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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 1863382" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 53: Those Left BehindHer name was Annika Hansen. Neither she, nor the fifteen among her group were actually Narani. They were former Imperials all. According to her, not long after the Battle of Endor, the a large group of Narani assaulted Haladin. Those with her were the only ones who managed to get out alive. They had managed to get a hold of Narani robes and equipment, disguising themselves as the desert people and have simply lived posing as a Narani tribe since then. As the tribes had little contact among each other most of the time, it was not hard to simply stay in the caves and live. No one ever spoke of leaving the planet, simply surviving.    That explained how she’d known Landau, as they had both served on the planet together. Hansen as his second in command until Landau left. It didn’t explain Voort, though. Once this question was brought up, Hansen explained that they’d graduated from the Academy in the same class. She had been a good friend of his wife, who was a civilian, and through Hansen, the two had met. So, in the small cave network among the larger rocks just south of where Haladin was reported to be, the three Imperials talked of old times. This left Akan and Shadow feeling awkward.    First, they were the only non-humans among the group. Getting stared at drove them crazy to the point where they found a nice, quiet place, morphed human, and got no looks other beyond ‘you’re the new people’ after that. Well, except from those that had seen them before, and both Akan and Shadow just shrugged at the questions of their current appearance. Shadow was having trouble as a human. Lack of tail was causing her balance problems, so she had taken to leaning against the wall for assistance...not that she’d admit it. Akan had been forced to argue with her to convince her to morph human, noting that it would be harder for them to be noticed by anyone after them if they weren’t Alraxian. Once she’d finally morphed, only to shut him up, she’d been amazed by the immense heat of the place.    Akan was ignoring the heat, trying to listen to the three Imperials talking and keeping an eye on the people who would walk back and forth. He didn’t feel comfortable in this place...the Empire had fallen, yes, but these people were still Imperials. Only Landau truly considered himself no longer among the Empire. Even Voort, despite his speaking otherwise, was still loyal to the long dead Emperor.     “And you think its Sadrak?” Hansen asked, looking to Voort. Akan had missed most of what they’d said, but it was something to do with more organized movement by the Narani and crude starships that were being built in the city.    Landau was the one to nod, “It fits.”    “You said you killed him, didn’t you?” asked Hansen, her eyes still on Voort.    He just shrugged, “There are ways he could have escaped that fate. And I’d not put any of them past him. Nor would I put it past him to have made it here and be working towards getting some of his power back.”    The three of them went on babbling about something when Shadow poked Akan in the arm. He glanced to her, and she ‘said’. [Look over towards the hallway over there.]    She didn’t point, but rather mentally pushed him in that direction. Around the corner, he could see the two guards that were there the entire time. The two men were standing around facing the other direction, talking among each other about nothing in particular. But it was past the man to the right that Shadow was pointing Akan towards. He’d never have noticed if she’d not done that. A face could be seen between the wall and the guard. Small, probably kneeling against the wall opposite the guard. Akan looked closely, identifying the face as that of a girl probably a year or so younger than him. Strange...that would mean she was a child when Haladin was assaulted if his time sense was correct.    The girl’s eyes widened a moment, and then she was gone. Akan looked back to Shadow, raising an eyebrow. [Spying on us?]    [On you.] Shadow corrected quickly.    [What do you mean?]    Shadow shrugged. [She was only watching you.]    Akan was about to respond, but a man walked into the room, still covered in robes and taking off the face mask. Hansen caught sight of him and quickly stood up, stopping the conversation she was having with Voort and Landau, “What are you doing here, Caars? You should be in Haladin.”    “I’m sorry, Annika,” the man Caars shook his head, looking exhausted, “Don’t worry, the rest are still there. But there was news too important to risk being intercepted.”    Hansen nodded, but looked worried suddenly, “What is it?”    Not taking notice of either Voort or Landau, Caars said quickly, “A group of scouts returned from one of the downed ships two hours before I left. They arrived with a woman. One of the passengers aboard the shuttle that went down.”    Voort, Landau, and Akan all exchanged looks, and moved enough to look like they were all going to speak at once. But Shadow beat the three of them to it, saying simply, “When do we leave?”    Hansen, for the first time, really looked to the two false humans standing on the opposite wall. She seemed to be ignoring them and acting like they didn’t exist. It annoyed Akan, because he’d seen it before from Imperials. The way they treated non-humans. But what was this prejudiced Imperial to do now that the non-humans wore human skin? At that, he couldn’t help but smile.    But Annika’s mind was working on other things, and she quickly said, “Caars, get yourself some rest. Once you’re rested, we’re going back with you.”    The man nodded, seemed to relax, and left the room. Silence hung in the air for a long while. Eventually, Voort spoke, “We’ll need a holo of the city layout.”    “And anything else you’ve got,” Akan added, stepping over to the small table for the first time. Shadow didn’t follow him, but she did move slightly closer and seem to pay more attention as the six of them started working on a plan to get into the city. Honestly, it was suicide. To Akan, that just mean more fun.</blockquote>

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