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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2460501" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 257: Contagions“I really should have thought this one through,” Jyren grumbled as he rubbed his forehead. The landing had been rough, but the ship itself was still intact and Jyren figured his head would eventually stop spinning from the mild concussion. Shadow had been intelligent enough to brace herself, and so didn’t hit her head on anything. But, then again, the canopy didn’t curve down in front of her. He was nearly to the point of never flying the X-Wing unless he was morphed Human just so he didn’t have to deal with tail and height issues.    “Yes, you should have,” Shadow agreed with a nod, looking around them in the stark, empty grey area that looked like some kind of cargo hold. There was a large door(about Mrrakesh height, so well over three meters high) on the other side from where the X-Wing was sitting...but that was currently the problem.    “Most ships have safety systems that seal off hull breaches,” Jyren was now growling under his breath, angry at the starship they’d now crashed into more than anything.    Shadow sighed and rolled her eyes, finally giving in and reaching over to flick his ear, hoping the next thing would get through, “Most ships do. But this is a Mrrakesh ship. They aren’t accustom to taking damage.”    It was annoying, but true. Jyren had been running on the assumption that they’d have the chance to get in before some emergency system cut in and sealed the breach. But no, instead behind them was the emptiness of space, and at least one of the large, pincer shaped cruisers could still be seen. Jyren sighed in return, “I don’t suppose there’s any kind of energy shield?”    “I doubt it,” Shadow’s words were calm, flat, and in that tone she used when she was already busy working out a solution and was simply responding to Jyren so that he would eventually shut up. She found it was amazingly easy to deal with both Jyren and Tobias this way because eventually, they both got bored with her patronizing.    Jyren didn’t get annoyed, but instead caught on, “You’ve got an idea?”    “The Force is a powerful ally,” she said succinctly, and it was enough that Jyren started thinking along the same lines she was already working on.    And as he did so, his head naturally began to shake in disagreement, “Even I’m not that crazy.”    “So you’d like to fly out and try this again?” Shadow snapped back immediately. The suddenness of it surprised him into going quiet again.    Well, quiet for about a minute. Then, “Its still crazy.”    “No more so than anything you’ve dragged me into before.”    A pause. A long pause. Then, Jyren raised a hand in defeat, “Good point...though usually I make sure we are still capable of breathing.”    Shadow gave the back of Jyren’s head a look as if she was staring at a complete idiot. Sometimes, she wondered, “And you seem to think I’m not planning on that...?”Jyren couldn’t come up with a witty response to that. It was probably a good thing, but it annoyed him anyway to lose so quickly. Sitting back and undoing the restraints, Shadow nodded to herself, “Though don’t think I won’t strangle you after we’re out of this.”    “I’m very glad you’re so optimistic,” he said with a sigh, eventually following suit and undoing his own restraints. It wasn’t like they did much good when he was this tall anyway. After they were out of the way, he glanced over his shoulder to her, “What do I need to do?”    “Open the canopy and go for that door as quickly as you can,” Shadow said, stretching very slightly and getting ready. When she caught him reaching for the switch, she immediately gave him a good smack across the back of the head, “Not now!”    Grumbling something under his breath, Jyren stopped and waited. Through the link, he could feel Shadow drawing the Force around them and focusing. Readying herself...preparing. It took five minutes. Five long, silent minutes. And then, finally, Shadow sent a signal through the link, forgetting the fact that he usually noticed speech much quicker. But this time, he did pick up on it.    When Jyren hit the switch that raised the canopy, he naturally expected the rush of air that always accompanied rapid decompression. It wouldn’t have been the first time he’d encountered it...but it would be the first without any kind of breather or face mask. He couldn’t help but wonder if it would feel different. But it wasn’t there. The canopy raised a good amount and there was no change.    Not that Jyren wasn’t holding his breath, of course.    Survival instinct kicked in a half second later and he immediately realized that Shadow had already pushed off and was heading to the door. Jyren followed as quickly as he could, trying to stay close...especially since he didn’t know exactly how far the small bubble in the Force that Shadow was projecting went.    When they hit the door and latched on with claws, there was no sound. It was worrying, but Shadow quickly pointed out through the link that their eyes hadn’t exploded so there was still pressure around them. At least some...Jyren was starting to feel a little lightheaded. He wasn’t alone in that, and Shadow hit the switch to open the door.    It didn’t open. Damn! Typical that there was an emergency lock on it! The thought of using a lightsaber to cut through it came to Jyren’s mind first, but Shadow shot that down before he’d even finished thinking it through. They needed to get in there without leaving a whole to decompress yet another part of the ship. She couldn’t hold the quickly dissipating air around them forever. Another idea came to both of their minds at the same time. Claws still out, both of them dug them in deeply to one side of the door, hoping it was the right side.    With all of their strength, they pulled. As they put more and more strength into pulling on the door, Jyren noticed that the ‘air’ around them was becoming lighter much quicker than before. He called upon the Force himself, but instead of assisting Shadow he used it to strengthen his own body so that he could pull even harder. Jyren didn’t know that the reason the air was fading out quicker was because Shadow was also doing the same thing.    There was a snap...one that they couldn’t hear, but definitely felt as a jolt that shuddered the door. Neither of them let up, and a crack soon appeared between the door and the wall. Red alarm lights could be seen blinking then, but they both ignored them to pull on the door with every shred of strength they could manage. It moved more, pushing against them as the computer systems tried to seal off the now-decompressing corridor. But it was still being pulled, and when Jyren saw there was enough room, he shoved Shadow through a little too roughly. Of course, she reacted by grabbed his arm and yanking him in after her.    This meant that both of them had let go of the door, which immediately slammed shut in a loud, echoing clank. Alarms could be heard now, with a soft red-orange colour blinking on lights that dotted the corridor. And the two Alraxians lay on the floor, face down and breathing hard. Shadow was actually starting to laugh. In a moment, after making sure he hadn’t lost a foot to the door, Jyren followed suit and embraced her tightly. He didn’t say anything, just glad to be able to hear her breathing openly, and also distantly amazed at how quickly the corridor had re-pressurized.    After they’d both stopped breathing so heavily, Shadow slowly stopping laughing and kissed him gently, “See? You’re a bad influence...that stupidity of your’s is contagious.”    Jyren laughed again as the two of them shakily got to their feet, “So does this mean you’re going to stop? I think you’ve better at it than I am.”    “I’m better at everything than you are,” she said with a grin, sticking out her tongue before pivoting around to head down the corridor, “Now let’s go find Ket.”    “He’ll be in the big room with a giant window open to space so that he can show off,” Jyren added as he fell into step with her. It was amazing how getting out of a near death situation put them in such good moods.</blockquote>

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