NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2293366" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 227: Jumping in Blind...againThe scattered trees and rolling hills soon gave way to a valley, and at its base was the bottom of the gigantic city. Its upper levels and largest buildings actually reached out of the valley up to eye level, and it looked like some of the outer reaches were built as a makeshift wall. No...that wasn’t the right word. It was more like all the outer edges of the large buildings were backed up to wall off any outer threats, though there were gaps here and there that weren’t too hard to see.    But the soft, pearly white of the city below was dotted with other, darker greys that hadn’t been there the day before...hours before...however long it had been. They were also very easy to recognize as defensive emplacements. It didn’t take a soldier to see that, but Jyren found it at least helped. Almost every gap in the ‘wall’ was occupied by a small barricade and at least one turret...though he could only assume that was what they were, as they didn’t look like anything he’d ever seen before. At least that was staying consistent. Even a few of the roofs of buildings had defensive structures on them.    Maybe this wasn’t going to be so easy after all.    Staying low to the ground, Jyren carefully made his way from tree to tree before he could get a good view of the nearest of the gaps that could get him into the city. At least the tree cover mostly extended up to the buildings...though he’d be very easy to spot when he got any closer. The barricade between the walls looked to be about a meter high and was definitely made of metal. Behind it, Jyren could see two of the skeletal looking droids that Ket was using, and in between them a large three meter high weapon. It almost looked like half of a turbolaser cannon, just scaled down slightly.    This was definitely not going to be easy. Having no idea of the capabilities of the weapon, Jyren’s usual direct method of charging in lightsaber ablaze would likely get him killed. He just didn’t know enough to make it worth the risk...and this was not an attack. He was not here to drive out an occupying force. When it came right down to it, he didn’t care who held the city. But he did care that Shadow was there. That was why he was here. And that had to remain Jyren’s focus. Getting distracted with his usual idealistic methods of attack would get them both killed.    So he’d have to think up something different. What though? It wasn’t exactly Jyren’s best skill...even though he would rarely admit that. It was just that he’d gotten so used to direct methods that thinking up elaborate ideas and plans was pointless. But now it wasn’t. And yet again, he wished Shadow was here to help, even if it would defeat the purpose of getting her out in the first place.    What to do? Think. Calm...and think. Morph. Nearly endless possibilities! He could easily just sneak through as a little lizard or fly over as a bird! But he couldn’t take his weapons with him that way. And he wasn’t wearing the usual morphsuit under his clothes, so it would get just a little cold when he attempted to morph back...cold and weaponless wasn’t going to be useful. So that wasn’t going to work. Didn’t that mean all that was left was charging straight through?    No. No that still wasn’t a good idea. The key was to get in without being noticed...it was a city, after all. He still was going to have to find his way into wherever it was Shadow was being held. That would be a thousand times easier if he wasn’t running and avoiding being shot. So change the focus from breaking through to sneaking through. Alright...think.    Cause a distraction. Simple, but it usually worked. Even if the droids were as intelligent as Jyren figured they were from his previous encounters with them, they could be lured away if he provided the right kind of bait. So how? It wasn’t like he could split in two and get their attention that way...There wasn’t exactly time for him to play with what if ideas, either. Focus on the moment.    Taking a deep breath, Jyren did his best to run through an old calming technique. He slowly cleared his mind and just allowed it to find its way without him actually thinking through everything. And then an idea hit. Carefully, Jyren glanced around the tree he stood behind to give the structures a good look again. There was a blind spot on the left defense emplacement because the nearby building jutted out farther than the others. Use that...which meant going right. No, the center. There weren’t any roof-mounted guns there. He needed to get the two droids from the nearest one away so he could run right through...and then hope there would be a spot to duck into and give him a chance to look over the city from the inside.    How? That question, at least, was easily answered. Use the turrets. Not only would they definitely cause a distraction, but he could even get a look at their capabilities. A win-win situation, definitely. There was one turret on the far roof beyond the right-most of the defense emplacements that he could see. That one. There didn’t look to be any guards around it...and it looked like he could angle it to fire down into the nearby defense emplacement between the buildings.    Perfect. Almost too perfect, actually, but Jyren ignored that and decided to chalk it up to the Force finally paying him back for all that it’d thrown at him through the years. If it was the only break he ever got, and he succeeded in getting Shadow out alive...he’d never ask for anything else.    After a few long, deep breaths, Jyren closed his eyes and let himself sink into the Force. On this planet...on any planets here in the Alraxian Empire, it seemed, the Force was so easy to reach. The planets themselves were so rich and full of life. It did nothing but help. Slowly, he reached out to the roof-mounted turret, feeling its surface through the force and carefully angling it down to its new target. It only took a short moment, and once it was done, he ‘pulled’ the weapon’s trigger.    Suddenly, a loud, alien sounding shriek echoed to him, followed immediately by an unnecessarily large explosion. In fact, the shot ended up the turret along with the defense emplacement and half of the two adjacent buildings. The shock wave from the explosion hit Jyren like a speeder, sending him flat onto his backside and nearly onto his tail(which would have been extremely bad). But after shaking his head and looking up to see a thick, black smoke rising from the spot, he was very glad he hadn’t tried charging in.    Jyren was even more glad to see two...no, four droids running that direction, blaster rifles raised. So there had been more than two...but this was it. They were facing the other way, and nearly into the smoke. The path was clear and open as far as he could tell. And before he could give it a second thought, his feet were taking him as fast as they could straight across the grassy ground to the city’s edge.    Twice in one day, he’d made blind jumps. One had worked...he was about to find out how much he could push his luck. If luck had anything to do with it, that is. And Jyren figured that, if he survived, he’d have an answer to that for the first time in his life.</blockquote>

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