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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2914970" data-attributes="member: 10079">Part VChapter 337“Six, you’ve got two on your tail!” the voice was young, of course, and vaguely human sounding...probably male.    “This is Four, there’s another three coming around from behind that asteroid!” this was definitely not human, and had a watery quality to it that identified the speaker as, most likely, a Mon Calamari.    “Asteroids don’t move like that!” the first voice returned quickly, though there was a scream a second later from another.    “Shields are out! I need some help!!”    “Hang on, Five, I’m on my way!” it was the Mon Calamari again, sounding frantic all of a sudden.    “There’s hundreds of them!” female, definitely, and most likely humanoid...with a slight Coruscanti accent in the voice.    “Just protect the refugees!” it was a new voice, firm and strong, and probably someone in charge, but beyond that, there was no way to attach any kind of picture to the speaker, as it was such a generic ‘Command’ voice.    “Break away! There’s too many!” another new voice, but this one was cut off by another yell from another voice before any identification could be made.    “The transports are ready to make the jump to lightspeed,” it was the ‘Command’ voice again, “Get yourselves ready and get out now!”    There was the slightest of pauses and only crackling static remained...and then...    “I can’t jump!!” it was the first voice again, “There’s some kind of gravity well but there’s no damned planet!!”    “The second wave is coming in!” yet another new voice with a very unique pitch to it chimed in, but then it all faded into something else entirely. No single voices could be heard...instead, the entire thing became a series of screams, muffled explosions, and even worse noises that sounded like bones breaking that should never, ever be heard over a comm.    “That’s enough!” Jyren finally growled, looking to his right to where Marix sat in a disturbingly calm way despite what they were listening to, “Turn that damned thing off!”    The last thing that escaped the comm was a static-filled cry before Marix reached over and switched it off, drowning Loki’s cockpit in a wave of pure silence. They sat there in their usual spots eyes looking out the viewport and to the distant black...where, somewhere not too far away, the massacre went on, despite the fact that they were no longer listening.    Finally, Marix sat back and turned to look at Jyren, idly taking note of the fact that he looked much better after she’d finally managed to convince him to stop trying to look so scruffy. Sure, he still had that fringe hanging down over the right side of his face, but at least now it was trimmed and looked nice, and the hair wasn’t piling up at his neck like the fur of some angry beast. Telling him that it didn’t suit an Emperor to look scruffy had taken a long time to actually get through the always-thick skull of his, and it had finally been accomplished through a joint effort with his father. But that had been...years ago now, though it felt like only days.    “If we try to get involved, we’ll just die, too,” Marix said eventually, knowing exactly what her ever-idealistic husband was thinking before even he did...well, normally before he did. He had actually been thinking about that for the last few days, and it was the whole reason they were out here now. After a sigh, she turned to look out the viewport again, “Remember, we only came out here to get an idea of the situation.”    Jyren pointed at the comm device over in front of where she sat, “If that didn’t give you a pretty good idea, I don’t know what will.”    To his surprise, Marix actually nodded. Despite all the years together, she still had a way of reacting exactly how he didn’t expect she would. Sometimes, Jyren wondered if she just did it on purpose...and, whether he knew it or not, he was actually right. Slowly, she reached up and ran a hand through her hair(which, unlike his, was generally unchanged) and idly scratched a spot behind her ear, “That asteroid was a ship.”    “I’ve seen the scout’s reports, too,” Jyren said flatly, obviously not in a good mood with any of this. Truthfully, it wasn’t for no reason, “You’d think the New Republic would be ready for this kind of thing after two months.”    Marix just shrugged, “They got too comfortable. You should know as well as I do by now that two standard months can seem like an eternity in politics.”    There was much more to that than was initially obvious, and it took Jyren a moment to pick up on the hidden message. When he did, he raised and eyebrow and looked over to her again, “So you’re worried about this, too?”    “Concerned,” she corrected, raising a hand at the same time, “But at least now we’ve got more of a reason to have left rather than just trying to escape the Palace for a few days...” the words trailed off before Marix sighed, then added, “This is too close to us, Jyren.”    “Could it explain why the Mrrakesh have been so jumpy on the border lately?” he asked idly. It wasn’t a new thought, and, in fact, it had been one he’d thrown around a lot...but Marix had never actually given him a straight answer to it before.    Yet again, though, she just shrugged, “It might, but the timing’s a bit off. We’ll have to keep an eye on that end of things, too.”    And then, a natural silence returned to the cockpit. This one, however, lasted only a few minutes. It was ended by Loki chiming in with a somewhat worried tone. [The ah...battle is moving towards us.]    “What?” Jyren was the first to say what they both were about to. He looked down a moment at the small navcomputer he’d managed to convince Loki to install a few years back before shaking his head, “Where the hell are they trying to go?”    “Can’t jump to hyperspace...” Marix said softly to herself, thinking out loud more than anything, “Escorting refugees...running. But it would be a long run to anywhere out here.”    “Dantooine’s close,” Jyren said after a moment of looking closer, “Nothing there at all, though. Don’t see how that would help.”    Again, Marix shrugged, but sat forward some and said simply, “Either way, it doesn’t matter. We’re not getting involved in this fight. Loki, turn us around and plot us a course out of here.”    [To...?]    Marix turned to look to Jyren, and they held a single look for a short time. They would be expected back at the Palace by the end of the day on Alraxia...which was quickly approaching. However, neither of them really wanted to go back all that much. There were only a few small(literally and metaphorically) things that tied them to that place. It was Jyren who decided to be the irresponsible one first though, since she was the Empress and it wouldn’t look good even if no one was looking, “They could do without us for another few days...”    A long time ago, that would have convinced the both of them in a matter of seconds. But now there were...other things on both of their minds. Slowly, the both of them went through the usual motions of making sure just how long they’d been gone and if the Empire would fall about without them. Then, even more slowly, Marix said quietly, “...just a few more days.”    After they both nodded one more time, she looked back up ‘to’ Loki and said, “Ord Mantell isn’t too far from here.”    Jyren nodded again, but it was obvious he had another idea. She gave the poke through the link and, without hesitation, he said, “I’d like to go somewhere else, actually...”    “Out with it, already,” she grumbled, still constantly annoyed by his ever present use of stalling tactics. She’d have thought he’d have known by now that those only made her more angry than if he’d just step out and say what he was wanting to say.    “What about Yavin?”    That brought another silence to the ship.    Marix regarded the Alraxian sitting next to her for a long time, both with her eyes and through their shared link, before saying slowly, as she did when talking to children, “You are sure about that? You do remember the last time you tried talking with them...?”    Jyren responded with a fairly quick nod, “But it’s the safest place I can think of and...”    That thought didn’t take a genius to finish, even without the link. Marix rolled her eyes and sighed, “And you want to help if you can. Dammit, Jyren, its always the same. Didn’t you just say not a week ago that you were enjoying the lack of constant threat of death hanging over our heads?”    “Yes, but—“    ”But this is different,” she finished for him, shaking her head and going on, “And it is. Fine. Loki, plot a course to Yavin and get us out of here before we get stuck, too.”</blockquote>

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