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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 1918297" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 100: The PlungeIt was a five hour march before they could see anything. Amazingly, none of them were exhausted. In fact, it seemed that the closer they got, the more energized all of them became. Now, they waited. Akan stood on top of one of the larger dunes, looking down across the sands and seeing for the first time the defenses that they were up against. So many thousands of figures littered the sands below, not to mention the towers and walls of metal that would definitely slow them down. The worst part, though, was that Akan couldn’t see the entrance to the facility. If he was going to head for that, it would be helpful to know exactly the right direction to be going. Well, forward, obviously, but something more specific than that would become important.    Looking to the left, Akan took in the sights of the lines of Topsiders and the former Imperials standing behind the distant figure he knew to be Hansen. For a moment, he looked the other direction, but knew it was pointless. Even though Akan stood on top of the dune, Trker-Hon and his group were out of sight, being behind an ever larger dune. Sighing, he turned back to look at the sands in front of him. Waiting. Those creatures were moving, though, forming up in makeshift lines, about as unorganized looking as the one behind Akan.    With a slight grin, the Alraxian turned around to face the Topsiders behind him. They were a diverse group, all with scales ranging from browns to soft reds. Some even had crests. Their ‘armor’ was even more diverse, and some of them simply wore cloth. What caught Akan’s eye were the weapons, though. While some of the Topsiders held large, interestingly designed rifles, all of them had at least one bladed weapon. Many had large, metal swords, shining in the rising sun. Some even had a series of ornately carved and sharply curving knives. Long knives. In fact, they were large enough to be considered swords. Akan made a note to be careful of them. The whole metal aversion was still a new thing to him, but having felt the phantom pain from Shadow..err, Light, had proved to him that it wasn’t something to ignore.    “Sssir...” one of the Topsiders spoke up. His name Akan didn’t remember, but he thought of the creature as ‘Red Tail’. This was because his tail was spotted with soft red spots...an obvious name, but it was easy to remember. Red Tail, as Akan had found out, was one of the leaders of a much larger tribes, and Trker-Hon’s younger sibling(of course, Akan had to take their word on the younger part, they all looked about the same age to him).    Snapping back into the moment, Akan turned to Red Tail, “I already said, don’t call me that.”    “I apologize,” Red Tail bowed his head in a gesture Akan was still getting used to, then spoke in a forced Basic, “Ssshould we wait here ssstill?”    Ah. Well, it was only something he could delay so long. Akan looked back to the forming lines of the creatures below, then back to Red Tail, “You’re right. Tell them to get ready.”    As Akan turned back to face the force ahead of them, he heard Red Tail yell something in the Topsider’s native language. There was the sound of movement, and as the order echoed across the sands, Akan knew that the other two groups would likely be preparing themselves also. They were waiting on him. All of the Topsiders were waiting on him. Voort was waiting on him. Hansen was waiting. Even those four creatures that were still forming up were waiting on him. And somewhere beyond his vision, Shadow and Jen were there...Shadow wasn’t dead, but the silence he’d gotten through the link for the last few hours was unnerving. He hoped she was just ignoring him.    But delaying was over. Everything waited on Akan. They had come to this planet to finish a job. Each for their own personal reasons, but all ending with the same thing. Sadrak. And now, it all rested on Akan. Even the calming techniques couldn’t lessen this burden. It was something he couldn’t stop thinking about. But waiting was the worst part. He closed his eyes a moment, then turned back to look over the large amount of troops that he could see. How many of them would survive? They were outnumbered at least five to one. That was even being generous. It was likely to be twice that many. Now Akan knew how his superiors always felt. So few would survive, and all of it depended on one person. Waiting. Always waiting. There was movement behind him, and Akan knew that the Topsiders were wondering why he still stood there.    No more waiting. Akan reached to his belt and unhooked the lightsaber. He sighed and looked down at the hilt of the weapon for a short moment. It looked so similar to Shadow’s weapon. There were no carvings, but the general feel of it was oddly similar. Why? Was this really the connection to his family that he’d always assumed it was? Perhaps it was something completely different. Just a lucky thing to have appeared in his hands. If he died today, out on these endless sands on a backwater world, Akan would never know. It wasn’t the first time he’d wanted to know the real origin of that weapon. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be the last. Wasting time with thoughts like these again. Carefully, he thumbed the activation switch on the blade. The snap-hiss was a loud noise that seemed to cut through the empty air. Watching the shimmering blade for a moment, he held it up. Hopefully, Trker-Hon had a scout up on the dune watching.    The blue-green blade shimmered above his head for a long moment, and Akan noticed that even the displaced lines of creatures below had frozen. This was it. There was no turning back now. This was all going to end here, one way or another. Akan sent a short mental message to Shadow, knowing it wouldn’t be responded to. He simply wanted her to know they had arrived. He lowered the lightsaber to a more comfortable position, then turned around to give the Topsiders behind him a last look. The second seemed to linger for an eternity as he saw the determination on all of their lizard-like faces. They all had their own reasons to fight. No one was forced here.    As Akan turned back to face the enemy, holding his lightsaber at hip level to his side, Akan wished those thoughts would have given him comfort. For the last time, Akan cleared his mind of all thoughts. He didn’t say a word. He didn’t need to. The first step Akan took forward seemed like it was the hardest he’d ever taken. The second followed much easier, and his heavy feet lightened as he started to a run. Behind him, the sound of the Topsiders following him was nearly deafening. It wasn’t long before a loud roar came from the Topsiders, and this was soon followed by similar roars to the left and right. For how many would that be the last sound to be heard? Even for Voort, sitting back with his rifle on one of the distant dunes, couldn’t help but wonder if this was it.</blockquote>

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