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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 1964899" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 127: No Breaks“What did that little sithspawn do with my ship?!” growled Hansen, charging forward to get into the hut where Akan had been taken. Shadow was inside, ignoring the humans, who all three stood outside. Titus just stepped back slightly, not really sure what to say but at the same time not wanting to cause any more problems. This was already looking and feeling like trouble.    That was why it was Jen that stepped forward, putting herself between Hansen and the hut. She didn’t say anything, but instead stared straight into the other woman’s eyes. There was a dangerous look in Jen’s eyes, but Hansen didn’t seem to be paying attention to it. She instead just tried pushing the smaller woman out of the way. This, almost surprisingly, didn’t work. Jen held her ground, feet planted strongly but still not speaking.    Hansen stepped back just slightly, glaring down at Jen and speaking slowly, “Get out of my way.”    “No,” replied Jen, calmly and patiently.    “He stole my ship!”    “You stole it first!” Jen snapped back harshly, taking a short step forward before calming her voice again, “And there are currently more important things than your possessive streak. My friend is back in there, and I don’t know what the hell is wrong, but I can promise you that he’s got a damn better reason for not having that ship than you did for stealing it in the first place.”    That was too far. Cursing sharply, Hansen stepped forward and swung a heavy, very militaristic punch aimed at Jen’s head. To both Titus’ and Hansen’s surprise, Jen simply ducked low under the swing, and then send an open palmed strike up at Hansen. It caught the other woman hard in the lower chin, sending her up slightly and then down onto her back. She didn’t move. Jen looked down at the now-unconscious Hansen and then glanced to her palm. That had hurt...Shadow never mentioned how much it actually hurt.    A hand came down on her shoulder and she nearly swung around to break the arm. The reactions that Shadow had taught her were quickly fought back, and instead Jen just turned to see Titus with a bewildered look on his face. Grinning slightly, Jen shrugged and mumbled, “Shadow taught me a few...other things.”    “So she did,” Titus grinned too, drawing her into a hug before whispering, “You know she’s going to be very angry when she wakes up.”    “Angry with a bad neck ache,” Jen added, wrapping her arms around him and allowing the adrenaline rush to fade away.    Within the hut, Shadow hadn’t even heard the yelling. She sat on the small bed next to Akan’s chest, cross-legged and concentrating. A hand rested on his forehead, though it was more for her own encouragement than real assisting in what she was doing. They had been there for about an hour. From what she could tell, Akan was asleep now. Or at least, his breathing had slowed and brain had fallen into the usual feelings she associated with him being asleep. The more calmed state had allowed her to access his mind through the link with a little more ease. But just because she could feel his thoughts didn’t mean she could understand them. Long ago, she...or maybe it was Marix...had learned that everyone had a different pattern and rational to their thought processes. Sure, you could probably get used to someone else’s way of thinking after years and years of work, but even then there would be translation problems. Currently, translation problems was what Shadow was encountering. Or at least, she had been. Now she had simply decided to wait on him.    At first, she felt a slight ripple through the link. It could be described as a ripple of consciousness, but that was only partially correct. The second was most definitely more than a ripple...almost a wave. This, she had identified long ago as the odd way that Alraxian’s woke up. It was essentially the mind kicking back in from whatever dreams were currently occurring. After another few moments of odd feelings and jolts through the link, Shadow opened her own eyes to watch him. Quickly, she pulled her hand away from his forehead and watched for any sign of movement. The first sign of that was an ear twitch. Shadow didn’t actually notice her own ear doing the same thing. The sound they’d both noticed was of Jen and Titus moving over towards the edge of the entrance, watching quietly.    Then, quietly, Akan groaned. It sounded more like a soft growl, but Shadow knew the difference by now. Before even an eye opened, Shadow prodded him in a quiet manner. [You awake in there, Akan-jai...?]    That got a mental groan from him. If there weren’t so many questions that needed to be cleared up, she would have laughed at that. The link had become so natural at this point that both of them found themselves making natural sounds like groans and yawns mentally. Whether that was healthy or not wasn’t something she thought about. It was obvious that it wasn’t normal, at least...but then again, what was normal about any of them? Sighing, she attempted a small mental poke. That was impossible to describe to anyone that hadn’t experienced it, but Shadow knew what it was and that it usually worked.    The fact that it got a physical groan out of him helped to enforce that it did work. Also, he opened his eyes...slowly, only halfway, but that was still open. Slowly, Shadow leaned over him and looked down into the half open eyes, curious if there was any life in there. They widened suddenly, and he nearly jumped back off the bed, sending her off on her back to the ground. After the initial panic of seeing a huge, silvery-purple eyed face, Akan’s breathing slowed again, and Shadow gave him a chance to wake up normally. She didn’t miss the slight chuckle from behind her. She couldn’t tell which Voort it was, but one of them had found that jump from both Alraxians very entertaining.    When she was fairly sure that he could hear and mostly likely understand, she said quietly, “You alive in there...?”    Akan shook his head slowly. That got a raised eyebrow from Shadow, “Not alive?”    “Uh-uh,” he mumbled, nodding this time, “‘m dead.”    “Guess we should just go bury you then,” Shadow trailed off, turned and started to get up. There was a loud noise of Titus clearing his throat. She shot him a slightly hurt look, but nodded and turned back to Akan and asked, “What happened?”    With a little effort, Akan managed to sit up next to her. She watched him blink a few times before turning to her and placing both his hands on either side of her face. He then leaned in and rested his forehead against hers. She knew what he was attempting. In fact, it was a little technique she’d taught him that would strengthen the link through the Force. It only took a couple of moments before she saw. When he pulled back and then hung his head, she just nodded without saying anything. Of course...he hadn’t shown her the Alraxian, but what he’d done to those three humans was enough for her to see and understand.    In a quiet, almost hoarse voice, he said, “I screwed everything up...I just made things worse.”    “Its my fault, Akan-jai,” Shadow mumbled, closing her eyes and getting back to those things she wasn’t all that good with, “I shouldn’t have let you go.”    There was a silence between them. It was long, thick, and filled with the two of them feeling lost and useless. But then, Akan’s mind seemed to catch up with the rest of his surroundings. Or rather, his very immediate surroundings. His face went red...then all of his skin followed(an Alraxian trait he’d not seen that much just yet), when he asked very quietly, knowing that Jen and Titus were just beyond Shadow, “What happened to my clothes?”    Shadow couldn’t help a slight grin, “They were covered in...you know...they’re out drying.”    “Drying...”    “Dunked them in the river,” Shadow said, the grin still on her face. It had also gotten rid of the horrid smell on those things. She couldn’t help but wonder if he’d ever washed those at all.    Akan looked down, seeing his entire body was a light red color. He then frantically looked around for the blankets. Diving across the bed, he grabbed them and pulled them up over his body, whimpering a little and curling up just slightly. If she’d been feeling cruel, Shadow would have laughed at that. For some reason, these humans were so nervous when it came to a lack of clothes. It wasn’t like there was anything wrong with it. But then again, she’d learned to just live with it...and of course, have a little fun in the process.    Noticing his thoughts were fading back to those that forced him into that odd state of frozen shock, Shadow said, “Don’t...don’t think about it right now. You can’t always succeed at everything you do. It could have been much worse, Akan-jai.”    She shouldn’t have been surprised when he shook his head, but somehow she was. But she did get slightly worried when he said, “It is worse...go back to the X-Wing...open up the cargo hold.”    Hesitating a moment, Shadow nodded and got to her feet. She then turned and walked past the Voorts, giving both of them a raised eyebrow look before heading out to where he’d set the X-Wing down. After stepping over the unconscious form of Hansen, Shadow heard the sounds of footsteps behind her. She only had to focus on her hearing a moment to identify Titus’ footsteps. He planted his feet strongly and firmly with each step, very sure of what he was doing. She didn’t turn, but couldn’t help wondering why Jen had stayed behind. But all of those thoughts suddenly disappeared when Shadow got to the X-Wing and opened up the underside cargo hold.    It slid open, and even before completely finishing, a large metallic object fell to the soft ground with a thud. At first, Shadow didn’t know what it was. Then, her nose connected things. That odd, second smell on Akan...just hidden under the thick smell of blood. This thing reeked with it somehow...and then she knelt down to look directly into a metal face, frozen in a painful yell. There were two large, feline ears on either side. It was an Alraxian. Things started connecting, and Shadow stumbled back with a shocked look on her face. An Alraxian. Dead. This one had tried to morph but...Shadow’s eyes looked all over and found a small protrusion near the stomach. A small piece of metal. And Akan had brought it here. Akan had killed this Alraxian.    “He’s dead?” Titus asked quietly, who was currently kneeling behind Shadow a short distance to her left.    Shadow turned to look at him, shaking her head, “Not he...she. And yes, she’s dead.”    “She?” he raised an eyebrow,” She’s over two meters tall and doesn’t even look...well...female.”    “Do I?” Shadow asked with a slight grin, motioning to her own somewhat androgynous body.    “Good point,” he said with a nod, “Though I thought I remembered you...um...Marix once saying that only adults get that tall.”    Shadow, slightly surprised at his knowledge of Alraxians, gave him a curious look but then said, “I’d wager she was a Blackflame. I’ll need to talk with Akan for the...the details, but if she was a hunter then she was probably fed very well her entire life,” she was silent a moment, then said more quietly, “Can you help me move the body? She deserves a...proper burial even out here.”    Titus nodded and assisted her in carrying the extremely heavy body off deeper into the forest. But he couldn’t help noticing a slight protrusion on the underside of the X-Wing, just near the nose cone. Though this X-Wing had a few modifications, something about it was bothering him. Once they had finally stopped in the middle of the forest, realization and horror passed over his face. It was right as they set the body down, and Titus said very quietly, “That X-Wing has a tracking device on it.”    “What?” Shadow asked over her shoulder, already working on digging a large hole in the thick ground.    He sighed heavily and stepped closer, putting a hand on her shoulder and turning her to look at his face, “The ship Akan brought back has a tracking device fitted under the nose cone.”    Shadow opened her mouth, then closed it. Biting her lip a moment, she then tried speaking again, “You don’t think...”    “I do,” he said flatly, “And I think we’d better get out of here as soon as possible.”</blockquote>

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