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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2173461" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 195: UltimatumWithin five minutes, Akan had found the ship. Or at least, he was pretty sure it was what he was looking for. It was not, in any way, anything like a Kanyak. In fact, it reminded him more of a small, but probably very old, bulk freighter design. There were even hints of a Corellian design to it. At first he started to come up with wild ideas of how that would be possible, but then it dawned on Akan how little he really knew of the Mrrakesh. But now he knew something new. They had ships with designs he could sabotage. Or at least...that was the idea. Reaching out with the Force and finding that he could sense nothing nearby, he carefully approached the ship and headed around to the back to tear apart the drives.    Back behind him a good distance, Shadow sat trying to get feeling back in her body. She still couldn’t move, but her thinking was at least less fuzzy and she could focus on Akan through the link. But that was about it. As Shadow focused on trying to move her legs, her ear twitched. It twitched, and then swivelled to the side to find the sound she thought she’d heard.    No...no she’s just imagined it. Or...yes, she’d heard it. That crackling noise again. Which meant that...no, it wasn’t Akan, he was off...off...trying to do something at least. And if it wasn’t Akan...    “Ahhh, thought I smelled something,” the heavily accented voice of the Mrrakesh commented as he stepped out of the brush in front of her. Slowly, the large creature walked over to her, a smile on his lupine features.    [Akan...do what you’re doing quickly. He’s here...] Shadow sent through the link, and at it, she was surprised to see a surprised look on the Mrrakesh’s face.    It then formed into a glare as he reached down with one arm and yanked her up by the neck, “I can sense your thought-speech, ‘raxian.” he glare at her and she returned it as best as she could.    Easily carrying her limp body in one hand, he walked back towards the ship, “You will tell me where your companion is.”    While Shadow didn’t say anything(and couldn’t, even if she’d wanted to), she managed to find the energy to growl weakly. At that, the Mrrakesh simply laughed, sounding honestly amused as he came to a stop and smiled, “No matter. I believe he will find us. Feel free to scream, this will hurt.”    Then, swiftly and easily, the Mrrakesh lifted Shadow up a little more before thrusting her forward. In a half second, she impacted with the invisible wall again. It cracked and nearly exploded with noise, and suddenly she could feel her all of her body again. Of course, it wasn’t the feeling she’d like to have returned. To say that it felt like white hot, searing burning inside and outside of her body was a horrible understatement. If her throat hurt from the painful scream she let out involuntarily, she couldn’t tell, as a second later the Mrrakesh yanked her back and she’d gone numb with pain again.    He smiled again and tilted his head slightly, an ear listening closely to the surroundings, “Surely your companion heard that...” the Mrrakesh idly reached up and rubbed his ear with a free hand, “I doubt much of the planet missed it.”    A couple of minutes of silence passed and Shadow found herself back to square one, even having trouble focusing her eyes. Through the link, Akan was sending questioning feelings and trying to ask what was going on without asking(as he seemed to be smart enough to pick up that straight talking through the link was a bad idea), but she couldn’t even find the will to think in just the right way to send the thoughts through the link.    There was a sigh from the Mrrakesh, and he looked back down to her again, “I would suggest bracing yourself. This will continue to hurt...and much more, I expect.”    Holding her off to his side, the Mrrakesh then stepped forward and through the ‘shield’. For him, it was a simple experience in which he felt nothing at all, and the shield simple crackled and changed colour slightly. Of course, for Shadow, it was another excruciating few moments of pain. He allowed her to linger there for about half a minute before completely pulling her through, and then that smile was back, “That one was a bit muffled, I believe...shall we try again?”    Shadow couldn’t answer, of course. But he didn’t move her to it again. Instead, he froze. Shadow couldn’t help but wonder why, and then ‘heard’ the reason. [That ship won’t be flying anymore...almost back to you.]    Her eyes just widened in both surprise and a form of rage. [This is no time for heroics, Akan!]    The Mrrakesh was looking around and sniffing the air slowly. Though he’d probably only detected Akan’s ‘words’ slightly, he easily picked up on Shadow’s response. A dangerous growl in the back of his throat, the Mrrakesh lifted her up and glared. He did not say anything, however, and instead continued to scan the trees and bushes around.    Slowly, Akan reached a place where he could see the Mrrakesh holding Shadow up in one arm. He knelt down carefully behind a larger tree, only about fifteen meters away from them. For a long time, the Mrrakesh only looked around, his eyes passing right over Akan more than once. He even felt a presence reaching out with the Force, but managed to keep himself hidden from that, too.    And then the Mrrakesh roared, “Show yourself! I know you are there! Show yourself or I will be forced to harm the female!”    Akan glared. It was the only thing he could think of doing that wouldn’t give his position away. He had no opening...nothing...had to wait. Shadow could take it. Through their link, he could feel that...it was hard, and it hurt, but she could do it. So as she fought against the pain, he fought against the urge to try and do something stupid.    When no answer came, the Mrrakesh simply thrust Shadow into the barrier again. Though Akan could hear her scream, it didn’t bother him as much as the fact that he could feel it...distantly, so that it didn’t actually hurt him, but instead tingled and flowed through his skin like nothing he could describe. And then it stopped.    It stopped, and the Mrrakesh called out again. And again, Akan said nothing, though his claws dug into the tree, holding him there as the Mrrakesh threw Shadow into the barrier again. Twice more, the events repeated themselves, each time, Akan’s claws digging in deeper to the tree and Shadow’s voice growing more and more hoarse. Then, finally, it stopped.    “Fine!” the Mrrakesh called out, letting go of Shadow and allowing her to drop down to her knees. One of the Mrrakesh’s hands came around and grabbed the side of her head, while the other pulled out an object that Akan recognized far too well...taking Akan’s lightsaber, the Mrrakesh thrust the hilt of the weapon hard into Shadow’s forehead, and called out, “No more games! Show yourself, or she dies!”</blockquote>

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