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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2914887" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 325The initial guess on how many droids that Jyren had made was...well, wrong wasn’t the best word. ‘Off’ was probably better...though, Shadow would have said something a little more extreme, probably along the lines of ‘dreaming’. Not that it really mattered anymore. It was too late to stop the assault on the bridge, and had reached the point of no return for Jyren, as the blast doors to the backup bridge had been sealed.    He was, currently, huddled in a small niche provided by the dividers between the sensor stations that lined the back end of the bridge. His body was pressed as much as he could to the cold wall to avoid the swarm of blaster bolts that were still coming his way. Every few seconds, he’d have to make a quick adjustment, as his foot would slide into view and nearly get shot, or his elbow or...well, the near miss on his tail had really been the most worrisome moment.    The only sound drowning out the constant attack on him was the deep thrumming of the lightsaber that he still held active in front of him. It provided no warmth, but was so close to his body that it was nearly taking off the blue-coloured fringe of his hair. The blade was also up so close that he couldn’t see the blue-green outer glow, and only the ultra-bright, almost blinding beam of hot-white energy that was the actual ‘blade’ of the weapon.    Jyren tilted his head very slightly to the side to get a view around his cover. In the small second he had to get a look at the situation before he had to jump back to avoid losing his face to a blaster bolt, Jyren managed to survey the area fairly accurately. Four of the skeletal-looking droids were using a sensor station as cover like he was and firing from that, almost directly across from him and nearly close enough to see around the small cover he had. Another four were just behind them, standing out in the open but kneeling and obviously trying to find another angle to get a clear shot at any body part that showed itself. At least six others were lining the small section before the room opened up into the large section of the bridge with the crew pits, blocking any chance he had of getting to the...however many droids were still down there.    So what to do? There wasn’t exactly much time to think, as it looked like the nearest group of droids was going to find a new section of cover within perfect view of Jyren in a matter of moments.    Trust the Force.    Jyren blinked. It wasn’t a normal blink...if that meant anything. It was a voice in his head and it sure as hell wasn’t Shadow. He knew her...her...voice, if the link even used voices. But, at the same time, it was...familiar. Familiar and yet...    “Mother...?” for some reason, Jyren looked up...or at least as ‘up’ as he could manage in the tight quarters with the lightsaber so close to taking off his nose. Why he said that up, he didn’t know, but it was probably part of the same strange reaction that made him talk to Loki through the ceiling. Instead of the bulkheads.    But there was no answer beyond two blaster bolts that caught the wall in front of him and made the black scorch marks there even blacker.     It had been his mother’s voice...he was sure of that. That was a voice he knew surprisingly well considering he couldn’t even remember the woman. But he felt no presence, and not even the comforting image that the holocron usually provided....it had only been the voice, and now it was gone.    Trust the Force.    That had been it. But maybe...    Jyren closed his eyes and let out a deep, calming breath, trying to push aside the fact that another blaster bolt nearly hit his elbow before it was pulled inwards.    Trust the Force.    Trust the Force.    His eyes were forced open by the pang of a blaster bolt hitting the bulkhead he was hiding behind, and the knowledge that so many shots on the thing was starting to finally eat through the metal. Jyren’s eyes then quickly darted over to the sealed bulkhead over to his right. There wasn’t any running from this. There was no turning back. And through the link...he could feel something was wrong. He could feel a very violent pain, and the shadows of it tried to force themselves through his own body.     And he couldn’t get there...this time, Jyren wasn’t going to be able to save the day. He was trapped here...and had to trust Shadow to keep herself alive. An act that she had been very good at long before ever knowing him, and would likely continue to excel at for decades to come. Jyren had to trust her...and, at the same time, had to keep up his own end of their life and not screw things up for the both of them by getting himself killed. And there was only one way his mind could think to do that.    Trust the Force.    And he did.    Jyren gave himself to the energy around him, pushing away the thick Darkness and finding the Light that was always there. He latched onto it and let it into him...let it take him. His grip on his weapon loosened, and the stark tension in his entire body faded. It wasn’t relaxation, but rather, a calm state that was exactly like what Shadow was an expert at falling into whenever she was in a similar situation...in other words, most all of the time.    And then he moved.    Jyren pivoted around and out of his cover, lightsaber swinging up and in front of him to deflect the barrage of red bolts flying at him. None of them were returned to their origin and none of the droids flinched at the sudden jump that Jyren made from his cover. But standing there and taking the shots that were already being fired at him was not exactly the smartest thing in the world to do...and just as his initial lightsaber sweep was finished, his left hand left the lightsaber and reached out to the droids.    Suddenly, the Force slammed into the six of them that were out in the open and sent them flying across the bridge...a couple into the viewscreens on the far end and the rest simply into the crew pits. As they hit, Jyren’s hand returned to his lightsaber as he moved forward and he dropped into a quick roll to the center of the room to dodge the next barrage of red that burnt through his previous position. He came up into a kneel and threw the lightsaber in a horizontal sweep. It flew out and cut straight through the remainder of the battle droids that were out of the crew pits.    The metal remained scattered across the ground and Jyren got to his feet and started running straight for the right crew pit where his lightsaber had ended up falling into. Mid-stride, he called his blaster pistol into his hand from its position on the floor and caught it just as he dove straight into the crew pit...with its four rows of consoles, each manned by two droids.    Two blaster bolts shot up at him but missed thanks to his forward momentum, and he landed at the midpoint of all of them. The second he was down, he fired at the nearest droid and took cover behind the console it had been ‘manning’. His lightsaber wasn’t in view, so he waited for a couple shots to go over him before standing back up and jumping over to the back row, kicking the battle droid at it and ducking down again...while firing off a quick shot at the second droid in the row.    There was the lightsaber.    Jyren quickly dove to the corner and picked up the metal hilt before reactivating the blade.    The sound of the lightsaber was not the only sudden sound, though.    Behind him, back near the entrance, there was a very, very loud crash. Jyren looked up from the crew pit to see pieces of what could only be the bulkhead fly past. His openness to the Force told him the source of this sudden explosion right away.    A Darkwing.    The gut-wrenching roar that echoed into the room only confirmed what the Force told him. Footsteps started, too...and Jyren stood up fully to see that the battle droids were actually running out of the crew pits and...firing at the entrance to the bridge?! Well, they were old and definitely not the brightest of droids ever crafted. But there was no reason not to use this to his advantage.    Once again calling the Force to him, Jyren jumped up and out of the crew pit again, landing squarely on the deck plates that were littered with droids parts and seeing what had entered...and his heart stopped.    There was a Darkwing, yes...standing there at the ruined bulkhead, wings flared out and teeth barred...but it didn’t move. Its eyes simply watched him, a predatory and almost face-melting expression boring through him. But Jyren only saw the Darkwing for a moment...as it soon became a dark, black backdrop to the thing that stood in font of it.    No...the woman.    Jen.    She looked exactly the same as he remembered her. Long blonde hair pulled back behind her, a simple, grey tunic and slacks and the same belt on her waist that she’d worn since the first day he’d met her. But it was her eyes that were different. Where once there had been warmth and even a form of love...now there was a cold emptiness that even Shadow’s eyes had never held.     When Jyren’s eyes locked with Jen’s, he nearly lost his footing and fell back into the crew pit. Somehow, he managed to stay up...but all the momentum that had been built up in him had gone in that second. The blaster pistol dropped out of his left hand, and the lightsaber in his right simply hung at his side, its thrumming nearly inaudible despite the eerie silence in the bridge.    Her eyes still holding his attention, Jen’s hand moved to her belt and withdrew a small cylindrical object. Jyren knew what it was right away...and was not at all surprised by the snap-hiss when she activated the lightsaber and a bright orange blade, eerily similar to Titus Voort’s old weapon, bathed the deck around her.    “No, Jen,” Jyren whispered, trying to shake his head but barely able to move, “Please don’t do this.”    Jen’s cold eyes stayed locked with his, and the longer it lasted the more Jyren just wanted to see her smile...or...or anything! But she didn’t, her face remained expressionless, and even when she spoke, her voice was no longer the one he remembered, “I will kill you for what you did to me.”    “No, Jen!” this time he managed to at least get some kind of emotion into his voice, “You know you can’t beat me!”    “Did that ever stop you?” her voice was biting and sharp...and her words were right.    What an example he’d been. What a wonderful Jedi he’d been for her to look to...charging in without thinking, risking his life and the life of those he loved just because he was a damned hot-headed kid with a deep set need to die...and even before that, a show off. Always doing something dramatic and barely making it out with his life. And so many had watched him do it over the years, even laughing about it...but only Shadow had really yelled at him for it...and now Jyren knew why. Now he really understood, deep down in his very core, the real problem.    He had blamed it on Shadow, Ket Halpak, and even simple destiny...but Jen had fallen because of him. Jyren had led her straight down that path because he never thought about anything. He hadn’t even taken the time to see just how much she was watching...he’d tried so hard to just show off or get himself killed that he never even considered the future. Never considered this.    The Sith Poison may have been the catalyst that had caused them to lose Jen Zaarin Voort, but Jyren had been the path. His own arrogance had done it, and instead of paying for it with his life he was paying for it with everyone else’s...from Mare’s, to Voort’s, and now to Jen’s.    Jyren took a very small step forward, reaching out with his free hand to the human woman, “Please, Jen...if you do this you’ll die.”    She didn’t respond. Or at least, not in words.    Jen’s only response was the slightest of grins before she charged straight for him, lightsaber up and preparing to swing right at Jyren.</blockquote>

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