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!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2616508" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 284: Two HundredNormally, staring into the face of all of those blasters would not have been too much of a problem. It wasn’t like they hadn’t been in worse situations. However, now, Jyren was being a stubborn fool and handicapping himself by not using the Force. That made him just as likely to get shot as the ten armed mercenaries(or at least, that’s what they looked like to Shadow) were to have Shadow tear them apart. There was no way she could disarm all of them quickly enough to stop at least a few shots getting off.    So she did nothing, instead attempting to look over who these people were. All of them were human(or at least, near-human) and wore clothes that could only be defined as upscale, dirtied shirts that had probably once been armor of some kind. Their weapons were all of different makes, though most of them were rifles...there were a couple of smaller carbines here and there and one of them even had a pair of smaller pistols.    After a short few moments in which nothing at all happened, one of the humans with a rifle(who looked to be female, but that was hard to tell considering the general look of all of them) spoke up with a question that, while cliche and at least slightly annoying, was a necessary one, “Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?!”    Shadow and Jyren exchanged glances. There were many different answers to both of those questions. At the moment, none of the answers to the first one were going to be truthful, and neither of them were sure of how to answer the second one just yet.    “Who are you and what the hell are you doing here?” Jyren eventually asked, though with no force at all in his voice. It almost sounded sarcastic. Almost, because he was at least smart enough to realize that sarcasm could get them shot.    Interestingly enough, that question seemed to throw the group of mercenaries off as much as it had the two Alraxians. The humans all exchanged looks with some of them motioning with their weapons in different directions. Mostly towards the two very large, very dangerous looking feline-humanoids that were staring at them. It was easy for Jyren to forget just how much larger a full grown Alraxian was compared to a Human.    The silence held for only a few more second before the same woman snapped back, “We asked first!”    Childish, but correct. Jyren held back a grin and a laugh, knowing that both it wasn’t a good time to realize just how crazy things had become and that Shadow wouldn’t get it anyway. It was a sadly logical argument, and Shadow was the one who decided this was getting annoying and said flatly, “We are the owners of this little place and we’re here to get some things. So...who are you and what are you doing here?”    It was a very, very bad lie...but it was something. It was something, and it was said in just the right way that made it seem almost truthful. In the pause, Shadow had time to look over the other things in the large room. It was generally empty, except for a table off to the far left and some crates that were scattered all through it. Crates. Dirtied and bad smelling humans. These weren’t mercenaries at all...    “You know what, forget that,” Shadow waved her hand to shut up any lie that was coming. Still completely ignoring the weapons pointed at them, she gave the woman who was doing the talking(who was, at this point, the leader) a sharp glare, “We aren’t here to steal what you’ve got or kill you. We’re looking for someone.”    Somehow, the words seemed to ease some of the tension in the room. This was at least partially due to the fact that she was using the Force to help it along, but also because Shadow simply knew how to deal with her own. The woman lowered her rifle so that she could more clearly be seen. Dark hair was pulled back out of her face, which was currently showing a look much like the one on Shadow’s, “Bounty hunters?”    “No,” Shadow said very quickly, mainly to stop any of the others from shooting on principle, “Just looking for someone...and that someone’s not any of you.”    She was sure of that by now. Jen would be easy to spot in this group, no matter how long it had been.    A few others lowered their weapons, and Jyren looked over to Shadow with a look of surprise on his face. From the feeling over the link, he had been expecting to be shot at. Shadow allowed it to calm a little more before asking a more direct question, “Has anyone else been through here recently?”    One of the guns went up again, but more out of nervousness, hopefully. A couple of the smugglers were speaking quietly to one another...no, that was arguing. Before it got loud enough for Shadow to actually make out what was being said, the leader spoke up again, “Some woman charged in two days ago. A good shot. Dropped two of us before we even knew where she was. She was in and out before we knew what had happened.”    That didn’t sound right. Jyren asked carefully, “Did she do anything other than shoot at you?”    “Some of the old equipment that’s down at the bottom level disappeared, but that’s about it...” the woman trailed off with a shrug, now certain these two weren’t there for her, “You’re sure you’re not bounty hunters?”    “We aren’t bounty hunters,” Shadow growled, angry enough to worry the woman into gripping her rifle a bit tighter...though she resisted raising it up again. She had only even heard those words spoken with such annoyance from other smugglers...maybe that was why she wasn’t trying to shoot at these two.    Jyren tried to ignore this and said quietly to Shadow, “We should head down and see what’s there...”    Shadow nodded, but instead spoke to the leader of the smugglers, “We’re going to go down there...and then we’re going to leave. No one will ever know you’re here.”    Though that got a suspicious look from Jyren, the woman standing on the other side of the room seemed to accept it after a few short moments. Shadow then led the way out, not turning her back but slowly backing away. As Jyren did his best to follow, he realized there was something else. Quickly, he asked, “You don’t happen to know where she went, do you?”    That got a very distinct grin on the woman’s face, “Four hundred credits.”    “Two fifty,” Shadow’s voice sounded from behind Jyren.    “Three hundred,” the smuggler responded sternly.    “Two hundred,” Shadow said with the same stern voice, but added something very special to it that even surprised Jyren. There was a very sharp snap-hiss from behind him, and he looked back to see her holding his lightsaber, blue-green blade blazing brightly and in full view of everyone.    All of the smugglers except for the leader quickly raised their weapon’s again. The leader, though, seemed to consider this for a moment, before saying very calmly, “Two hundred it is.”</blockquote>

Verification