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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 1889049" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 79: Apologies“The turbolaser batteries have been taken out and we’re starting the attack. Wait five minutes then head in,” Hansen’s voice sounded over the comlink. Landau simply nodded to that, not speaking to her but instead just cutting off the comlink. He looked back to the two Alraxians, somewhat curious about the two of them. He didn’t need to relay the information, as they’d both heard.    Sitting behind the large rock was becoming uncomfortable for all of them. Landau noticed that Light was continually shifting around and looking jittery. Akan was in a state of calm, just staring ahead and waiting. Seeing as he was used to this kind of mission, Landau assumed this was how the young man prepared mentally. Young Man. He smiled slightly at that. Akan was still young. Interesting that Light had explained earlier that she was twenty cycles old. Apparently, that translated to roughly sixty standard years. She was older than Landau was by eighteen years. And yet...to her people, she was a child. But that didn’t interest him as much as Akan’s age. Light had explained that by normal Alraxian standards, he was still an infant. Young man was even a stretch. Landau had teased the boy about this, and was actually surprised at the good natured attitude with which Akan had responded. He seemed to be strangely calm and light hearted while mentally preparing himself.    Landau always encouraged that among his men, yet was always surprised to see it among others. It made him feel safe. Despite that, he was worried. More about Light. All that twitching and fidgeting showed a nervousness and annoyance that would only cause trouble. Quietly, he asked, “Are you alright?”    Slowly, Light’s two bright eyes raised to him, showing a somewhat terrified expression. She shook her head and almost clung to the sand itself. Akan sighed and finally seemed to be paying attention to the things happening around him. He looked to Light, then back to Landau, saying, “She’s afraid it’s a trap.”    “That’s not everything,” Landau pointed out, not completely a fool to anyone’s moods.    Akan nodded, “She’s not Shadow. She has no will to fight...no want to fight. But at the same time, she refused to be left behind.”    Turning a curious look to Light, Landau said, “You’re talking about her like she’s not sitting right next to you.”    Akan just shrugged. But that seemed to get Light’s attention again, and she managed to speak, “He’s right. I won’t get in the way. I can still help...I’m not useless.”    She then trailed off repeating her last words a few times, and both Landau and Akan exchanged looks. No words needed to be said on that. Light had problems. Serious problems. But really, she was half a person. It made sense to have problems. At least Akan was more balanced and only seemed to have fits of trouble every so often. He could control it. Or at least...Landau thought he could. Hoped. One unstable mind was enough to deal with. Two, though. Landau wouldn’t be able to deal with that. Hopefully Akan could keep himself together through this.    So they went back to silence. Thinking to themselves and listening to the distant pops and explosions from the firefight beyond. Only a few more minutes, and the three of them would break into Haladin and capture it themselves. Insane. Yet perfect. Narani were not tacticians, and that’s how Landau knew this would work. Should work. Probably...no. No doubts now. Too late for that. Either it worked, or they died. There wasn’t an in between. Oh how long it had been since he’d felt this. Sending people to their deaths. Slowly, Landau looked back over to Akan. He’d sent boys to their death younger than this one sitting here in front of him. In fact, Akan would have been considered an ‘old man’ among the troops . Under Landau’s command, the average age of the real soldiers was twenty. He never counted the officers, as most of them simply got their position because of their family. Few ever worked for it. Landau had been one to work up the ranks, and he respected the common soldier so much more for it.    His thoughts were wandering. Focus. Landau checked the chrono. Seeing the time on it, he stood up and looked to the two Alraxians, “Lets go.”    When the two of them got up, Landau pulled out his extra blaster pistol. A small hold out kind, but a weapon none the less. He then handed it to Light, nearly have to force it into her hands. She’d tried refusing to take it, but it was Akan who’d spoken up, “Just take it. If anything to protect yourself.”    She’d given in, and they started a quick run across the sands of the plateau towards the walls of the city. Landau had the lead only because he knew exactly where the communications center was. Or at least, had been. There was so much heavy equipment that moving it would be insane, so hopefully it was still there. He’d not told this to anyone else, of course. Off on both sides of the city, they could see flashes of shots from slugthrowers and a few blasters here and there. It looked chaotic on both ends. Which was good. Very good.    Reaching the wall without encountering anyone, the three of them moved swiftly to the nearest opening to a small street. Akan was the first to move around the corner, seeing no one and then signaled to the other two. Landau stepped around and took the lead again with Light keeping right behind. Both Akan and Landau were keeping eyes everywhere. Each alley they passed, they looked down, while at the same time not neglecting to watch the street ahead. All empty. So far, still doing well. So far, the plan was working. So far.    So far ended quickly. And instead of running straight into a group of Narani like they’d expected to be the scenario, they simply passed a street and then heard shots. A moment later, sand was flying up behind them and a couple of buildings had new dents in them. Akan grabbed Light and yanked her around to the other side of them, knowing that he being in front was not going to be a good thing. The three of them moved against one of the buildings next to the intersection, with Akan reaching around ever few moments to fire off a few shots to keep the Narani from approaching. After his first barrage, quickly answered with a barrage from slugthrowers, Akan said, “About six of them. I think they’re as surprised as we are.”    He paused to turn the corner and fire a few more shots. When he pulled back around the corner, a couple of shots came far too close, and Landau looked at yet another hole in the Alraxian’s cloak. That thing was going to be tatters soon. Akan didn’t seem to take notice, just continuing what he had been saying without a change in his tone, “Take Light and get to the comm center. I’ll stay back and keep them away.”    “We’re not splitting up,” Landau said firmly. Akan didn’t answer right away, instead turning the corner to fire a few more shots.    Pulling back again, Akan managed a nod, “Agreed. I’ll keep behind you a good distance but make sure you’re still in sight.”    As more shots pocketed the sand and corner of the building, Landau nodded and took Light’s arm. She seemed surprise by the tightness of the grip, but did her best to keep up as he started running across the open street they’d originally been moving down. They rounded a corner down a smaller street, with Landau looking back to see that both the area behind them was clear and Akan was catching up. He was moving. Slowly, though, and not really paying attention to the two of them. So much like Voort when it came to fighting. Landau turned his focus back to the street in front of him just as Light made a noise of surprise.    Four Narani rounded the corner and froze. They were running and nearly fell over to stop. The second passed, and Landau had just a half second to pull himself an Light into a small break between two of the buildings. Slugthrower shots pocketed the side of the building, puffs of dust and rock flying out and getting in their eyes. Landau now had a problem. Light was on the outside, and there was barely enough room for him to reach around her and fire. He managed it, but only by placing his arm across her nose. She’d complained, and he pulled back behind the cover.    “You have to do this!” he growled as they both heard the Narani’s footsteps approaching. It was easy to hear, especially considering the short distance between them already. For too long, Light did nothing. Too long was only thirty seconds, but that was far more than enough time for the Narani to get to them. When she finally did turn the corner, she was face to face with them. Light recieved a hit to the face from the butt of one of the guns. A crack sounded from her jaw as she stumbled back, squeezing the blaster’s trigger and firing it into the sand. A tower of sand shot up, blinding all of them. Landau pushed Light to the side so he could stand out and punched the nearest figure. He fell to the ground, and as Landau trained his weapon on another figure through the clearing sand, he heard the sound of a slugthrower fire. One of the Narani had manage to get a shot of. A second later, there was a scream from Light, and Landau watched her collapse to the ground. Quickly firing off two more shots, Landau dropped another of the Narani before connecting his elbow with a third. The fourth turned on him and swung a heavy punch, but Landau ducked and slammed his fist into the Narani’s stomach. A moment later, he kicked the humanoid to the ground and fired the blaster. It was not cruel to kill him. The others were unconscious, but that one would have easily trained his weapon on Landau a second later.    Adrenaline still rushing through his veins, Landau turned to the painful moaning and screaming from Light. She was on the ground, clinging her left leg which had a small hole in it. Blue colored blood was covering the sand and her arm as she rolled from side to side, claws digging into her own leg as she screamed. He panicked slightly, but knelt down and put a hand over her mouth to at least quiet her some, “Can’t you fix that?!”    Through a muffled yell of pain, she shook her head violently. Metal. It was metal. If she tried to remorph it, the metal would spread through her veins and simply kill her. It was nearly impossible to resist the urge to attempt remorphing the wound, but she somehow kept the willpower to stop herself from attempting anything. Just that feeling of the bullet in her was enough to cause her to scream. But the fact that she was having to endure pain. Such horrible pain. Alraxians were so used to simply shrugging off even the worst of injuries that when confronted with real pain, it was obvious that they didn’t know what to do.    Neither did Landau. He didn’t understand why she didn’t fix it. He didn’t understand why she wouldn’t stop yelling through his hand. He made a quick decision, and picked her up, getting her on one leg and saying, “We can’t stay here. Just two more blocks. Can you make it?”    Light made another yelling noise into his hand but clung to him as best she could. Of course, she also bit into his hand, causing him a large amount of pain from her sharp teeth. Somehow, Landau ignored this and moved as fast as he could with her. Thankfully, in the short time it took to run/limp to the comm center, they encountered no other Narani. Landau took a deep breath and did his best to keep his blaster ready while still holding up Light with his other hand.    Then, he pressed the door’s switch. It slid open to a small entrance room. Behind a desk facing the other direction was a young man, who immediately spun around to say something. His mouth opened, but he recieved a blaster bolt to the chest for his trouble. Landau helped Light into the room and sat her down in the chair that the man had fallen out of. She was still squiring and wrenching around painfully, though her screams were dulled to grunts and other strange noises. For a moment, he kept his hand over her mouth, “Sit here. I’ll clear the rest of the building then get back. But you have to be silent. Okay?”    Her teeth let go of his hand, a relief for Landau as he now tried to ignore that pain, and Light nodded violently. When he pulled his hand away, she was biting her lip roughly, blood seeping out from her lower lip. But it muffled the sound, and she was definitely more concerned with the wound in her leg. Small...but impossibly painful. Landau nodded to her, then moved over to the single other door. Hitting the switch, the door opened up to a small hallway that should lead to a few technical rooms and access chambers, but most importantly, the relay command center. That would be the door at the end of the hall. No even paying attention to the others, Landau ran to the end of the hallway.    He didn’t wait at all once he’d reached the end, hitting the switch and looking into the large, console filled circular room. Sitting at two of the stations were Narani. They spun around, and the first received the same treatment as the ‘guard’ at the entrance. He got a blaster bolt to the upper torso which sent him to the floor. The second Narani reached for a small slugthrower pistol, picking it up and managing to squeeze off a shot. Landau ducked and rolled(feeling a bit of pain and knowing he was getting too old for all of this) out of the way, then fired a return shot. It missed, but instead hit the console. A flash of sparks and a small fire made the Narani yelp in pain and jump back, falling to the floor and making himself an easy target for Landau’s next shot. Ignoring the ache, Landau fired six more times. Once at each of the consoles, easily destroyed them and taking out the main relay. He looked across the walls and found a small hatch, which he opened to find a series of wires. Those should be the main power lines. Reaching in with a black gloved hand, Landau ripped them out with ease.    The lights went out. Emergency lights came on. All the sounds of the workings in the building stopped. They’d done it. Now it was up to the others.    But there was still chaos within the street. Akan was running back to catch up and find more cover when a sudden pain racked through his left leg. Cringing and nearly crying out himself, Akan stumbled to the ground and felt the familiar sand of Haladin’s ground. This place was cursed. But no. He’d not been shot! The Narani weren’t even around the corner yet. They...they...he heard screaming. Loud screaming. Shadow. No! Light. Light. Hurt? Leg. By the Force it still hurt. A pain like he’d never felt, especially through the link. Why so strong?! And why wasn’t it going away? She wasn’t remorphing!! Why not?!    He couldn’t move. Or rather, moving that leg caused extreme pain through his leg. This was not a good time for the link to decide to strengthen like that. Especially because the five Narani were just coming around the corner. Gritting his teeth and doing his best to ignore the pain, Akan fired a wild barrage of blaster shots in the general direction of his pursuers. Surprised by this, they quickly ducked back behind the corner for cover, giving Akan a short few moments to attempt crawling. On his right side and using every bit of willpower he could to keep moving, Akan crawled towards a stacking of crates against a far wall. It would be sufficient to hide behind. But he was moving too slow. This was quickly proved to be fact when he heard slugthrowers fire. At first, they went straight over him. The Narani were shooting blindly and hadn’t actually seen him fall. Good. No. It would have been good if they hadn’t looked. But they did. Two shots his the sand right next to him, and Akan felt the sand burn his skin as the bullets dug in far too close. Again, Akan fired wildly with his blaster to keep them back, this time not able to hold back a painful groan as he continued his panicked crawl.    It couldn’t be remorphed. It wasn’t him. It was Light...but it wouldn’t stop hurting! He’d never felt anything like this before. He’d been shot without being shot. Akan did not stop firing with his blaster pistol, crawling forward as best he could and getting within only a few meters when the impossible happened. Akan died a little more on the inside when his blaster suddenly clicked and then made a disturbingly pained groan. Almost sounded like him. The grip was getting warm too. The power pack had overloaded! Sithspit! Not having the energy to curse out loud, he growled violently and did the best thing he could. Akan threw the now useless blaster pistol at the wall. A Narani had turned the corner at hearing the stop in fire, only to be hit in the face with the blaster. Akan would have found this hilarious if he’d been watching...and if he’d not been in extreme pain.    But somehow, this strange attack had surprised the other Narani enough to give him time to get behind the crates. He slumped back against the crates, one hand undoing the lightsaber from his belt and activating the blade. They knew where he was already, so he might as well keep the weapon up for when they came after him. His other hand, though, was down on his leg where the shadowed pain continued to pulse through his leg. Growling painfully again, Akan called out to Light. [Dammit!! What happened?!]    Light’s ‘voice’ sounded just as pained as his. [Metal! Get it out of me!! GET IT OUT!!!]    Alright. She was worse off than he was. Holding the lightsaber in his hand and knowing the Narani were going to catch up in a matter of seconds, Akan wondered what to do. The pain was too much to get up. He couldn’t fight. He was stuck. For the first time in his life, he was facing death. And it was far more painful than he’d ever expected. He’d also never expected to not be shot and hurt like this. Damn those archaic weapons. But things were going to get worse. Akan had failed to notice the slight hint of attention within the link. The Darks had heard. This extremely dangerous turn of events for Akan had just been alerted to the Darks. And they weren’t just going to give this advantage up.    If Akan had known they were soon approaching, he would have just deactivated the lightsaber and let the Narani kill him then and there. But he didn’t. All he knew was that the Narani were moving towards him slowly. They knew he was injured. They could hear his groans and growls out of pain. They could see the tip of the blue-green lightsaber over the crates. They knew, just as he did, that the lightsaber would do him no good without him being able to move. Akan’s rushing mind stopped. He found nothing. Nothing at all. So he simply turned and watched the blank section of the street that would soon be Narani. Moving the lightsaber in front of him, he closed his eyes and said very quietly, “I’m sorry, Shadow. I didn’t mean for this to happen.”    A tear rolled down his cheek as he opened his eyes to the flash of a slugthrower barely five meters away.</blockquote>

Verification