying to carry this Vong even in the body of the stronger warrior. She had to be sure that she could carry him and fight if it came down to it, which meant being Alraxian and ditching any attempts at subtlety. Time to move fast and get back to Hermes as quickly as possible.

It was truly amazing how things had a way of getting more and more difficult as they went on. One day, Marix was going to speak to someone about that and put a stop to it. Just once she wanted things to go exactly as planned without a single problem. Just once.

* * * *​

An hour passed.

In that hour, Tobias was not mauled by an unknown monster.

He couldn’t help but consider that a plus.

Of course, there was a negative, too. Corinna had yet to show up. He didn’t dare reach out with the Force for her, afraid that the creature would find him. It definitely hunted Force-users, so he was keeping himself very much drawn in. He hoped it hadn’t got her, but she needed the Force to see. She couldn’t just shut it off...

But he’d been too busy to really worry that much about her up until the point where his internal clock told him it had to have been an hour since she’d left. Until then, Tobias had sat in the same place in the warehouse, not bothering with the lights, and trying to keep himself calm and focused rather than dwelling on what had happened. Not that it was easy to do. Just the thought of Master Ral would cause his concentration to waver. The problem with that was the very techniques he was using were taught to him by Master Ral, so just a slip of a thought to that and things began to become difficult.

Tobias knew what was truly bothering him about Master Ral’s death.

They had set a trap to find the thing killing Jedi. It had been simple. Master Ral would be out in the open, projecting himself in the Force to get attention from anything hutning Force-users, as their target seemed to be. Tobias and Corinna would wait a few blocks away, keeping themselves as withdrawn in the Force as possible, and wait. It should have worked fine. And it did. But they hadn’t realized what they were trying to find.

From the moment the creature found Master Ral, he had to have known how dangerous a situation they had gotten in to. That had to have been why he ordered Tobias away after barely a minute. But Tobias had neither the perception nor the understanding to analyze the creature in such a short time. So he was left confused as to why they couldn’t have at least tried, rather than giving up so quickly. And then, just to make things worse, he hadn’t even seen what had actually happened to Master Ral. Some part of Tobias told him that if he’d seen the fight, seen all that the creature was capable of, he would have understood.

But that would have meant seeing Master Ral die.

That would have meant being close enough for the monster to come after him next.

Master Ral had been right.

Tobias didn’t question that anymore. In fact, he didn’t even question himself. There was nothing he could have done. Nothing. The poison in that creature’s tail had been strong enough to nearly kill him within minutes with only a scratch, and it was using its claws and sharp teeth at the same time. And despite being so large, it was impossibly fast. It seemed, to Tobias, that the creature was built to kill Jedi.

It was a terrifying notion, and one he continued to return to. But it did not cause him to feel doubts or fear or even anger. Instead, it solidified his determination to warn the other Jedi. They had to know. Master Ral was right. Tobias had barely had time to see anything of it, but Master Ral was right. Warning the Jedi was the most important thing Tobias had ever been tasked with. If no one knew...if more of those creatures got out into the galaxy...

At that point in Tobias’ thoughts, he realized how long he had been waiting. It was then that worry finally began to grip him. Had Corinna been lost, too? If she had, could he do what had to be done by himself? He would have to. He was a Jedi. It was not a path for those that took the easy route. That he’d learned months before thanks to Master Ral. But he could do it. He could do it alone if he had to. Tobias hadn’t learned everything, but Master Ral had taught him enough to keep him alive. There would be much, much more to learn...but for the moment, at least, his Master had done him well.

Getting to his feet, Tobias headed for the exit to the warehouse. The poison had finally worked itself out of his system, thanks to constant attempts to remorph the area and then even some not-completely-failed uses of the Force. His head still hurt some, but at least he could walk without falling over. He did his best not to think about what might have happened to Corinna, and instead focused on the goal ahead. He needed to get off the planet immediately. She’d suggested stowing away on a ship, but Tobias would at least have a look around the spaceport just in case there was anyone that might actually be willing to help. One never knew, and he couldn’t help but be hopeful on that end. He may have seen many examples of selfish beings, but he truly felt that it wasn’t the dominant attitude in the galaxy. Marix would have yelled at him for that, but Tobias knew that Jyren would have stood back and just smiled proudly until she hit him, too.

Once again, he removed the lightsaber from inside of his jacket, realizing that Corinna must have put it back at some point without him actually noticing. Keeping the hilt in hand, Tobias took a series of deep, calming breaths and then hit the switch to open the door. When it opened, he was greeted with a rush of cool air and some dust, along with a smell unique to Bestine that he couldn’t put a word to...though it definitely wasn’t pleasant.

Stepping outside to head for the spaceport, which he was fairly sure was towards the east and not back where they’d run from, Tobias suddenly found himself face to face with Corinna, nearly walking straight into her. For the first time in his life, Tobias uttered an obscenity so foul that even he wondered where he had learned it. He also felt once of his hearts skip a few beats and almost fell back onto his tail from shock. The fact that he didn’t ignite his lightsaber and impale her out of sheer terror was truly amazing.

Though she didn’t react the same way, Corinna did take a quick step back and turned her head slightly to the side as if trying to look at the side of his face...even though her Force-sight was definitely still on him ‘normally’, “Is that how you normally say hello?”

Shaking his head, Tobias tried to catch his breath again, “Gods, Corinna...is it possible to die for a fraction of a second and then return to life more confused than before?”

Her mouth twisted into an odd line that matched the confusion in her voice, “Not that I know of...you going to be okay?”

“Yeah...” he nodded a few times then waved a hand at her to keep her from trying to help him at all, even though she was keeping a meter or so away, “Just don’t ever do that again. I think I saw my life flash before my eyes.”

“Can you save the melodrama and demands for pity for later? I’ve got us a ship and I uh...got that other thing. Sorry for being late,” she motioned idly to the mostly-empty street around them, “Was just playing it safe. That thing is still out there.”

“Good idea...” finally able to breathe normally again, Tobias put his lightsaber away so that he didn’t accidently kill anyone, “Can we leave now?”

Corinna nodded and then motioned for him to follow, “I don’t want to hear any complaints about the ship. I’m not exactly rich...especially not anymore.”

“Not a word,” Tobias fell into step next to her and tried, but failed, to come up with some witty remark. Instead, he turned to a more serious concern, “Any sign of that thing?”

She shook her head, then lowered her voice just a bit as they passed by a group of Jawas that seemed to be intensely negotiating with a Trandoshan over an old landspeeder, “Nothing...which bothers me, actually. So stay sharp and uh...” Corinna grinned, “...keep those ears open. They can’t be that size just for show, Jedi boy.”

Tobias had almost forgotten that he was back to being an Alraxian, and went a very slight shade of red at her remark, “My ears are not big. Besides, they’re useful. Good and helpful, too.”

“Ah, well then,” Corinna’s smile grew and she patted him on the shoulder before pointing down behind him, “What use do that tail of yours provide other than making me curious as to what you’d do if I pulled it?”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 599: Monsters

Tobias didn’t like how far away the spaceport was from the warehouse. He and Corinna had been walking down one of Bestine’s larger streets for nearly ten minutes and he still couldn’t see the damned place. The walk didn’t bother him at all, but it was the fact that the creature was still out in Bestine somewhere. It had to be tracking them. Tobias knew that was how things worked. They didn’t just get to escape so easily. He couldn’t feel it in the Force at all, but it was there, somewhere, following them.

But unlike the street where they’d first encountered it, this part of Bestine was surprisingly populated. It was at least an hour after midnight, local time, and yet there were beings of all types doing business in at street-side markets, discussing things in languages Tobias had never dreamed of, and even enjoying late night meals at some kind of out-door café. Every single time he tried to label Bestine as just a dirty collection of sand-covered buildings, something like that popped up to remind him that it was, in fact, a large city.

Maybe the amount of other beings around was keeping the monster away. There hadn’t been any panic from the citizens of Bestine and at least three Jedi were dead now. If it had killed anyone else, the city would be acting entirely different. No, it didn’t seem to care about anyone but Force-users.

“Are you having problems?” Corinna’s voice casually inserted itself in the middle of his thoughts.

Tobias stepped past a large Gran, glad it wasn’t the one from before, and turned a curious glance to her, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Corinna’s hand motioned at him, “Your tail keeps flicking. I believe that normally implies nervousness of some kind in most feline species.”

She was good. It shouldn’t have surprised him, but it did. Tobias hadn’t even noticed his tail doing that, and was suddenly very self-conscious, “Can’t really help it...that thing is out there and you know its going to find us before we get out of here.”

“I told you to keep your ears open, not be paranoid,” she let out a sigh and shook her head, “The spaceport’s right down the next street and my new ship is the third docking bay down. We’re practically off this rock.”

“See, its things like that,” Tobias raised his hand in an attempt to show that he was making an important point, “Its bad enough to think things like that. But don’t you know how the galaxy works? The second you say it, you’re dead. I mean, now we’re going to have twenty Sith jump out of the ground and attack us thanks to that.”

With no eyes roll at his statement, Corinna just sighed again and sent the feeling through the Force, “That’s why you’re staying alert. If I do that, I’m projecting in the Force too much and that thing will definitely find us. But you can use all those nice senses and those useful big ears to make sure everything’s alright. You just have to turn off that paranoia.”

“Its not paranoia,” he grumbled under his breath, “Its certainty.”

“Do you normally complain this much?”

Tobias didn’t even take a moment to think about his answer before responding, “Only when I have valid reasons for it.”

“If you say one word about the ship, I’m dumping you in the atmosphere,” she sounded worryingly serious.

“Is it really that bad?” Tobias raised an eyebrow, “I wouldn’t think you’d keep threatening that if it wasn’t. I mean...it does have a hull, right? Its nothing like that?”

“Oh, it has a hull,” Corinna stepped motioned with her hand as they reached the turn to head to the spaceport, “Its just...kind of old and not in the uh...well, it was all I could afford.”

Now the spaceport was visible. The collection of various docking bays that lined one side of the sandy street were all well lit, providing a much different atmosphere to the area than the rest of Bestine. There were quite a few more people out, too. Most looked to be coming or going from the docking bays, some looking as if they had just arrived and negotiating with local docking officers.

Tobias’s eyes darted around as he followed Corinna, but found no sign of the creature still, “What’s the ship called?”

“I actually don’t know,” she shrugged then waved a hand to silence and surprised response from him, “I didn’t bother asking. Will come up with a name on my own since its mine, anyway. The model, though, that I can tell you. Old HWK-290...never seen one in person before, and it’ll be a bit cramped, but its fast.”

“Never heard of it,” that didn’t say much. Tobias knew next to nothing about starships beyond the basics. Model numbers were, to him, just random collections of letters and numbers rather than anything that conjured up visions of particular ships. He was too used to ships being individuals with their own names and personalities rather than hunks of lifeless metal.

“Well, you’re about to see it,” Corinna turned to one of the nearby docking bays and put in a quick code into the door panel. The thing slid open to reveal a well-lit, circular docking bay that looked a mess. There were boxes and crates all over in various states of decay, and what had probably once been a fueling station looked...more rust than anything. In the center of the mess was a very interesting looking ship.

It was roughly thirty meters in length with a beak-like nose that reminded Tobias of some kind of predator bird. Its cockpit was carved into the nose, a part of the length of the hull that extended back to four small wing-like structures that looked like miniature X-Wing wings that didn’t actually form an X. It was really like nothing Tobias had ever seen before, though that wasn’t saying much.

“Wow,” was the best he could manage as the door slid shut behind him.

Corinna headed over to the ship, saying over her shoulder, “That had better be a good ‘wow’.”

“It...” Tobias trailed off as he heard something.

The door had closed, cutting off most of the sounds of the street outside. Some still got in through the open roof of the docking bay, but not much. All he could really hear was Corinna walking across the bay floor and then stopping, his own breathing and...

It was above them.

“Get into the ship now!” he yelled at her, running after her and pushing her forward. Tobias didn’t have to explain, though, as when she turned around to protest, Corinna, too, heard something. It was an angry growl from above like no creature but that monster could make.

Corinna ran for the ship, getting to the underside and hitting the switch to lower the boarding ramp so they could get in. Tobias did not follow her. Instead, he withdrew his lightsaber and spun around, reacting to the sounds he’d heard above.

When he looked up, Tobias saw the massive creature diving straight down at him from the open roof above. Realizing that blocking wasn’t going to work, he hit the ground and rolled away. The creature landed on all its limbs with a such force that the ground shook. And then it was after him.

It dove at him, jaws wide open and front legs attempting to pin him with their goo-covered, very sharp claws. Tobias gave the creature a good cut across its muzzle, one of many from the looks of the scars, and twisted to the side to avoid the claw strikes. Before he’d even planted his feet, though, the tail was whipping around at him. But Tobias was ready, and he ducked under it just in time. Over the top of the creature’s body, he could see Corinna coming back to help him.

But while he managed to jump back and regain strong footing again, he yelled to her, “Get that thing powered up! I’ll hold its attention!”

“You can’t—“ whatever she finished that sentence with, Tobias didn’t hear. The creature growled and charged again. Its attacks were easily dealt with and dodged, but Tobias quickly realized it was being intelligent. There was no way it was really trying to attack him. It was moving too slow, too predictably. Without the Force, he was staying one step ahead of a creature that had killed three very well trained Jedi. No, it was toying with him...

No, no it wasn’t. It was being smart. It was backing Tobias into the wall that was now just a couple of meters away. Then the monster wouldn’t have to do much but pin him and he wouldn’t be able to put up a fight. Tobias suddenly knew he had to react right away before that could happen. So he took a single, small step back to avoid a swipe of a powerful claw and used the backwards momentum, along with the Force, to jump back against the wall.

The creature followed with a pounce, which he hadn’t expected. Still, that did not dissuade Tobias from his course of action. The second his feet hit the wall, he pushed off and flipped just over the top of the beast. He landed awkwardly but held his footing, even swinging his lightsaber around to attack its flank. But it, too, reacted quickly. The tail lashed out again, catching Tobias across his right forearm and cutting much deeper than before. He cried out in pain, but was thankful that it hadn’t gotten his left hand, which was still holding his lightsaber and thus, able to counter the blow by giving the creature a nasty cut in return.

But he was bleeding now, the blue Alraxian blood following the tail as the creature spun around and came at him again. Stumbling backwards, all Tobias could do to keep his footing was back away and weakly swing his lightsaber up to cut across the hard scales on the beast’s forearm as it swung at his face. At least he was backing towards the ship and the boarding ramp...and he could hear the engines warming up, and interesting humming sound that was lower pitched than his lightsaber and doing odd things to his skull...or maybe that was the poison...

Before the creature could pounce again, something odd happened. The air began to feel heavier and Tobias found himself having trouble standing more than before. He would have chalked it up to the cut he’d received, but the monstrous creature was slowing down, too. Senses began to work together, and the hum of the engines began to turn into a familiar whine of a repulsorlift drive. He was right under the ship, too. It had to be the repulsorlift pushing down on him as the ship was slowing rising up...

The ship was rising up!

Using the moment he had, Tobias disengaged from the fight and ran for the boarding ramp which was now a good meter into the air. His lightsaber was deactivated mid-air as he jumped up and grabbed one of the ramp’s support struts. Though he yelled into the ship for Corinna to close the ramp and go, Tobias didn’t even hear his own voice. It was too loud, and his focus was returning to the creature, charging for the ship and opening its jaws wide.

But it didn’t jump up after them. Instead, it stopped and made a noise unlike any other Tobias had ever heard. The creature let out an ear-shattering screech that actually caused Tobias’ vision to go black. His entire head spun, and if not for the fact that Corinna had, in fact, heard him yell and closed the boarding ramp while he was on it, he would have lost his balance and fallen out of the ship.

Instead, he collapsed onto the now-shut boarding ramp within the tight confines of the ship...alive, but unable to hear, see, move, or feel much beyond intense pain.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 600: A New Course

Tobias did not lose consciousness. Rather, he existed in a state of constant pain and the inability to use any of his senses to figure out the world around him. But his brain was still working overdrive, and even though he couldn’t see, or really hear, or smell things, or feel anything...or taste much beyond an odd, stale nothingness, he was still very much aware. If one could be aware when they only had their thoughts to them.

With only a vague sense of time, Tobias wasn’t really sure when it was that the nothing began to fade into various, uncomfortable somthings. It wasn’t long, though, that much he was sure of. First, his hearing began to return in the form of a high pitched, constant ringing that made him realize that he had a very bad, throbbing headache. Feeling was back. He was on something hard and not at all comfortable, either in a chair of some kind of on a floor, propped up against the wall. The stale taste remained, but that began to make sense as the smell of the air in the starship...

“Where are we?” his voice came out amazingly clear considering how he was doing.

In blurred vision that was slowly and steadily sharpening, Tobias saw a figure in front of him shift slightly and then heard Corinna’s voice through the ringing, “Just in orbit. Glad to have you back...wasn’t sure where to head to from here and I was putting off plotting a course and ending up going the wrong way.”

When he had been left with only his thoughts, Tobias had decided something. He had assumed that they were in hyperspace and long from Tatooine, but apparently that wasn’t true. Good. That would make things easier...somewhat. Not much, really, but it was one little thing that he was going to latch onto as good. It was better than nothing at all.

Tobias vision was finally better, too. He was, indeed, in a chair. It was not at all a comfortable chair, though. Corinna in an identical, high-backed chair not even a half-meter in front of him. Her’s was currently spun around so she was facing him, which put their knees against each other’s simply because of how close the chairs were. It looked to Tobias that they were in the ship’s cockpit. The thing was cramped, almost like a starfighter’s cockpit but with just a bit more room. The seats were oriented with his behind and very slightly above her’s, and there was just enough room on both sides to turn the chairs and get out without too much trouble. Of course, there were still consoles everywhere, but it was nice to see the star-filled sky beyond the canopy.

“That was very stupid what you did down there,” Corinna eventually said, shrugging as she did so and then waving a hand at him, “But I guess it was pretty brave, too. And you did your little miracle healing thing again. I thought you were going to lose that arm before it healed. You’re cleaning up that blood, by the way.”

“Its not really...not really healing,” though Tobias was recovering quickly, his head still hurt and his voice was a bit lower than usual as he got used to using it again. Feeling her curiosity in the Force, Tobias tried to put that aside so they could do something more important, “I promise I’ll explain it all...but later.”

“Tell me where the Jedi are, I’ll get us into hyperspace, then we’ll have time,” Corinna gave him a cheerful smile and started to spin her chair around to get to the ship’s controls.

“Hang on,” Tobias reached out to grab her chair. She turned a curious look at him again with a bit more scrutiny in her Force-sight this time as she both ‘looked’ at him and tried to sense what he was about to say. There was no way she could have seen it coming, though, “We need to go back down there.”

In what Tobias was beginning to find rare, Corinna turned her entire head to face him as if that would somehow focus her vision on him. She waited a few seconds before commenting, “I guess that healing trick of yours doesn’t solve brain deficiency? Or maybe I’m just hearing things. My ears are still ringing, as it is. So why don’t you try that again with a little less crazy and a little more planet very far away from here.”

But Tobias had given it a great deal of thought already. There would be no winning for Corinna unless she took it upon herself to just plot a course on her own. Tobias hoped she wouldn’t, so he was going to do his best to not sound as stubborn as he was, “That thing killed two Jedi Knights and a Jedi Master.”

“More the reason to run,” Corinna shook her head, “I’m useless against that thing because I can’t see it half the time. And you...you may have some surprises up your sleeve with that little trick but this is a bit beyond you, Jedi boy.”

He was beginning to hate that. Hearing her call him that made Tobias think about Jyren. Marix had called Jyren that, and had for as long as Tobias could remember. Hearing that at all was bad enough, but applied to himself by a compete stranger? It just...it hurt.

But he tried to push past that and focus on what had to be done like the Jedi he was supposed to be. That he had to be.

So Tobias took a deep breath, let it out, and spoke as calmly as he could, “Corinna...it killed three Jedi. We’re leaving it down there. What happens when there aren’t any Jedi for it to hunt? What if it kills others? If it does, that blood is on our hands. It has to be dealt with or more people will die.”

“Your Master said to run,” her voice was careful with that, but it had to be said.

The only sign that it affected him was that his ears flattened against his head very slightly, “Yes. And this is not about revenge, which is what he worried about for me. If anyone else dies by that creature and we leave, it is our fault, Corinna. If I have to go down there alone, I will find some way to and you can go tell the Jedi...but I will not leave it down there to prey on innocent people.”

For a long minute, Corinna held his gaze. Out of habit, Tobias was looking at the cloth over where her eyes would have been, even if he could just feel her sight on him rather than see any actual direct source. But eventually, she said, “I can’t do much against that monster...but I won’t let you go down there alone.”

Tobias almost smiled, but somehow it didn’t seem appropriate considering how the day had been and where it was going. Instead, he nodded and tried to sound like he knew what he was doing, “I have a plan.”

He did, actually. He had come up with a good one, too. One that would work. Because now they knew what they were up against. They knew what it could do. It wasn’t just a blind hunt now. No. Now just letting out bait to be attacked wasn’t the plan. Tobias could set a real trap and be ready this time.

“But you don’t have all the facts,” Corinna reached over to one of the consoles to his right and picked up a small datacard that had been resting on it. She lifted it up and held it there for him to see, “If you want to do this, if you’re sure about this...you need to watch what is on this datacard.”

Tobias immediately knew what it was.

In Corinna’s hand was a tiny piece of technology that held the moment of Master Ral’s death. Something that had not seen. Something Tobias was suddenly terrified of, again. He opened his mouth to say he could handle it, but instead all that came out was, “I...”

The entire thought trailed off into nothingness as Tobias felt a heavy weight setting down on his chest. It was hard to breathe, too. Just thinking about what the creature had done to his Master was worse than seeing it, he knew...gods, he was just imagining the worst, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t be bad! It just...he...couldn’t watch it yet...not yet...

And then, in one sudden moment, the weight lifted.

Very gently, Corinna took Tobias hand in hers, turned his palm upward and placed the datacard there. She held his hand between both of hers, emanating a feeling of comfort and support through the Force in a way that Tobias had rarely ever felt before, and said quietly, “When you’re ready, Tobias...put that in the slot next to you. Take your time. I’ll be right here and I’ll do whatever I can...but you have to watch that before going back. Do you understand?”

Tobias nodded. He couldn’t find any words for the moment, and so instead tried to prepare himself as best he could. She was right. He needed to see it. He would see it. In doing that, Tobias would learn more about the creature and know, even better, what it could do and how it fought. That was too vital to hide from. A Jedi could confront his fears and let go of them. Tobias could do that.

He would.

Because he was a Jedi.

His Master had trained him well.

Tobias would not let Master Ral down.

A few minutes passed before Tobias finally removed his hand from Corinna’s. He took one more deep breath as he looked at the tiny datacard and then reached over to put it into the slot she had pointed out.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 601: Up

The second Marix exited the Vong building, she was face to face with four others. None of them looked like warriors, and they had initially been simply going about their business, whatever that was in such a place. They had, at first, only turned their heads when the door had opened, casually glancing to see who was exiting. Of course, what they saw was not a Yuuzhan Vong as they had clearly expected. Instead, they saw Marix, an Alraxian, carrying an organic-container holding who-knew-what, and a Vong over her shoulder.

In a rather surreal moment, all of them just stood staring at one another. But where the Vong were dealing with confusion, Marix was determining a plan of action. It only took a fraction of a second for her to prioritize the targets and then act. Marix dashed forward, dropping her left shoulder and barreling straight through the smallest of the Vong, who let out a grunt of shock before Marix was past him. That was all she had time to do before the other recovered.

“Cor’sa!” at least two of the other Vong were growling that word at the top of their lungs. Marix didn’t know the exact translation, but the point got across well enough.

Of course, if it meant ‘stop!’, Marix didn’t obey. But she didn’t think that was the translation anyway. The appearance of various Vong from all of the building as she was sprinting away hinted that it might have been a call to action of some kind, which made more sense. Thankfully, as Marix ran towards the other end of the ravine and past the various Vong structures, she noticed that most of the Vong exiting the structures were dressed in robes of various kinds and did not look to be warriors.

Most.

Most, sadly, didn’t mean all.

Marix spotted four warriors exit a building in front of her, and they did not stop and look in surprise before acting. Instead, they came straight for her. Only one of them carried an amphistaff, but the other three looked built in such a way that weapons were optional. Not to mention all of the spikes on their armour and the possibility of those smaller amphistaves hidden away. Of course it wasn’t going to be easy...

Her eyes caught movement in front of her, and quickly began to track an object coming at her head. Marix ducked as one of the Vong’s thrown thud bugs shot past her head, and by the time she was upright again, the four warriors were directly in front of her. Suddenly, carrying the unconscious Vong the entire time was not looking to be a solid plan, and so Marix adapted.

As two of the warriors came at her, she shifted then, using her forward momentum to help, threw her captive Vong at them. The move caught both warriors by surprise, and they were both on their backs a second later, quickly trying to push the other Vong off of them. The Vong with the amphistaff was sweeping it around just as the other two fell, bringing its sharp edge in a long swing meant to open Marix’s stomach.

Drawing the Force to her, Marix jumped up and flipped over the Vong, landing behind him and delivering a backwards kick to his spine. Had the warrior not been wearing such heavy armour, it likely would have done more than just send him stumbling forward a couple of steps. At least the maneuver bought her a few previous seconds, and the fourth Vong was busy spinning around to come at her as she had jumped just as he was swinging one of the dagger-sized amphistaves at her back.

In that brief moment, Marix had a choice to make. It was a simple, basic choice. Fight or run. She could win the fight. There was no doubt in her mind on that. Even with four Vong warriors, she could remorph and she had survived through much, much worse. If others got involved, as they likely would, Marix still knew she could hold her ground. Morphing wasn’t just a tactic for staying alive, there were more offensive applications if necessary and she knew how to apply them. All in all, standing and fighting didn’t seem to be a bad option at all.

But the years had changed Marix in many ways.

She was an assassin and a soldier and an Empress. The first taught her how to quickly deal with targets before they could react. The second taught her how to deal with situations like the one she was currently in. The third...the third, over the years, had taught her that sometimes a fight was unnecessary, even if it could be won. Could she really handle an entire compound of Vong? What about the ships above? They would send more. But even if she could, Marix was not there to fight the war herself. Get in, get the information she needed, get out.

Tucked under her left arm, Marix had the container with the samples she had hastily gathered. Though taking a Vong captive was now out of the picture, perhaps the samples were enough. Rather than fight and allow the situation to grow worse, Marix knew the best option was to use this small moment to her advantage and escape.

Decision made, Marix did not follow up her kick with another strike. Instead, she continued forward, still calling on the Force to help her body move even faster. The Vong were growling and screaming at her as they gave chase, only meters behind despite the Force helping her along. They were surprisingly fast for such large builds.

But she knew that they couldn’t keep up for long.

She took a sharp right turn and then leapt over a new Vong carrying an amphistaff to land on top of an adjacent building. Her footing was unsteady on the odd, coral-like structure, but Marix did nothing but sway slightly as she kept her balance. The Vong were down below, and she could hear buzz in the air of more of those thrown bugs coming at her. But Marix was looking up at her next target, and with the help of the Force, leapt again.

One of the bugs sliced across her ankle as she left the rooftop, but Marix didn’t even cringe. It was barely a scratch and she didn’t even bother to remorph the wound. Instead, with her free hand, she grabbed the rock wall of the canyon, extending her claws to get a good tight grip. She held there for a moment, just long enough for the Vong to readjust their aim, but as they threw more of those damned bugs at her, Marix launched herself up again, pulling up with all of her strength and doing what Jyren had always called cheating: using the Force to move herself much, much further than should have been possible.

She caught another rock a good fifteen meters up and latched on again. One more good push like that and she’d be over. Just to herself, Marix smiled. She didn’t even have to morph to do it. And even that stray thought didn’t break her concentration.

In seconds, she was up and over the canyon wall, pulling herself onto the ground above that was just at the edge of the forest, not far from where she’d been observing the Vong compound earlier. Down on one knee, Marix allowed herself a moment to catch her breath and remorph at least four wounds, most of which she hadn’t noticed in the rush to escape.

[Wake up, Hermes.] he was a long ways away, but Marix could focus enough to get the message through. [Time to g—]

Even her thought was cut off by the sound that Marix’s ears heard. The growl was like nothing she’d ever heard, and it was accompanied by a monstrous beast pouncing out of the trees, six legs, at least, a long, barbed tail, and jaws dripping drool that looked far more dangerous than just normal saliva. It had been waiting for her!

It had been following her the whole time!

Marix rolled to the left, the meter-long monster landing with four sharp-taloned legs right where she’d been. Even as she was moving out of the way, its tail was whipping down at her so fast that she couldn’t see it. The barbed end sliced straight across her hip as she propelled herself away again. The pain was enormous, and Marix found that remorphing the wound was surprisingly difficult. There was a poison, something that was making it difficult for her to morph at all. And she couldn’t feel the beast in the Force, either.

And then, Marix knew what the Vong had been doing on Myrkr. They were breeding these things. Breeding beasts that were specifically designs to kill Alraxians. She could find no other explanation for the poison, as Alraxian physiology was just too unique for it to be random chance. Suddenly, what had been an easy escape from the Vong compound was looking to be a much more dangerous fight.

Just as Marix got to her feet, staying low and ready to react while trying to fight back the pain from the wound, the monstrous thing came at her again, sharp-toothed jaws wide open.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 602: The Brink

The security holo of Master Ral and that...thing, was not at all a good quality recording. The image was distant, couldn’t be zoomed, and shockingly grainy. Holos were usually crisp and, though they had a hint of blue, weren’t completely that shade. Apparently, the Hutts didn’t care about security enough to upgrade very old security devices. Somehow, that wasn’t surprising.

But even though details were near impossible to make out, Master Ral was hard to miss, standing there with his back to the recording device, lightsaber aglow and ready for that monstrous thing to attack. On the recording, both Tobias and Corinna had just disappeared, and that meant that Toby was tightly gripping the chair’s arm rests as he did his very best to keep his cool and watch what he’d run from.

For a long minute, the recording showed much the same things that Tobias had seen and experience on his own. Fast reflexes, vicious attacks, and no slowing down from the creature as it quickly struck again and again and again, varying between its tail, jaws, and sharp claws randomly. It was a smart fighter. Master Ral held his ground well enough, landing a few glancing blows that somehow did little damage to the creature’s very tough hide. But still, Tobias could see his Master slowing and he knew what was coming. Sadly, it did not come quickly.

Master Ral made a misstep, or simply moved too slowly, and the monster’s claws slashed across his left arm. The details were hard to make out due to the bad holo, but the way Master Ral carried himself after wasn’t lost at all...the arm wasn’t moving and, to Tobias’ horror, looked to be barely attached at all. But Master Ral did not falter, holding his ground for another two minutes, at least, before the creature landed another strike. When the claws raked across Master Ral’s chest, throwing the Omwati Jedi to the ground from the force of it, Tobias felt the fear and anger gripping him.

It was horrifying to watch his Master there on his back as the creature dove in to finish the fight, and Tobias must have been radiating that in the Force, because Corinna caught on easily. Very gently, she put a hand on his shoulder, obviously trying to keep him calm and doing a better job with such a simple action than Tobias would have thought possible. Suddenly the panic at watching the moment he’d felt faded...

And then Master Ral jumped up and flipped away just as the created landed where he’d been. The Jedi Master landed on his feet and immediately called his lightsaber back into his hand with the Force. But then, in that brief moment before the creature was on him again, something surprising happened. Master Ral’s head turned and looked directly at where the holorecorder must have been. The moment lingered for long enough that Tobias felt like, somehow, his Master was looking at him through the recording, and then it passed.

Rather than strike at the creature as it came at him again, Master Ral spun out of the way and began to run the other way...back towards where Tobias and Corinna had gone. He was retreating! Well, running away, but it was the same principle. He was moving so fast that the holo only saw the form as a blur, clearly using the Force to push his body even faster and then...

The beast didn’t give chase. Instead, it turned to face where Master Ral was going, opened its jaws, and spit out something that was unidentifiable. Whatever it was caught Master Ral in the back, and the Jedi Master immediately tumbled to the ground, hitting the sand hard and then rolling out of the holorecorders view. At that point, the creature was moving again, but slower and much more casually, before rearing back and then pouncing out of view.

That was when the recording cut off.

The cramped cockpit of the starship was silent save for the humming of all of the systems for a short time. Then, keeping his voice as steady as he could, Tobias asked, “Any idea what that thing at the end was?”

Corinna shook her head, “Not for sure. Likely some kind of acid, though. It would...fit with everything else that creature can do.”

Tobias nodded. In a way, he was glad that he hadn’t been forced to see Master Ral’s actual death. But still, having felt it...and not very long ago...

“Big, durasteel tough hide, fast, poisoned claws, sharp teeth that are probably also poison laced, a poison tipped, razor sharp tail, a screech that practically knocked me unconscious, and now acidic spit,” Tobias sighed heavily and sat all the way back in his chair, “Does this thing have any guns?”

“None,” Corinna shrugged and sat back herself, facing him but not really looking at him, even through her Force sight, “You still so set on going after that thing?”

For some reason, Tobias nodded and said, “We have to.”

Sanity had clearly left him.

But that didn’t seem to bother Corinna anymore, who just nodded and turned her chair around to take control of the small starship, “You said you have a plan.”

“I did,” Tobias looked around at the consoles on either side of him, wanting to be useful but realizing he had no idea how to help. So he just sat there, uncomfortably watching Tatooine fill the viewport as they flew through the planet’s atmosphere, “I think its viable...we just have to trap the thing.”

One of Corinna’s hands waved at him and he felt her sarcasm through the Force stronger than it was in her voice, “Oh, yes, that’s it. Simple as that. Good plan. You’re quite the strategist.”

Tobias’ ears flattened in annoyance, “I’m serious. We get it in some place like that warehouse we found, seal the building and just blow the damn thing up.”

By the time Tobias had explained that, they were flying over the desert, the dunes hard to see in the night light as they flew towards the distant lights of Bestine once again. Very slowly, Corinna spoke over her shoulder, “I’m going to ignore how well thought out that is and ask you something more important...but just this once. Don’t expect me to be this nice all the time. Now. Here it comes. How do you know explosives will work and where do you plan to get them?”

“That’s two questions,” Tobias grinned proudly at himself, but he was leveled with the equivalent of a bored, narrow-eyed glare in the Force. Biting his lip, Tobias shook his head to get the feeling to go away and didn’t attempt wit again, “If it doesn’t work...we...panic, I guess. But the thing can’t be invulnerable. Everything can be killed no matter how resilient. If the explosives don’t kill it, we get enough that can bring down a building, and if that still doesn’t we use it being trapped to get close and cut its head off or something simple.”

Though he couldn’t see her over the chair in front of him, Tobias felt Corinna nod, “Alright, you get that one. So now to the ‘where do we get explosives’ part.”

He hadn’t really thought of that. But, right away, he had a rather simple idea, “Well uh...before things went all dragon shaped I saw a bunch of weapon shops all over the south end of the city...”

“You couldn’t pitch in to help buy a starship, Toby. Something tells me you don’t have the kind of credits to buy the amount of explosives we’d need...and I sure as hell don’t after buying this.”

She was right.

But...

“Well...” he wanted to put it delicately, but that wasn’t something Tobias was very good at, so he just stumbled through failed sentences instead and hoped she’d get the point, “We could uh...I mean, they’re there. Its not like...well, its night now. People have to sleep. So its good and...well, important. And I can be sneaky if I have to be and uh...”

Corinna finally couldn’t hold it back anymore and just laughed, “Are you suggesting we steal, Jedi boy?”

“Um...” he’d been caught in a truth, “Yes?”

Again, she couldn’t help but laugh, “It seems my very presence has corrupted your poor little mind already. Who knew young Jedi were so impressionable. Not that I’m complaining. Well, no, I am. This still is absolutely insane...but I have to admit, even if you’re a bad salesman it sounds interesting enough.”

“I’m uh...not sure how to take that...” Tobias hadn’t actually meant to say that out loud.

“Ah, uncertainty. You might just be more sane than I thought,” Corinna finally leaned to look around the pilot’s chair and show him the grin on her eyeless face, “I’m going to set us down about a kilometer outside of Bestine. That means we’ve got a little extra time to make your simple plan half-decent. Just remember, I can’t see that damned thing so if things go wrong, I’m playing the damsel in distress and you’re getting my ass back to this ship in one piece. I just paid for this and I’m not going to be killed while on the brink of debt.”

 

[aros86]

any news?

I know its been a while since we've last heard from you and I know you said that you had plenty of things on your plate, but I was wondering how things are coming along and if you think you might get back to posting?

Thanks