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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 1875311" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 64: Sneaking OffVoort stood at the entrance to the cave, looking out across the sands of the planet. Somewhere out there, among the endless desert, was Sadrak. He could feel it. Yet something was wrong with this planet. Something that would look small from a distance, but became glaringly obvious once one got to the actual place. But what exactly it was that was wrong was impossible to determine, only that something was wrong. Unnatural perhaps was a better word. Desert planets were in no way uncommon in the galaxy, and many of them were very similar to Arranis. But something else permeated the world beyond its outer shell.    They had been back for a full hour now. Hansen was inside interrogating Trker-Hon, with Landau making sure it was nothing like the more stereotypical Imperial interrogations. He would keep it civil. Jen had gone to rest, exhausted from the activity. Nothing was said about her injured leg, which had proved to be no problem at all when the time came for her to move. Healed quickly...too quickly. Another oddity that would need to be checked out when the time came.    But that time was not now. There was no sign of either Akan or Shadow, and to add to that, Hansen had mentioned that a girl named Shira was also gone. The last would not have been worried about, except that there had been no word from her for far too long. Whether the incidents were connected, Voort didn’t know. It was possible that both Akan and Shadow were captured or killed while in Haladin. They were both very resourceful, but impaired judgement was playing around with the both of them. Akan should not have stayed in Haladin on his own, and Shadow should not have gone back alone.    It would be easy to simply forget about them. After all, it was just some animal and a kid who thought he was a Jedi. But no...that was not Voort anymore. Maybe years ago he would have truly believed that, but times had changed. He had changed. He saw this change in him reflected through Landau, who had always been a good man at heart. But Hansen. She was not a bad person, but she clung to ideals that were dead. Most of these former Imperials within the cave network clung to them. Not too long ago, these would have been Voort’s comrades. Now, though, they were simply there.     Voort’s thoughts stopped when he heard movement behind him. It took only a moment to identify who it was. He’d learned the pattern of walking and movement already. Without turning around, he said quietly, “Are you feeling better?”    Stepping over next to him and looking out over the desert, Jen nodded, “He’s gone again.”    Turning down to look at the rocks below, Voort allowed himself a gentler expression, “Good. The rest helped?”Out of the corner of his eye, Voort noticed Jen smile, “I didn’t rest.”    “Worried about the kids?” ventured Voort, finally turning to look at her.    She just shrugged, “More worried about you.”    With that short sentence, Jen had brought up a conversation they’d had(although quietly) while returning in the landspeeder. His mood darkened and he allowed himself a long sigh, “I’ve warned you before.”    “You have,” Jen agreed, giving him a concerned, almost motherly look, “But that’s doesn’t change things”    “It does,” he said flatly, not looking her in the eye and avoiding her gaze altogether, “You know well enough by now what I am.”    At that, Voort was surprised by Jen’s actions. She stepped in front of him and carefully rested a hand on his cheek, a strangely kind expression on her face, “You aren’t all bad, Titus. There’s light in there.”    “Only in memories,” answered Voort, stepping to the side and looking up the large cliff face.    This did not deter Jen. In the same voice, she said, “You know that’s not true.”    Voort wanted to say something. He truly wanted to agree with her, or even disagree with her. But for some reason, he simply couldn’t find the right words for anything. There was a long, strangely comfortable silence between them before Voort finally found some words that would work. Even if they did completely change the subject.    “We will need both of them if we’re going to confront Sadrak again.”    Jen was not surprised by the sudden change of subject, and simply moved along with it. It wasn’t hard to read where Voort’s thoughts were going, and the months they’d spent together had only assisted this, “Right now, though?”    “Can you think of a better time?” he answered her question with another equally valid one.    She couldn’t help but agree, allowing a quick glance back into the cave, “Alone?”    “We’ll be back by nightfall.”    At that, Jen couldn’t hold back a short laugh, “The sun hasn’t even come up yet.”    Voort allowed himself a grin, “Then we’d better get going.”    There was a short pause where Jen wondered if Voort was really being serious. When he turned and walked into the cave without another word, she was sure of it. Truthfully, the first thing one would think he’d do after speaking those words was to jump down and head off. But really, that would be stupid without any kind of defense. A smile on her face, Jen did her best to make her self hard to notice before sneaking off to get her things.</blockquote>

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