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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2040457" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 153: The Jai“They should be here by now,” Nine growled, having gone back to pacing.    Ket smiled and leaned back in his chair. He was going to miss this chair. Sure, he could take it with him...but really, how could anyone make a gloating, ‘I win, you loose’ exit while carrying a chair? It just didn’t work. So he was at least going to enjoy the last few minutes of it...though he was having to resist the urge to push off the desk and roll around more. Sadly, there wasn’t anymore time for that. Nine was right, they should have arrived already. But Nine wasn’t watching the holos, and therefore didn’t see the reason for the delay.    “They took a break,” he said idly, watching the holo that showed the four of them sitting and recovering from the serious beating they’d taken over the last couple of hours. Honestly, Ket couldn’t blame them. Especially after those very interesting actions by the human female just a few minutes ago. He’d had his doubts before, but she might just make waiting until the last second to leave worthwhile. His mind had already worked out how to bring it to a very entertaining conclusion, and from the looks of things it would be much simpler than most would have expected. The only regret he had was that he wouldn’t be able to stay around and watch the fun.    He smiled anyway. There would be stories. Word would get out. And if the clone survived, she might just take the story to the Empire, herself. Even better. But then again, if he had to take the story he would. Sure, it wouldn’t be accurate, but Ket knew how to tell a good story. Especially to his enemy. And then he sighed, seeing that the four of them were starting to get to their feet. Glancing through the holoprojection, Ket said, “They’re on their way now. Say your goodbye to the little brat and anything you happen to have gotten attached to in the place, and then lets get to our places.”    Nine simply pivoted on her foot and walked right past him, glaring at him. One day she’d learn to appreciate sarcasm. Maybe. Probably not. When she passed him by, she hissed, “You cannot continue to insist on this showing off, Halpak.”    Definitely not. It seemed like, no matter what, some things just wouldn’t ever change. Oh well. She’d be happier, if Nine could be happy that was, once they had left Nar Shaddaa. Then there would be only one last need to show off. But that one, even Nine would appreciate. Getting up out of his chair and giving it one last look, Ket turned and followed Nine to the turbolift on the wall behind his desk.* * * *They hadn’t talked at all. It was an odd silence considering what had just happened, but none of them could find a way to break it. Titus simply held Jen close, doing his best to comfort her when he knew how impossible that was. He was as afraid as she was, having truly realized what had happened only minutes earlier. He couldn’t say anything, though. What could he say that would help? Nothing. He had tried thinking back to his own past, and had quickly realized that anyone that had tried to say things to him would just have been blown off. In fact, they were. He could see that now, years later.    And now Jen was on the edge. Everyone tread close to the Dark Side at least once in their lives, so it shouldn’t have worried him as much as it did. But this was Jen. She was kindest person he’d seen in thousands and thousands throughout the galaxy. And here she was, sobbing on his shoulder after brushing so very close to the edge. But she had walked away from it. So close, and she somehow walked away. What he hadn’t done when he was younger. But still, somehow, this didn’t comfort him.    Next to them, Shadow was doing her best to get Akan conscious again. This had ended up simply becoming a constant mental prodding through their link. It had worked before, it should work again. And besides, it took very little effort, allowing her time to rest and regain at least some energy. Not enough to remorph all of the cuts, scratches and bruises she had acquired, but definitely enough to hang on for another fight that was going to be inevitable. Eventually, Akan started to respond to the prodding. At first, it was just a few thoughts that actually made sense. Or at least, formed coherent ideas compared to the blank nothing or the random everything that unconsciousness and dreaming would produce. After a few more minutes, an eye opened and then another.    [What happened...?]    She rolled her eyes. Of course he’d ask a stupid question like that. Why couldn’t it be something interesting? Or nothing at all, even. She poked a large, blackened portion of his jacket. [You got shot.] she then poked four more black marks. [...multiple times.]    He tilted his head up some to look at the scorch marks on his jacket, though his neck couldn’t bend enough to get a good view of one of them at the moment. [And I’m not dead...why?]    [You seem to have a habit of living.] Shadow ‘said’ with a shrug, not completely meaning it as a sarcastic comment but at the same time, knowing he would take it that way. When he smiled slightly, she figured it had worked and explained a bit more. [Usually, Alraxians don’t black out. Our bodies don’t work that way, normally. The only time that happens is if you’re low on energy and suffer serious wounds. The body and mind pretty much shut down so that the rest of the body’s energy can be used to remorph the wounds an keep you alive.]    “Handy,” Akan said, finding his voice and sitting up finally. His throat still hurt, but truthfully, everything hurt still. Wait a second... “Hold on, Shadow. If my body just did that and healed those wounds, then why does everything still hurt?”    Shadow actually shrugged, “I’m no expert. You see, I’ve never been like you. I don’t attract blaster fire. So lets just leave it at this. You’ve got a habit of staying alive, but this is balanced by a life of aches and pains, which you then push on everyone else around you in endless complaints.”    Slowly, a grin started to appear on Akan’s face, and it eventually turned into quiet chuckling, “That was a joke, wasn’t it?”    “Not completely,” Shadow answered quickly, but then managed a grin of her own, “You complain so much all the time that even Marix thinks you only live to whine.”    “Thanks for the vote of confidence,” he grumbled, looking to the Voorts and knowing he should ask what had happened. He could see that all the droids were in pieces and crushed. He could see something had happened. But something held him back from asking what that something was.     And when he got close to saying something, Shadow interrupted him by making another comment, “Votes. We both believe in your ability to whine,” and before he could comment, she, too, turned to the Voorts and said carefully, “Ket is close. We need to keep going.”    Titus looked to the two Alraxians, an expression of pain on his face that was quickly washed away by determination. He nodded, and pulled Jen back slightly. Her face was still wet with tears, but she felt calmer. That was what she needed. Calm. Looking her in the eyes, Titus managed to get himself to smile. Quietly, he whispered to her, “She’s right. Let’s get this over with and then you cash in on that vacation.”    Jen’s looked up into his eyes and smiled, laughed slightly even. She nodded a few times and started to get to her feet. But Titus held her there for a moment, looking into her eyes again and searching for something. He didn’t even know what it was he was searching for...or if he found it or not. But the thoughts ended when he kissed her. A few moments later, the two of them were up and stepping over to the Alraxians...both of whom were idly toeing at the droid remains.    There was a silent agreement to go on, this time with the two Alraxians taking the lead, but before they got far, Jen reached over and caught Shadow’s arm. She turned around to give Jen a curious look, and found herself looking at the hilt of her lightsaber. With a calm, steady voice that didn’t seem to fit the expression on her face, Jen said quietly, “I’m not ready for this.”    Shadow just looked at the woman in disbelief for a moment before finally nodding and slowly taking the weapon back. As she hooked the weapon to a small spot on her morphsuit, she said to Jen, “Words of true wisdom. You may be more ready for it than you think.”    That got a slightly embarrassed smile on Jen’s face before she motioned them all forward to the stairwell that was at the opposite end of the open room. It took a couple of seconds to actually push both Shadow and Akan along, but once they got the idea it wasn’t too much trouble. She exchanged another smile with Titus, and for a moment it was just like old times. Before everything. Before this day. If only it could have hung on for longer than it did.    The stairwell was very wide compared to the others. It could have easily fit an average sized landspeeder if the steep angle of the steps wouldn’t cause trouble with the repulsorlifts. The stairs also went up for much longer than any of the others. Four turns. Up. Left. Up. Right. Up. Left. Up...Right...then up one last time. It seemed like the stairwell was designed to create tension, as the more they walked the easier it became to notice the sounds of their own footsteps and breathing. How heavy they both were. How tired they all were.    And then they stepped out of the stairwell into the monstrously gigantic room ahead of them. The ceiling was at least twenty meters high, with great columns lining an open, carpeted walkway. How many columns there were was impossible to tell, as they were staggered in a very odd pattern, though behind some of them, great windows could be seen. Ahead of them, about forty or so meters, the room made an L-shaped turn, columns, royal looking carpet, and all. And it was silent. Far too silent.    Shadow looked back to the two Voorts, raising a hand slightly to motion for them to stay back some. She then nodded to Akan and the two of them began to walk down the edges of the carpet, leaving a the center open between them. Each step they took was slow, deliberate, and silent. The only real sound either of them could hear was their own breathing...echoing through their skulls as they tried to listen for something. Anything. This couldn’t be empty. That was too easy. Too...a click.    The Force suddenly screamed a panic through Shadow’s mind and she reacted to its warning. Quickly, she dove to the left, rolling across the floor towards a nearby column just as a series of four large, serrated, metal spikes arced out from the carpet below right where she had been standing. She was now down on her haunches, barely a half meter from the now-retracting blades. Her eyes looked up from them to the currently frozen Akan. Nothing needed to be said. Even the Voorts didn’t need to hear an ‘I told you so’ when it came to Halpak’s love of traps. Maybe they hadn’t believe that it would be so literal. Now they did. And now they would all be listening much more carefully. The carpet wasn’t there just for show. It was hiding the floor. Simple and perfect.    Slowly getting back to her feet, Shadow started the careful walk forward again. Akan glanced back to the Voorts, who had now split apart and were each following the paths of the Alraxians. Jen was following Akan’s, stepping where he had and using the Force to make sure of it, and Titus was doing the same with Shadow’s path, making special note to the entire area she’d been in when the blades had cut through the carpet.    They made it five more meters before Shadow stopped, motioning for the rest of them to do the same. Had she just heard something? A skittering noise off in the columns? Carefully, Shadow turned her head and looked around. Nothing. She turned back forward, getting ready to take another step before...was that it again? A sliding noise. Like...like a cat that couldn’t grip onto a metal floor and was trying to stop itself after a run. Or was she just paranoid? No. No she’d heard something. Slowly, she looked back to Akan. Through their link, he knew what she was looking for, but just shrugged.    If the need to hear everything wasn’t as important, Shadow would have sighed or insulted him. But she was focusing now. She had heard a noise. And it was close...and..    “RAWR!!!” Shadow heard the pathetic attempt at a vicious growl the moment before claws latched onto her back and a set of sharp teeth bit straight into her neck. Shadow’s cry of pain was deafening compared to the previous silence. Reaching back in a panic, she tried to pry the...the pain off, but couldn’t reach it. It moved, claws raking into her back and teeth biting again and again.    As Shadow flailed and stepped around in a panic, now growling from the pain, she screamed at anyone who was listening, “Get it off!! Get if off me!!”    She heard footsteps and then felt the claws digging into her back even more. A second later, Shadow felt the claws latching on tighter as they were pulled...pulled!! It was pulling on her too!! Letting out another growl that faded into a whimper, Shadow cried over her shoulder, “Off!! Get it off!!”    “I’m trying!!” Akan’s voice yelled back, far too loudly. At this point, though, she didn’t care. It was clawing her and he was pulling it and it was clawing tighter and he was still pulling on it and...and...    “Don’t try like that!!” she screamed, reaching back and managing to get a grip on something...fur covered. Just as she latched onto the fur, her hand was bit hard. She could feel the teeth actually grinding the bones in her hand!    “I’m...doing the best I...can...” with each pause in Akan’s yells, he pulled harder and the claws dug in deeper...as did the teeth. Akan was not helping! He was just making it worse!! And then suddenly, without any warning at all from Akan, damn him, he yanked even harder. This time, it got the thing off of her back...but the claws took a good portion of Shadow with them, sharp and very severe pains wracking through her entire back and hand. The pain was too much, and her vision blurred into a white hot nothing. She didn’t black out, but instead fell to her knees and curled up, trying to urge her body to remorph and stop bleeding everywhere...trying...trying...    The Voorts had run to catch up, now standing a meter or so back and staring at what Akan was holding...just as Akan was staring. Held by the waist in both hands at arms length from Akan and flailing around madly was a small, fur covered...feline thing. It had thick black coloured fur with a single, blue stripe that ran from the fur on the top of its head all the way down to the stubby tail. And though it was madly trying to get out of his grip, the thing wasn’t actually clawing him at all. Instead it squirmed violently back and forth, pushing on his arms but not using claws. It was still facing Shadow and looked to be doing everything in its power to get free to maul her.    Though Shadow had not managed to heal her wounds very well, she groaned and managed to get up onto all fours. Her groan seemed to insight another burst of energy from the thing in Akan’s arms, which made another weak attempt at a roar before twisting around in his grip. This time, it managed to slip free, bounding to the ground as Akan failed to catch it again before the thing dove at Shadow, claws extended again. Shadow’s reflexes took over, her arm lashing out and backhanding the small creature roughly.    The cracking noise was accompanied by a sharp whimper before the creature hit the floor and slid into a nearby column. Slowly, as Shadow got back to her feet, she turned to look at the curled up thing. It was Jen who broke the renewed silence, “Is that...that what I think it is?”    Shadow nodded, still breathing heavily and deciding to use the one word explanation, “...Jai...”    “What?” Jen looked to Titus, who shrugged.    But Akan knew what that meant. The link was a nice advantage sometimes. And seeing that Shadow was still trying to focus her remaining energy on healing the still bleeding wounds, he fielded the question, “A child...”    “Alraxian child,” Shadow finished for him.</blockquote>

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