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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 1944165" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 115: To the Core...The flight to Corellia was a long one. Thankfully, they weren’t in any rush, so relaxing in the empty nothingness of hyperspace came as a luxury. Jen and Voort...Titus spent most of the trip together, not really avoiding the Alraxians as much as glad to have some form of privacy. The times when Jen did wander out, she found that Akan was still avoiding her. In fact, he wouldn’t even make eye contact with her. She’d even had a short conversation with the humanoid feline equivalent of a durasteel wall until giving up, kicking him in the shin and wandering off. The whole time he’d just stared into space...well, not literally, he’d been literally staring at Loki’s wall and probably talking with the ship to ‘cheat’. He always got that glazed eyed look when he was talking with Shadow through their link, and it seemed to be the same way with Loki.    Shadow had barely moved from her seat in the cockpit, leaning it back so she could get some quiet sleep. But quiet sleep never came to her...in fact, no sleep did. Though that image of her dream returned more than once and that damned voice started up again. The only way she’d found to drown out the voice was to speak with Loki...and that wasn’t a bad thing at all. The little(well, in comparison to full grown Kanyaks at least) ship had been holed up on his own so long that any conversation(especially with her) was nice.    But Titus had been the quietest the entire trip. Or at least, the quietest around the Alraxians. It seemed that Akan had started avoiding him as well as Jen, and Titus couldn’t help but see this as a good thing. Not because he didn’t like the kid, but Titus had a feeling that Akan would go back to their old agreement anytime now. It was in the Alraxian’s eyes and the way his emotions pulsed through the Force like a beacon. He wasn’t happy. Fear was the easier translation, and Titus knew all too well what that could lead to. For him, it had been blind following of the Emperor and the corruption of the Empire itself...for Akan, it was likely going to be more direct, and more violent. Probably directed at Titus.    At least Loki was happy. He’d started by having long conversations with the two humans on board, questioning them on about everything he could think of. It was mostly about what had gone on while he’d be locked away in that warehouse, but a few random things popped in that couldn’t help but get grins on the two human’s faces. They’d seen Shadow and Akan acting like small children and doing things like that before...but the idea of the ship they were in acting the same way was even more amusing. After two straight hours of questioning, Loki had turned his attention on the other newcomer: Akan. Again, he’d mostly questioned about history, but Akan had been just as curious and shot back a hundred questions right back at Loki. Akan learned about Kanyaks and a little more about Alraxians, and Loki learned about Akan and how he’d gotten to this point and how he’d known Shadow and...and...well, pretty much everything. The ship was amazingly curious.    And then, finally, they dropped out of hyperspace. Corellia was a surprisingly beautiful planet considering how urban it was. Unlike Coruscant, the people of Corellia had limited their cities enough that there were large sections of beautiful grasslands and shining oceans. Traffic above the planet was as numerous as usual, with every kind of ship going here and there. It was such a myriad of different ships from different places and even times(some being older than the Empire) that Loki wouldn’t look out of place at all. Following Titus’ direction, Loki set down in one of the smaller docking facilities in the large capital city of Coronet. After having to convince Loki that they would be coming back in a couple of hours and he wouldn’t be left alone again, the four of them started on their way into the city.    Well, that was after a couple of other important things. Such as a long argument with Shadow that Alraxians would be easy to notice on the Core world, and that she and Akan should at least be something more common...human was never said directly, but it was what Akan had chosen and had assisted in the argument from. Three humans against one Alraxians. Well, three humans and a Kanyak. Loki agreed with the others, considering that it was more likely for her to return if she was harder to notice. He’d learned well about that in the past, and wasn’t going to just ignore all that knowledge...especially on Corellia where he’d been left for years. In the end, Shadow did change, but not to human. There was no way she was going to deal with that again...at least not yet. So now, they were three humans and a Falleen. No one mentioned that female Falleen were rare off their home planet, but when she’d disappeared and then reappeared wearing expensive looking robes things changed.    Now, they a female Falleen and her three human attendants. For some reason, no one argued this, deciding that it was at least a good disguise. The reptilian Falleen only ever seemed to leave their home planet if they were nobles traveling the galaxy. After Darth Vader had poisoned the planet and killed most of the species off, the only real survivors were those nobles. So, if one was to see a Falleen, it would be assumed they were a noble and, of course, rich. The flowing blue and gold robes sure made Shadow look rich. This long solving of a simple problem quickly led to a second important trouble before getting into the city. Leaving Loki, they’d been confronted by a docking officer asking(well, demanding but in that polite way that could really make you feel like you had a choice) for them to pay a two hundred credit docking fee. Surprisingly, Shadow had dealt with this without a misstep, giving the young CorSec officer(or at least, the green uniform hinted at him being with CorSec) a look of contempt before speaking very quietly.    “We will only be here for a short time,” Shadow said in the slow, deliberate tones of a ‘true’ snobbish noble. Idly, she ran a green hand through her straight black hair, not even looking at the human, “I believe you can wave the fee.”    Neither Titus or Jen noticed the slight reddish tint to her skin, but Akan did. They all noticed, though, a small and somewhat odd smell in the air. It was...was...pleasant would have been the best word for it. Voort identified it right away, and couldn’t help a grin. Pheromones. Of which Fallen had very strong, and were a rare case in that they could affect other species of similar genetic makeup. That meant most humanoids in the galaxy. So Shadow had picked the reptilian body for a good reason. The docking officer had just nodded in a dazed way, then wandered off. Shadow turned to the three humans and gave a typical grin without saying anything.    [That’s cheating.] Akan had commented before they started going.    Shadow just shrugged and let Titus lead the way as he knew where they were going. [Natural advantages are not cheating.]    [Morphing is.] came Akan’s quick retort.    That just got a bigger grin from Shadow. [Only because you don’t practice enough.]    The two argued ‘silently’ as Voort led them through large crowds among that populated the large streets between the towering skyscrapers. Jen had nearly lost her way going back and forth down street after street. How long that Titus had led them around she didn’t know, but it was at least half an hour, if not even longer. It was odd to be surrounded by so many people and to be ignored. Somehow, the barren emptiness of Arranis had been less unnerving. At least there you weren’t being stared at. At least there you didn’t feel like people should being trying to steal things...sell things...or even acknowledge you existed instead of bumping into you and nearly knocking you over.    And then, finally, Titus led them to a building. It was smaller than the larger skyscrapers that littered Coronet, but then again, this part of the city was generally smaller than where they’d landed. This was actually more rundown, and probably the slums that the nobles and tourists avoided...even the locals probably didn’t venture to this place. Jen wasn’t the only one of them to notice how Akan had changed. He’d been watching every back alley a little too closely, looking around with an odd sense of deja vu on his face. None of them knew that this was the area he’d grown up in, and he was just picking out old spots where he’d slept at night. It was depressing almost, but then again...he’d gone from the little street kid to fighter pilot to Jedi to...well, to a different species. Who else could claim that? But for some reason, that just wasn’t comforting enough. Nothing seemed to be anymore. That damned dream just wouldn’t go away, and he wished he could do something about it. But no...no it was too late and Akan was just going to have to do what he could while he could.    Inside, Titus had a long talk with a young, bald human wearing short brown robes. The talk was fairly calm for a while, but eventually got heated enough that Jen started to wonder if weapons would be drawn. But no, finally, the man nodded and retreated into a small door, leaving the four of them in a small antechamber to give Titus a questioning look.    “Old friend runs the temple here,” he said, answering the unspoken questions, “Seems the new kid around isn’t receptive to visitors.”    “Temple?” Akan asked, knowing what they were here for but not used to a proliferation of religions. They just weren’t all that common even with the Jedi being so small in number. Everyone knew the Force existed, even if they denied it, it was there. All religions seemed to always just be variations on Force worship, so had died out with the Empire’s purge of the Jedi long ago. If one worshiped magic, you worshiped the Force, and that always got the Emperor’s attention...never a good thing.    “Long story,” was Titus’ only answer, and strangely enough, Akan let it go. It probably was a long story. Everything was these days.    Eventually, things were gotten together and the four of them were split up into two groups. Jen and Shadow were ushered off into one direction, with Titus and Akan the other way. Akan, obviously, wasn’t thrilled about this, but Shadow had given him a ‘don’t do anything stupid’ lecture and he wasn’t in the mood to get her angry right now. Too much work involved. He and Titus had been taken into a fairly large chamber with an alter atop a few stairs. Akan recognized the symbols that lined the stone alter as an odd mix of old Corellian dialect and some Jedi symbols. Force worship.    His thoughts were cut off by a couple of women in the same brown robes entered, babbling on about nothing in particular and then doing their best to tidy he and Titus up. Titus took it well, allowing them to mess with his hair and uniform, but Akan fought them all the way. Mainly because they constantly told him he looked like a mess, which he had no problem with, and went after his hair again and again. Each time, he ‘fixed’ it back, and probably got hit more than once for being indignant.    Shadow was lucky. Because of the expensive robes she’d chosen, none of the attendants went after her at all. So she just say back as Jen was attacked. It was almost surprising that Jen struggled against it, obviously liking how she looked just fine and not needing any help. In the back of her mind, she made a mental note to get Titus for this. But then again, it would be worth it. Or should be. If it wasn’t, again, he’d get it.* * * *In another part of the galaxy, sitting at the top of a large skyscraper four times as big as the largest ones in Coronet, a figure sat in a small chair. Every so often, the chair kicked back and rolled across the tiled floor, with a short amused laugh following it. The room itself was huge, with a ceiling of windows and large stone columns at equal intervals along both sides. At one end, was the desk and the chair with its figure seated. Behind, was a small turbolift tube. At the other end, a stairwell. Of course, the other end was about fifty odd meters away, giving anyone who approached a good long walk to do so.    Sitting at the desk in the wheeled chair, idly picking at some odd collection of food, was an Alraxian. He had short, jet black hair, and pale skin. Though pale for an Alraxian was still well tanned for a human. His eyes were a deep silver, and they looked bored as one of his hands poked at the unmoving thing on the plate. Both of his ears were of the usual feline appearance, though both had a few notches and black marks along them. After finally giving up on the food, he kicked back off from the desk and the chair gently rolled back and spun around. Again, the Alraxian laughed to himself before pushing the chair back to the desk with another good kick.    The entire time, a figure had been approaching. He arrived in the chair back to the desk just at the time the figure was done on that long walk. He knew it was, and didn’t have to look up from the desk to speak less formally than he would with anyone else, “These chairs are so fun! Amazing how simple they are! Just wheels on a little leather chair! Why couldn’t we have thought of this before?”    Looking up, he saw another Alraxian. This female was not like Shadow in that her sex was only obvious from the face structure. This female was definitely female. She had long white hair, with a single black stripe down the center, and stood a little over two meters tall. Her tail was a meter long, with the same black stripe as he hair. The female’s face was marred with no scratches or bruises, and the cold silver eyes showed through to the heart of a true killer. She watched him with a different look, though. It wasn’t hate filled, but then again, not all together too friendly either.    When she didn’t answer, he sighed and pushed the plate off to the side, saying, “Fine. Fine. Business it is. What is it?”    “Your pawn is dead,” she said in very flat, emotionless tones.    Sighing heavily, he leaned back in the chair and nearly fell over. Ignoring the grin that grew on his face from the near fall, he said, “Which one, hm?”    “You know perfectly well who I speak of,” she said again, a little more ice in the voice this time.    “It was expected,” was all he said before sitting back up straight and giving her a bored look.    Her expression didn’t change, “Yes, but there was an unexpected turn of events,” there wasn’t a dramatic pause here like most people would use, instead, she just continued speaking without losing a beat, “One of the others was there.”    “Oh?” that got his attention. He knew exactly what she meant, especially from the venom that was in her voice when she said ‘others’. Very interesting. For a moment, he just thought about it. Considering what he knew of the many clones that had been created, only one wasn’t accounted for. Well, not counting this one at least. But the one he knew that had...gotten away to put it best, was Alpha Three. It was the only ‘other’ that Delta Nine could have been referring to. He gave the adult clone of Marix BlueIce designated Delta Nine a long, slow look, “What do you suggest we do?”    “She is young. Weak. I believe we should simply kill her as she will only get in the way.”    Expected. Again, no fun. He’d thought that after two years of ‘freedom’ Nine would have gotten beyond those straightforward and boring ideas. But no, she was too direct. Too programmed. But useful...and...he grinned slightly, and many other things. Shaking his head, he said simply, “Boring. I have a better idea. The child. Is he ready yet?”    It was one of the few times that a surprised look appeared on Nine’s face. Composing herself quickly, the clone of Marix nodded, “The last two we tested him with have been killed.”    “Good,” he smiled and leaned back again, “Let him go. He’ll find her and that should provide some entertainment.”    Nine nearly argued this, but decided it wouldn’t get her anywhere. He would play with the prey instead of just killing it outright. It wasn’t cowardly, but she couldn’t help but be annoyed by it. Without another word, she turned and left. Ket Halpak watched Nine leave, a smile on his face. She was protective of that child, whether she admitted it or not. But the child was a tool, nothing more. Survive long enough, and the Alraxian Empire would be outraged to find that there was a child of such lineage. The mother, a clone of their Empress, a Tam-Day-U. Horrible on both counts. The father, a traitor and also a Tam-Day-U. Even worse. The child of two Tam-Day-U. A true abomination.    Again, Ket grinned and kicked off of the desk. This would be so fun! He’d have to have this chair brought with him when they were finally ready!</blockquote>

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