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<blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 1822074" data-attributes="member: 10079"><p><strong>Chapter 18: The Mind is a Fragile Thing</strong></p><p></p><p>For once, Akan was early to the meeting. Despite his long talk with Shadow, and how much it truly caught his interest, he just wanted to relax some and pretend things were mostly normal. No one else was there yet, so he had a little time to mentally go over everything. Of all the things she’d told him, one stuck in his mind the most. All of his life, he’d lived on names that he’d created for himself. Since he’d never known his parents, Akan simply decided on a name that fit him. Raan Maxwell fit well for a long time, but then he changed. He changed so much that the name no longer was him. So he became Akan Tavos. But now...</p><p> </p><p>Shadow was not her actual name. It was a call sign she’d picked up ‘cycles ago’ as she’d put it. Her real name was Marix BlueIce. She had not gone by that name for as long as she could remember(in fact, she’d spoken of it as if it were more of a dream). Because of this, she had literally ordered him to still use the name ‘Shadow’, as that was who she was. But now...</p><p> </p><p>Now, Akan was her ‘Nothlit’. The word meant nothing to him, but it was the term she used to refer to the body she had created, and him on occasion. And as her Nothlit, he was in all respects her equal. This meant that he was now apart of the same Clan. BlueIce. Interesting that it was another ‘blue’...three at least, four counting the morphsuit. Akan BlueIce. One day he’d find a stable name. Obviously, today had not been that day. In fact, it wasn’t the day for a stable anything.</p><p> </p><p>He couldn’t help but grin at that. Shadow had explained morphing to him, but he’d not grasped it well. The idea of forcing his cells to become something they weren’t felt painful just thinking about it. According to her, it was painful without proper training. Apparently, she planned to train him. Wonderful. He’d not had a say in this, either. But he’d not fought this decision, as a small part of him was strongly interested by it. This, of course, was the same part of his mind that had to be told not to pounce Shadow’s tail when it swished, so it wasn’t to be trusted.</p><p> </p><p>The most interesting thing she had spoke of was the Force, itself. She’d almost been preaching to him more than suggesting the ideas she had. According to Shadow, her people saw no definite distinction between the ‘Dark Side’ and the ‘Light Side’ of the Force. To them, it was simply the Force. Magick. You could not have one without the other, so one must learn to balance both within themselves. She told him that she would be watching him carefully, as he was close to offsetting this balance with too much Light. She wouldn’t have cared if not for their new connection. It could effect each of them. Which brought her into a delicate discussion about pain. The Link they shared was a great advantage, but held the weakness that pain was transferred across it. Not as bad as the pain that was felt directly, but an echo of sorts. She’d demonstrated this be digging her claws into her own arm. Akan had cringed, feeling a strange shadow-pain in his own arm.</p><p> </p><p>It was something to keep in mind, of course. One of many things. The foremost being ‘Don’t die, because then we’ll both die’. This was quickly answered with ‘Well, don’t kill me again!’. It then had devolved into the tossing of insults, but never going so far as violence. They were only...half serious. Being able to know the other’s thoughts so clearly made it much easier to see the truth about the other. Some of the things were strange, but all they really picked up without trying was to surface thoughts. Anything else would have to be worked on...and Akan was in no way going to do that...yet. Shadow, however, had taken great interest in his mind. It was odd because Akan could feel her ‘looking’ through things. </p><p> </p><p>And then, the others entered the meeting room. No Shadow this time, just the normal five of them. Ansion and the four Division leaders. Of course, all of them gave Akan a long look, but said nothing about what had happened. In a few moments, after some general small talk amongst them, Ansion quieted them down and motioned to the holoscreen. On it, was an image of the green planet, Naboo. One section was marked with a red square, as were two sections in space.</p><p> </p><p>Ansion pointed to the two marked off sections in space, “According to the latest reports from the New Republic have two fleet groups placed in orbit around Naboo. The only planets that have this kind of security are Kuat, Bastion, and the other major planets. This indicates that there is something serious occurring on the planet. The section there on the planet itself is the Imperial garrison. It has grown considerably in the last year, and has more than just the New Republic worried. Now, you all know how much I hate losing good people...but we may lose a lot in this.”</p><p> </p><p>The female Duros, Elona, looked to Ansion with a critical eye, “In what? You are doing your best to avoid telling us exactly what is going on.”</p><p> </p><p>Sighing and nodding, Ansion closed his large eyes a moment, “We’re going to work with the New Republic in assaulting the planet. We will arrive about ten minutes after the Republic’s fleet has. They will engage the first fleet and attempt to also attract the attention of the second. We will exit hyperspace and move directly to the planet. Once the assault transports have launched, the Claw will leave. There is simply no way for this ship to survive out there. This means that once we’re done, we’ll be getting out with the Republic. Our destination is the garrison, of course. However, I will again be taking Division Three and leading them in an assault on a nearby city as a diversion. Division Two will also provide a diversionary assault, and their efforts will be aided by a Republic ground team that should already be down by the time we get there.”</p><p> </p><p>The map zoomed in to a large complex, the Imperial garrison. Ansion allowed them all a moment to look it over, and then said, “Division One will land on the north side and begin their assault there. Four will take the east. The south will be taken by another group of Republic soldiers. And the west...Akan, Shadow, and Zaarin are going that way.”</p><p> </p><p>“Wait wait wait,” Akan raised his hand, “Jen? She’s no good in a fight.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes, but our goal is to find out what is going on there,” Ansion said simply, “And once that is known, decide whether it needs to be taken out or not. Zaarin can assist with computer codes, and determining what is happening. You and Shadow should think of yourselves as he bodyguards.”</p><p> </p><p>Ahh, fun. Not that he considered it babysitting...but, well, it was as close as he’d been to that in a long time. [You’re not the only one.] AH! Shadow was listening in...he’d have to get used to that. And probably mention something to Akan. [Awww, its not like I won’t find out anyway.]</p><p> </p><p>Akan sighed a little too loudly, and got some looks. [Do you mind?]</p><p> </p><p>[Yes] Shadow responded simply. Of course, Ansion had gone on talking again, and was explaining that there were many troopers stationed at the garrison. It went on with generally pointless details(to Akan at least), and they left to get ready.</p><p> </p><p>No break. No rest. Off they went again. But this time, Akan understood Shadow much better. Perhaps that would help them out. But taking Jen along...he didn’t like the idea of having to worry about one life, but he was stuck with two lives now. Jen just added a third. Akan stretched some, finding that he was doing the same cat-like stretch that he’d found amusing from Shadow. Damn! How was he supposed to focus like this? How was he even supposed to fight? Hearing Shadow’s thoughts was distracting even when he wasn’t trying. But having her digging through his just made it even worse. Did she plan to do that the whole time?!</p><p> </p><p>[Yes] came the same response as before. He got the feeling that she was just fascinated by humans, and had never had a chance to really learn so much about them. Damn! Why did it have to be Akan?!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ankh-Morpork Guard, post: 1822074, member: 10079"] [b]Chapter 18: The Mind is a Fragile Thing[/b] For once, Akan was early to the meeting. Despite his long talk with Shadow, and how much it truly caught his interest, he just wanted to relax some and pretend things were mostly normal. No one else was there yet, so he had a little time to mentally go over everything. Of all the things she’d told him, one stuck in his mind the most. All of his life, he’d lived on names that he’d created for himself. Since he’d never known his parents, Akan simply decided on a name that fit him. Raan Maxwell fit well for a long time, but then he changed. He changed so much that the name no longer was him. So he became Akan Tavos. But now... Shadow was not her actual name. It was a call sign she’d picked up ‘cycles ago’ as she’d put it. Her real name was Marix BlueIce. She had not gone by that name for as long as she could remember(in fact, she’d spoken of it as if it were more of a dream). Because of this, she had literally ordered him to still use the name ‘Shadow’, as that was who she was. But now... Now, Akan was her ‘Nothlit’. The word meant nothing to him, but it was the term she used to refer to the body she had created, and him on occasion. And as her Nothlit, he was in all respects her equal. This meant that he was now apart of the same Clan. BlueIce. Interesting that it was another ‘blue’...three at least, four counting the morphsuit. Akan BlueIce. One day he’d find a stable name. Obviously, today had not been that day. In fact, it wasn’t the day for a stable anything. He couldn’t help but grin at that. Shadow had explained morphing to him, but he’d not grasped it well. The idea of forcing his cells to become something they weren’t felt painful just thinking about it. According to her, it was painful without proper training. Apparently, she planned to train him. Wonderful. He’d not had a say in this, either. But he’d not fought this decision, as a small part of him was strongly interested by it. This, of course, was the same part of his mind that had to be told not to pounce Shadow’s tail when it swished, so it wasn’t to be trusted. The most interesting thing she had spoke of was the Force, itself. She’d almost been preaching to him more than suggesting the ideas she had. According to Shadow, her people saw no definite distinction between the ‘Dark Side’ and the ‘Light Side’ of the Force. To them, it was simply the Force. Magick. You could not have one without the other, so one must learn to balance both within themselves. She told him that she would be watching him carefully, as he was close to offsetting this balance with too much Light. She wouldn’t have cared if not for their new connection. It could effect each of them. Which brought her into a delicate discussion about pain. The Link they shared was a great advantage, but held the weakness that pain was transferred across it. Not as bad as the pain that was felt directly, but an echo of sorts. She’d demonstrated this be digging her claws into her own arm. Akan had cringed, feeling a strange shadow-pain in his own arm. It was something to keep in mind, of course. One of many things. The foremost being ‘Don’t die, because then we’ll both die’. This was quickly answered with ‘Well, don’t kill me again!’. It then had devolved into the tossing of insults, but never going so far as violence. They were only...half serious. Being able to know the other’s thoughts so clearly made it much easier to see the truth about the other. Some of the things were strange, but all they really picked up without trying was to surface thoughts. Anything else would have to be worked on...and Akan was in no way going to do that...yet. Shadow, however, had taken great interest in his mind. It was odd because Akan could feel her ‘looking’ through things. And then, the others entered the meeting room. No Shadow this time, just the normal five of them. Ansion and the four Division leaders. Of course, all of them gave Akan a long look, but said nothing about what had happened. In a few moments, after some general small talk amongst them, Ansion quieted them down and motioned to the holoscreen. On it, was an image of the green planet, Naboo. One section was marked with a red square, as were two sections in space. Ansion pointed to the two marked off sections in space, “According to the latest reports from the New Republic have two fleet groups placed in orbit around Naboo. The only planets that have this kind of security are Kuat, Bastion, and the other major planets. This indicates that there is something serious occurring on the planet. The section there on the planet itself is the Imperial garrison. It has grown considerably in the last year, and has more than just the New Republic worried. Now, you all know how much I hate losing good people...but we may lose a lot in this.” The female Duros, Elona, looked to Ansion with a critical eye, “In what? You are doing your best to avoid telling us exactly what is going on.” Sighing and nodding, Ansion closed his large eyes a moment, “We’re going to work with the New Republic in assaulting the planet. We will arrive about ten minutes after the Republic’s fleet has. They will engage the first fleet and attempt to also attract the attention of the second. We will exit hyperspace and move directly to the planet. Once the assault transports have launched, the Claw will leave. There is simply no way for this ship to survive out there. This means that once we’re done, we’ll be getting out with the Republic. Our destination is the garrison, of course. However, I will again be taking Division Three and leading them in an assault on a nearby city as a diversion. Division Two will also provide a diversionary assault, and their efforts will be aided by a Republic ground team that should already be down by the time we get there.” The map zoomed in to a large complex, the Imperial garrison. Ansion allowed them all a moment to look it over, and then said, “Division One will land on the north side and begin their assault there. Four will take the east. The south will be taken by another group of Republic soldiers. And the west...Akan, Shadow, and Zaarin are going that way.” “Wait wait wait,” Akan raised his hand, “Jen? She’s no good in a fight.” “Yes, but our goal is to find out what is going on there,” Ansion said simply, “And once that is known, decide whether it needs to be taken out or not. Zaarin can assist with computer codes, and determining what is happening. You and Shadow should think of yourselves as he bodyguards.” Ahh, fun. Not that he considered it babysitting...but, well, it was as close as he’d been to that in a long time. [You’re not the only one.] AH! Shadow was listening in...he’d have to get used to that. And probably mention something to Akan. [Awww, its not like I won’t find out anyway.] Akan sighed a little too loudly, and got some looks. [Do you mind?] [Yes] Shadow responded simply. Of course, Ansion had gone on talking again, and was explaining that there were many troopers stationed at the garrison. It went on with generally pointless details(to Akan at least), and they left to get ready. No break. No rest. Off they went again. But this time, Akan understood Shadow much better. Perhaps that would help them out. But taking Jen along...he didn’t like the idea of having to worry about one life, but he was stuck with two lives now. Jen just added a third. Akan stretched some, finding that he was doing the same cat-like stretch that he’d found amusing from Shadow. Damn! How was he supposed to focus like this? How was he even supposed to fight? Hearing Shadow’s thoughts was distracting even when he wasn’t trying. But having her digging through his just made it even worse. Did she plan to do that the whole time?! [Yes] came the same response as before. He got the feeling that she was just fascinated by humans, and had never had a chance to really learn so much about them. Damn! Why did it have to be Akan?! [/QUOTE]
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