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: 2601227" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 281: One Word“So now what do we do?” Jyren asked, leaning back in the co-pilot’s chair in Loki’s cockpit.    No response came, not even though the link. So, letting out a dramatic sigh, he turned from the empty star field outside to where Shadow sat to his right. She was sitting there, staring idly out into the stars. There wasn’t even a slight tilt of her ear towards him to hint that she was at least pretending to pay attention to him. Only one logical idea was reached to get her attention.    Jyren leaned closer, tried to get at least in her peripheral vision, and asked, “Shady? You alive in there?”    That, at least, always got a reaction. First, her ear swivelled around very slightly towards him, and a moment later her entire head followed. In a second, Jyren was eye to eye with The Look. To his credit, he had experienced it enough that it did not melt his face as it could many others in the galaxy. In fact, he didn’t even move back...Jyren just flinched very slightly.    “What,” somehow, that was not a question. Jyren didn’t understand it at all, but he knew it. Her voice hadn’t asked the question, instead it had been demanded, all the while still maintaining The Look.    “We’ve been out here for an hour now,” Jyren said calmly, still only a matter of centimeters away from Shadow’s annoyed, face, “And you haven’t said a word since we left hyperspace. I know you’re thinking on this, but the longer we sit around the less of a chance we have of catching up with her.”    It took a long minute, but slowly, the icy cold of The Look faded into uncertainty and Shadow shrugged, “Its clouded. I...I don’t know anymore.”    “Wonderful,” Jyren said under his breath as he finally sat back into his chair again, “So we just give up and go home, then?”    “Of course not,” Shadow snapped, suddenly annoyed again at Jyren’s attitude, “You should be more patient.”    Running a hand through his hair, Jyren nodded slowly, “I know. I know...but we’re just so close. So close and...and then Coruscant.”    Rolling her eyes and turning to make sure she could see the expression on her face, Shadow said flatly, “I’d have thought you were used to this kind of thing by now.”    “Is it so bad to want a break from it, though?” his voice, at this point, was almost pleading.    Shadow shrugged, “Apparently it is.”    And again, silence. It didn’t last very long, as Shadow decided it was best to try and work this out, “Jyren, we’re going to have to think this through on our own.”    “Sounds fun,” Jyren grumbled, but he leaned forward and asked upwards, “Loki, where exactly are we right now?”    [Roughly seventy lightyears out from Coruscant and near the Perlemian Trade Route.] the ship chimed in immediately, as if he was waiting to be asked the question.    Jyren thought about this. The Core worlds he knew. It was where he’d flown most all of his missions in the New Republic on the road to taking Coruscant. If there was any region of space that Jyren understood, it was the Core. So what was out here?    “Coulag, Chandrila, Brentaal, Ralltir...” he spoke the names of the nearby worlds as he went through a mental picture of the area, “Carida isn’t too far off...what’s left of Alderaan is even fairly close, but that’s backtracking. Why Coruscant to get there?”    “And she might not be going to Alderaan,” Shadow said calmly, “She could easily have gotten there without going to Coruscant. So maybe we should stop and look at that. Why Coruscant?”    It was a damn good question. Why Coruscant? Why the Core at all? Why anything? Stop. Think. One thing at a time. This was Jen. What did they know about her?    “Everything with Sadrak and Nine happened on Coruscant...” Jyren said, thinking out loud more than suggesting it to Shadow.    “Coruscant...” Shadow nodded at what he said, but a thought was coming up, “Wait. Corellia. Corellia to Coruscant. That’s where we went from getting Loki to going after Sadrak.”    Her train of thought seeped through the link and straight to Jyren, “...she’s following the same path?”    “No...no, then why make all the stops in between?”    Jyren nodded. Yes. There was something more to this. Something...else. He couldn’t pinpoint it, though, “Then she isn’t following the same path. Okay...what connects all of those places?”    “Garek V,” Shadow whispered it to herself. Why had she just...? Garek V. Coruscant. Corellia. Shadow’s eyes widened, “Ignore Corellia, Jyren. Its not important.”    “Huh...?” he hadn’t heard her whisper the first part, so he was suddenly lost.    “Coruscant is important,” Shadow said with a nod, “The key is Sadrak. We’re ending up at the same planets we did when we were after him.”    “But she left Coruscant...”    Again, Shadow nodded, “Because there wasn’t anything left there. Which leaves only two other planets that connect with Sadrak.”    It was beginning to dawn on Jyren, and Shadow could see it in his eyes, “The swamp planet...Garek V? You think she’ll go there?”    “She could have already been there,” she said, continuing to nod to encourage this along. She could feel they were close. So close to all of this.    “We have to find out,” Jyren said, more to Loki than to her. And, thankfully, the ship was intelligent enough to pick up on this. Without even a word, Loki was running through system maps to find this ‘Garek V.’ He’d never been there, of course, but it had to be somewhere...    “Why these planets, though?” Jyren asked after they both noticed how Loki was attempting to help them out.    Shadow had to think about this. They both did. It was right there. Right in front of them. Yet...yet they couldn’t pinpoint just what it was. Loki found the system quickly, and was already bringing them around to prepare for the hyperspace jump when Shadow repeated herself, “The key is Sadrak.”    Just as she finished the sentence, something dawned on the both of them. Immediately, their eyes went wide and locked with each other. They couldn’t be right. There was no way that was right. But...what else was there? One of them had to test it...but neither wanted to even speak it. Carefully, though, Jyren mouthed a word. Shadow nodded.    They really were watching the same holo on this one. A shivered breath escaped Shadow before she said quickly out loud, “Loki, get us there quickly.”    The ship made the mental nod just before they jumped into hyperspace. Loki could hear(and feel) the sudden panic and worry in both Shadow and Jyren. It was hard not to notice. He wasn’t sure how to ask about it, though. And, if he had seen Jyren’s lips mouth the word, Loki might not have even taken them to the planet.    The word was one that Loki knew just as well as the two of them. It was one that terrified not only Loki, but all Kanyaks just as it did all Alraxians.    The word was ‘Darkwing.’</blockquote>

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