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: 2414656" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 247: HeadfirstThe palace was, thankfully, in the same place it had been left. The curved, U-shaped and cream coloured building was not, however, exactly as Jyren remember it. For one, the soft and barely visible shimmering of the shield was usually noticeable...something which he couldn’t see(or detect with sensors, but he didn’t know if that was possible anyway) at the moment. Also, Jyren didn’t remember the large collection of metal ships.    The same transports were scattered all across the area. Some still hovering above and slowly descending, with others down and spilling out droids. Jyren could feel life down there, and reaching out with the Force, could feel that the Knights were putting up the best fight they could. He wished he could be down there to help.    Pulling the X-Wing up to a higher altitude for a good view of the situation, Jyren sopped thinking to instead feel. Where was Ket? There had been ships in orbit, yes, but Jyren hadn’t felt anything to immediately give away the presence of the other Alraxian. So where was he? Storming the palace seemed to fit the idea that Jyren had come to attribute with Halpak, but he still couldn’t be sure. And there was that lingering worry about Shadow that was definitely not doing him any good.    “Sooner or later, they’re going to notice I’m sitting up here,” Jyren said calmly to the reactivated holocron.    The image of his mother nodded, “Yes, they are.”    “Are you sure you aren’t alive and this isn’t some kind of remote device?” Jyren asked critically, with a sharp glare at the image. He had been contemplating hitting the thing, but decided against it. She was better with sarcasm, dry remarks, and all those things he usually attributed to his own personality than he was. It was annoying. But, of course, the holocron didn’t answer his question, simply ‘standing’ and looking at him...that horrible stare of a mother(or a teacher) staring at the child and waiting for them to figure things out on their own.    He’d escaped it for near twenty years, but now it was right back to haunt him. Jyren had quickly come to the conclusion that, yes, the Force had a very cruel sense of humour...especially when it came to him. So think.    No! Don’t think. Feel.    It was harder than it sounded. Anyone could say ‘don’t think! Feel!’, but very few could really do it...Jyren couldn’t help but wonder if the Jedi of the Old Republic ever had the same problems. Probably not. In fact, it was probably just unique to him.    Calm down. Calm.    Taking a few deep breaths and closing his eyes so as not to continue staring at the sensor board, Jyren attempted to stop the tangent thoughts and focus on the task at hand. Almost like reaching out with an invisible hand, Jyren’s mind stretched out around the planet as far as he could reach. He felt hundreds(probably thousands, actually) of Alraxians below in the palace...some fighting, most hiding. These were not warriors. They needed people like Jyren and Shadow at times like this.    But right now they’d have to survive on their own.    Feel. Reach out...focus.    There! A spark in the Force seemed to jump out at Jyren. Ket was down there. Near the eastern edge of the city section! It had to be Ket. Immediately, Jyren opened his eyes and his hands took the controls. With a flurry of motion, he cut off the repulsorlifts and hit the sublight drives. Rolling around into a tight dive, Jyren then quickly hit the switch to open the S-Foils and power the weapons up. He wasn’t going to ignore all of those transports.    The image of his mother seemed to smile, but said nothing even when he reached over to shut the holocron off again. It was helpful, but would definitely get in the way at a time when he needed complete focus. He didn’t know if there were defenses set up, or if there were any more of those fighters nearby.    The second that a transport was in range of his weapons, the quad cannons lit up, red bolts of energy arcing down at the ship and hitting it in the rear engines. Like before, the lightly armored and unshielded craft went up(or rather, down in this case) in flames.  Banking away from the wreckage and pulling up from the straight dive, another of the ships came into his sights and, in a moment, it too was a fiery hulk of metal slowly falling to the ground below.    Again maneuvering to avoid slamming into the flaming ships, Jyren looked up to find some place near where he could feel Halpak to set the X-Wing down. There. It would be a long way, but it was an area that looked to be behind the attack line. It also helped that he could see no droids guarding.    Pulling down even farther, now just skimming over the top points of the flower-like palace, the X-Wing took out one more transport that was nearly down to unload another cadre of those war droids. He pulled up and over the dead ship before ending up nearly on top of his landing spot. Reacting quickly so he didn’t have to pull around again, Jyren immediately closed the S-Foils and cu the sublight drives out. The repulsors cut in automatically, and in a few more seconds the X-Wing was down.    Jyren was actually pushing the canopy to open faster, climbing out when there was just enough room and forgoing placing the ladder. Instead, he simply jumped the distance down...which was, admittedly, short for an Alraxian of his current height.    As the canopy closed with a soft hiss behind him, Jyren’s eyes and ears took in everything they could. Though he couldn’t see anything but a few bright flashes here and there, the sounds of the firefights were easy to identify. Not hesitating any longer, Jyren started across the small courtyard attached to the petal-like landing pad to the nearest entrance of the near endless hallways and corridors of the palace. The exterior quickly turned into that familiar cream coloured but horribly indistinct corridor of the palace...they all looked alike. This could be a while.    Glancing around a corner where he heard some sounds, Jyren saw the backs of about five Alraxians wearing what he could identify now as relatively heavy armor. Blasts of light could be seen in front of them, and one of them dropped. Alright, so maybe he could do some good.    Knowing that Ket was nearby but making a decision he felt was necessary(and a typical one for him, truthfully), Jyren reached to his belt and detached his lightsaber. After a moment’s thought, he also removed Shadow’s with his left hand. Why not use it?    The snap-hiss of the two blades activating echoed loudly through the corridor, causing at least one of the Alraxians to glance back and see Jyren charging forward. The Knight was looking to be smart enough to duck.</blockquote>

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