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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 1911830" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 98: Planning“No! We have to go back!” Shadow yelled, trying to claw out of Akan’s grip to barrel past Voort and Jen, probably mauling them in the process. Akan nearly lost his grip on her, but switch to her arms and did his best to ignore the claws that were now digging into his wrists.    Jen couldn’t speak. She just stayed close to Voort, eyes red from tears. Voort just slowly shook his head, “He’s gone.”    “NO!” again, Shadow wrenched violently against Akan’s hold. That odd glazed expression passed over her face, and Jen knew that Akan had ‘said’ something to her. This was even more evident when Shadow just slumped forward. Akan didn’t let go of her arms, but wasn’t sure what to do. It didn’t look like she was going to murder anyone anymore. Carefully, he let go.    Shadow just brought her arms down and stared blankly at the floor in a state of shock. Akan watched her for a moment, not knowing what to think. He turned to look back to the two humans, and got the same helpless look from Jen. Voort though...he seemed strangely stoic. Akan recognized that, though. He’d been like that himself for a good three years. He also knew that Voort was better at handling himself than Akan was. It was just how Voort dealt with this kind of thing.    They’d arrived about ten minutes earlier. Hansen had been told first, and she’d tried to stay with them to get some kind of plan together afterwards, but had to leave to ‘think’ as she’d said. After that, Jen and Voort went to find the two Alraxians. Obviously, Shadow hadn’t taken it well. They didn’t have to explain it in any detail, as both Akan and Shadow seemed to pick up on the actual events with only a few words having been spoken. Akan had just gone silent, looking like he wanted to say something but never really finding any words. Shadow, on the other hand, had immediately launched into accusations. At first, she blamed Voort, then upon getting the ‘minor’ detail that Jen was the one who’d shot Landau, had nearly pounced the woman and torn her to pieces. That was when Akan had grabbed her, picking Shadow out of the air and dragging her back to the ground.    Now they just stood in silence. What was there to say? What was there to do? This planet was such a horrible place. Damn Sadrak. He’d done this, and they all knew it. Even Shadow didn’t truly blame Jen for it. Slowly, the Alraxian girl got to her feet, that old emotionless look on her face. In that quietly calm and controlled voice, she said, “There’s no time to wait anymore.”On that, they all agreed.* * * *In less than a day, they were all in the old briefing room of the garrison building. Sitting and standing around the large circular table with an older model holoprojector in the center, were Voort, Jen, Akan, Shadow, Hansen, and Trker-Hon. From what Akan could tell, Voort, Hansen, and the Topsider had spent the day refining their plan with the smaller number of warriors at their disposal. How many, exactly, only they new at the moment. Not for long, though, and the three others truly wished that they’d kept the bad news to themselves.    “Fifteen hundred,” Hansen announced quietly, almost trying to hide how badly outnumbered they were.    Voort was getting ready to say something, but Jen waved her hand to get some attention. Something had been bothering her, and Jen felt like she had finally figured it out. Through all of this, she felt like there wasn’t any place for her. Sure, she could go in alongside Voort or Akan or Shadow and help out there...but no. She was extra weight too often. Now, she was sure of what to do, distantly encouraged on by that part of her mind that wasn’t all Jen, “I don’t know what you’re planning to do, but I’m not going.”    “What do you mean?” asked Hansen, a confused look crossing not only her face, but all the others. Well, except Shadow. She seemed emotionless ever since Landau had died. Much like when Jen had first met the Alraxian.    Closing her eyes a moment, Jen attempted to confirm if she was going to do the right thing. That confirmation came twice. Once from herself, and the second from that non-Jen that she still didn’t have figured out completely. All she really was sure of is that it was to be trusted. Opening her eyes again, Jen said, “I need to go behind the lines and confront Him.”    Silence. Voort broke it, “Are you crazy?”    “Maybe,” Jen answered with a shrug, but her eyes then locked with his and she hoped he’d understand somehow, “But I have to do this,” she paused, searching for that key to understanding in Voort’s eyes, and then just said, “Trust me. Please.”    “Well I’ll go with you,” said Voort, almost too quickly and looking to both Trker-Hon and Hansen for some kind of support. He got it from neither.    Instead, Hansen said, “You know we need you out there.”    Another silence. Voort didn’t break it this time, instead stuck going over the conflicting situations. Allow Jen to run into Sadrak’s base behind enemy lines on her own? But going with her would force them to rework the entire attack plan. It was too late for that now...unless they were going to wait yet another long day. Thankfully, Voort didn’t have to make a choice. Instead, Shadow spoke, “I can get her in. I will go with her.”    [No revenge.] Akan’s voice sounded through her mind not a half second after she’d finished speaking.    She simply shot him a sideways glance, responding only with emotion. She may not get that revenge herself, but Jen was obviously up to something. If Jen killed him, so be it. As long as he died and Shadow was there to make sure of it. Jen was even surprised to see Voort nod at Shadow’s words. Hansen seemed reluctant to accept it, and the Topsider seemed to be waiting on the actual discussion to begin.    “Well...we can...talk about this afterwards,” Voort said slowly, motioning to the holoprojector. It activated, showing a flickering and faint image of the outlying dunes around the facility. Very old holoprojector...a few colored points appeared all along the inner section. They were red, and it was easy to tell from their position that they were Sadrak forces. It was a mass of red over the sand. So many...and it was only an estimate. A moment later, three green sections appeared, one to the center, one to the left, and one to the right. Then the image cut off.    Voort cursed and kicked the table. The holo image flickered on for a half second and then shut off again. When Voort got ready to beat the piece of junk, Hansen got to her feet and put a hand on his shoulder, saying, “You at least got a short look at it. We’ll divide the forces into three five hundred troop divisions. I will lead the right flank, Trker-Hon will take the left, and Akan the center.”    “I’ll what?!” Akan asked, leaning forwards and genuinely surprised at not having been notified of this beforehand. Really, leading a suicide mission was one thing...but a ground assault down the center of a suicide mission? He was a pilot! A special forces soldier! He wasn’t a grunt trooper! The only ground experience he had was sneaking around!    Voort couldn’t help a slight grin at Akan’s reaction. It was expected. Having a seat, the man said, “The groups on each side will be more diversionary forces than anything. Split the defenses to leave a hole. Your group needs to get inside the facility and clear it out. And...meet up with Jen and Shadow if you can.”    “You want me to just plow through the strongest point in their defenses?” Akan was asking honestly, no sarcasm in his voice at all for once, “I’m no officer, and never was, but isn’t that...well, stupid?”    “If that was the only part, yes,” responded Voort with a nod. He raised a hand to stop any comment and continued speaking, “But it isn’t. It seems that the armory here had a nice model sharpshooter rifle. I’ll be sitting back on a dune behind you and clearing a path.”    “How comforting,” grumbled Akan under his breath, looking down to the table and then over to the emotionless Shadow.    Hansen smiled, “Since this will be your first time doing anything like this, Voort and I figured you’d need a briefing in general tactics.”    “You mean I can’t just run in and chop things up until I get inside?” the sarcasm returned so quickly to Akan’s voice that even Jen grinned a little.    “Interestingly enough,” Voort said while leaning back in the chair, “That’s the extent of it. The tactics part is more, don’t get shot or stabbed. The usual. But there is something we all need to learn about,” he then motioned to Trker-Hon, “Topsiders. Specifically, the more useful words in their native tongue for this. Most of the Topsiders don’t understand Basic, so we’ll need to learn the words ‘charge’, ‘stop’, etc. The basics, really.”    “Can we learn curse words?” Akan’s sarcasm continued. It got Jen wondering how he ever lived through any kind of military briefing. She’d only been involved in one or two, and even the most arrogant fighter pilots she’d met wouldn’t continually make comments like that. But it was levity that they all needed, so perhaps he was doing it on purpose. Hopefully. Jen didn’t really hear the rest of the briefing. Most of the time, she found herself studying Shadow. With that morphing technique, getting into Sadrak’s base wouldn’t be too much trouble. But then what?    ‘Then I will assist you.’    Oh. Great. So the voices in her head were going to save the day. One hell of a way to tell if someone was crazy, but it didn’t seem like there was any other option anymore.</blockquote>

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