Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2728892" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 302: We're Away Again[They are shooting at me!!] Loki yelped, his calm from only a few seconds ago suddenly gone as something beeped to indicate the two smaller cruisers were both firing their meager assortment of laser batteries and attempting to lock onto the ship with their tractor beams.    Shadow’s hands gripped the controls tightly and allowed both her natural reflexes and the Force to pull the thing up and guide Loki over the fairly random shots from the vibroblade shaped cruisers. There were only two batteries on each of the ships; one at the midsection and one near the drives at the rear. The problem was the tractor beam emplacements, which seemed to have been set up in a perfect, overlapping pattern. So far, both she and Loki were managing to keep one step ahead of the beams, but they were getting closer.    “How much longer until we’re out of the planet’s gravity well?” Shadow asked through gritted teeth as the viewport went red from a laser shot that passed right in front of them.    There was a pause, the ship rocked slightly, then continued its fast shot for the edge of the system before Loki responded. [One minute...but they are becoming more accurate with their tractor beams!]    So that was the shaking was. Shadow had figured as much, but had decided it was best not to ask. When being shot at, Loki had a habit of getting at least slightly panicky. Like most of his species, he’d never liked weapons...whether they’d been on him or firing at him. For a short while, she had managed to install some meager laser cannons but that had never lasted very long. In fact, between the time they’d retrieved him from Corellia and the current moment, they had mysteriously disappeared. Shadow decided it was best not to ask the exact circumstances that led to the loss of the weapons.    [The other ships are attempting to come around.] Loki announced, sounding like he was talking through teeth that he didn’t actually have. Shadow risked a glance off to the edge of the viewport and caught sight of one of the largest of the ships heading straight towards their current course.    And then the ship rocked again...but this time it was much more violent. Shadow nearly dug her claws into the control yoke to stop from being thrown forward. She growled a curse and tried to find a way to get more power to Loki’s engines. This time, the tractor beam had them...but not completely. They were still very slowly inching forward, pushing against the invisible, iron grip.    “Loki, divert all power from the life support to your engines!”    Even Loki was taken aback by that. Sure, it would work, but...[You’ll all die!]    Shadow rolled her eyes, feeling as if she was talking to Jyren all of a sudden, “You’re going to turn it back on as soon as we’re free!”    [Oh.]    And without another word, he diverted the power. It was an odd sensation to know that one was breathing the last of the recycled air and that it was going to run out after only a few more breaths...but Shadow ignored it and immediately took advantage of the new boost in power. They suddenly wrenched free of the tractor beam with a very violent jolt that probably even did some damage to the ship that had attempt to hold them, and then shot forward at an incredible speed.    They weren’t out of range of the weapons, as evidenced by the red lances that were still far too close, but only a couple of seconds later the stars began to stretch and Loki made the jump to lightspeed. In the rush, Shadow hadn’t even noticed the life support returning. And as the swirling blue surrounded them, Shadow let out a long, tired sigh before slumping back into the pilot’s chair to pat the armrests gently, “Good job, Loki.”    For a long few minutes, she just sat there, closing her eyes and allowing even a partial smile, very proud of her ship. No matter what happened, Shadow knew she could always trust him to keep them safe. Them. That was a new one. It had always been ‘her’. But no...not anymore. Now it really was ‘them’. And with that thought, she realized that she was not, in fact, dead. That was strong evidence towards Tobias having succeeded in keeping Jyren at least mostly alive. But that wasn’t enough...and asking Loki wouldn’t be the same either, so without a word, she got up and headed for the cargo bay at an extremely fast walk. It wasn’t a run, because a run would mean she was worried...and she wasn’t worried. Of course not. Just...concerned. Yes. Concerned.    Unsurprisingly, Loki did not buy into any of this, and continued to watch with interest.    Shadow arrived at the cargo bay to find the scene pretty much the same way she’d left it. The X-Wing was still there, surrounded by a small puddle of water that hadn’t remained snow for very long. The red blood was still pretty much everywhere, causing her stomach to turn again...blue coloured blood wasn’t bad. That was normal. But that stuff...it was just wrong.    It also didn’t help when she knew how much of it there was and how much of it should have been inside the figure that was still laying on his back not far from the X-Wing. Jyren hadn’t actually moved from the look of it...but Tobias had. The little Alraxian was now perched up on the sensor cone on the nose of the X-Wing, peering down like a hawk at Jyren.    “What are you doing up there?” Shadow asked as she slowed her pace to attempt and look even unconcerned.     The voice surprised Tobias, getting a yelp out of him and a jump that nearly caused him to fall of the X-Wing. Thankfully, for him at least, claws kept him rooted well enough. After sitting back into his spot, he mumbled something that Shadow couldn’t understand. The only reason she didn’t ask ‘what?’ was to stop and kneel down next to Jyren. His arm wasn’t attached by only a few tendons anymore. In fact, it looked fine. Most of him did...except for maybe the torn tunic.    Suddenly forgetting that Toby was even there anymore, Shadow leaned down and gently rested her forehead on Jyren’s. [Come on, Akan-jai...wake up.]    In holodramas and fairy tales, that was when the person would wake up. They’d wake up, smile, and everything would be alright. But, annoyingly enough, this was not either of those. It would have made everything so much easier. And, of course, that was not allowed. Distantly, Shadow thought she heard a whimper from Toby, but she was doing her best to push and nudge at Jyren through the link. So far, it wasn’t working all that well. He was far too stubborn sometimes.    After a few minutes, there was a groan. Everything went silent afterwards and no one moved. That could have been imagined. Shadow’s eyes very carefully watched Jyren, still gently resting her forehead against his. And then there was another groan, a cough(an unpleasant thing to experience just inches from the one doing the coughing), and another groan.    But for some insane reason, Shadow found herself smiling. When his eyes began to half open as he groaned again, Shadow laughed and rubbed her cheek against his. It took a long time for him to finally be somewhat coherent, and Shadow very calmly waited until that moment to whisper, “If you ever do that again, Jyren, I’m going to kill you.”    There was a short pause, another groan, then Jyren whispered back, “Bet you twenty credits you won’t.”</blockquote>

Verification