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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2430227" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 251: The TrapIt was one of those times where one had to wonder if everything was actually real. Maybe this was just a dream...it had been a thing for the pilots to laugh and watch cheesy holodramas so much that maybe Jyren was just dreaming this place. Really, it couldn’t be true, could it? The whole set up looked like something out of every single one of the bad ones...and they were rarely any good.    Not only was there that large, alien looking crystal in the center, but behind it in the round room(of course it was round, somehow that made it dramatic) was an opening to a large balcony outside. Jyren stood just inside the room, not even caring about Ket for the moment. Instead, he looked from the scene to the two Knights with him and gave them looks of disbelief. Unsurprisingly, they did not understand. So Jyren quickly gave up trying and looked around, both with his eyes and the Force...any second now...    “Yes, it is a bit cliched, isn’t it?” the familiar voice of Ket Halpak echoed through the room from an indistinct point. Ah, so that was why all these kind of encounters always happened in round rooms. One mystery solved, at least.    Jyren, of course, cheated and reached out with the Force to locate the other Alraxian. It took a half second and, again not surprisingly, the Alraxian was somewhere on the other side of that large, semi-translucent crystal. A darker blob that Jyren had assumed to be something inside of it moved and Ket stepped out casually on the other side.    The Alraxian managed a weak shrug, “I expected Marix.”    “I missed you, too,” Jyren grumbled under his breath, quickly noting that Ket was holding a sword eerily similar to the one that had caused so much trouble back on the Capital not very long ago.    “I believe this is when I tell you exactly what’s going on, you tell me how horrible I am, and then we fight, yes?” Ket suggested with a few idle steps forward. Jyren couldn’t help but notice the two Knights were at a complete loss as to what was going on. Just to be safe, he glanced to them both and held an arm in front of them to keep the back.    Turning back to Ket, Jyren shrugged, “That’s how I remember these things always working.”    “Then you wouldn’t mind a change of pace?” Ket said, a hint of a smile creeping onto his face this time. He paused a moment but held up a hand to stop Jyren from saying anything. The fact that it worked amazed even Jyren, “I’d prefer we skip the first parts and get straight to what we’re both here for?”    There was much, much more in that than was on the surface, and Jyren picked up on it right away. A slow realization crept onto his face, “You didn’t expect Marix. You came here to wait for me.”    While he did smile, Ket shook his head, “I believe I suggested we skip the section where I explain things.”    Why Jyren nodded was beyond him. Ket wasn’t a fool. This was too much in the open to be anymore than a simple trap just for Jyren...or Marix, really, but why would she be anywhere but where Nine was? And so Ket had staged one attack to put things in chaos, and then a second just to get Jyren. After that...did it really matter? With Jyren gone, so was Shadow and that was pretty much it for defense of the Empire. It was so simple when the pieces were put together that Ket didn’t even need to explain it all.    And now it was too late to turn back. The one time Shadow had actually let him go off and do his Jedi heroics was the one time she should have stopped him. It suddenly put into question just whether Jyren could handle Ket on his own. At first, sure he’d figured the tail-less Alraxian would be a challenge but still able to be dealt with. Now though...Ket had set all this up to separate him from Shadow. The two of them were stronger together. And while Nine was at least close to Shadow’s level, that was still beyond Jyren and he knew it. Jyren simply had the disadvantage of less experience. Ket was, from the looks of things, even more dangerous.    The worst part was that Ket was still just standing there, that damned grin on his face as he let Jyren work things out on his own. There was no way this had been all set up if Ket had any shred of confidence that Jyren would be a challenge for him. And, considering everything, he looked to be right. Jyren looked from the still thrumming lightsaber in his hand and then to the two Knights.    After a deep breath, he pointed back to the exit and motion with both his head and, inadvertently, his tail. It took pressing, but the Knights left the room and headed back the other direction. They didn’t need to see Jyren in this kind of situation. They had enough trouble to deal with than see his confidence completely sapped.    Turning back, Jyren looked to Ket and took yet another deep breath, “Lets get this over with.”    Ket smiled, nodded, and charged.((Short update due to a major writing exam I've got to take in about ten minutes...sorry guys.))</blockquote>

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