Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2915071" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 366Leaving the Cron Drift was much less difficult than coming in. No one even arrived to pursue Loki until he’d already left the cloud and was ready to jump to hyperspace. It was a disturbingly easy escape, but Marix had a feeling it had a lot to do with the fact that whoever was really operating that station hadn’t been expecting any kind of escape...and, by the time it had happened, there wasn’t any time to react to stop it beyond the meager effort put forth by the guards in the hangar.    Immediately upon making the jump to hyperspace, Taril had been locked into one of the small, extra rooms that Loki kept out of the way of most others, and was questioned. Marix had a very deliberate way of interrogation. She asked questions until she got answers. There was no violence, nor any threats. She simply stared right into the man’s eyes and waited for him to answer. It worked disturbingly well...especially with someone as traumatized as Taril currently was.    It also meant that he didn’t provide much resistance to actually talking, though between all of the information he continually begged that she not kill him. That was something she hadn’t mentioned once, but decided not to deny, either, as it seemed to be a good motivation to keep him talking. It was amazing how much he was able to work himself up and how his own imagination made things out to be much worse than they really were. Not that Marix was complaining.    [I still don’t understand why a peace group would want a fleet...] Loki mumbled ‘out loud’ after Marix had explained the details to both the ship, who had been busy with repairing a few small systems, and Tobias, who was just far too curious for his own good.    Marix looked up and rolled her eyes, “Tell me you said that for Toby’s benefit.”    “...it’s a good question,” Tobias said quietly, sitting off to the side in the small living area not far from Loki’s cockpit.    She turned to the young Alraxian and decided not to blame Loki. Not only was the ship smart enough to know what they were really dealing with, but he’d been involved with as many illicit activities as she had over the many years they’d been together...so he knew it all just as well as she did. It was a matter, then, of prompting Marix to say the right things for Tobias so that he’d understand what was going on. This, she didn’t like, but apparently Loki had it in him that this was important for Toby to know about.    “It’s a front, Toby,” Marix finally said, noting that he didn’t look as surprised as she’d expected, “They’ve got other motives and are using this anti-war sentiment to put a good face out there.”    Tobias nodded first, but then glanced down at the large couch both he and Marix sat on, obviously dropping into deep thought. It only lasted a few moments, but, Marix grinned to herself, that was longer than Jyren could ever manage, before he finally said, “So then...they really want to keep this fighting going? Why...?”    From the look on his face, that question was really driving him crazy. Marix managed to resist the urge to shrug, knowing that wouldn’t be a good display, and instead held her usual neutral face, “Its impossible to say exactly why, Toby, but that human gave us more information than he probably meant to. They are very, very strongly anti-Jedi, and from the sound of it, this organization...this, Peace Brigade, is growing everywhere. Why would they do that?”    Finally, forcing him to think for himself rather than ask any question, Marix was able to sit back a moment and let him think again. This time, it took a little longer before he responded, his silvery eyes searching for something at the same time, “Spreading a thing like that could destabilize the New Republic...or...or weaken the ties it has to the Jedi?”    This time, Marix allowed herself a smile, “If that’s what they’re after. We can’t be sure of it, but it does sound about right, doesn’t it? But that still isn’t the ‘why’...”    That thought was left to hang in the air. The end of it was not something that needed to be discussed. All three of them knew exactly why, as they all ended it with the same thought...even Toby. In fact, he was already thinking it before Marix was speaking it.    If this Peace Brigade was real, and the small amount of information they had now was true, and they were actually attempting to destabilize the New Republic, or even drive a rift between them and the Jedi Knights, then there was one real conclusion that made any sense.     They were working with the Yuuzhan Vong.    But it didn’t make sense!    All of the information they had said that the Vong did one of two things to their conquered worlds. Either the population was utterly wiped off the face of their planet, or they were enslaved through some strange process that no one was completely sure of, save for the Vong and the slaves. But there was no evidence at all that any of the people on that station had a single thing to do with the Vong. Why would they? Could have they have struck a deal...?    How?!    The Vong were not the type to deal. Early attempts at even speaking with them were returned with promises of painful deaths. Nothing was adding up, and Marix knew this was because too much information was missing from the equation. And despite the fact that these days she was most definitely Marix, what was left of the child that was Shadow still had a way of popping here and there. It was the decisive voice that took her straight to the choice that needed to be made without any of the wasted time involved in thinking of ‘whys’ and ‘hows’.    In this case, it meant that she had only one choice. If any of this was true about the Peace Brigade, then it could have the possibility to make them a greater threat than the Vong themselves...and, by now, Marix understood that the Vong succeeding in whatever they were doing in this part of the galaxy meant that the Alraxians wouldn’t have much more isolation from the galaxy. War was something to be avoided at all costs...and that meant stopping it right here in this part of the galaxy before it spread.    So she would have to find out more about these people. It made Taril that much more important. Hopefully, he knew other groups on other planets...and if not...well...Marix could dig, but she had a good feeling he did know. Through the Force, she’d known he’d hidden some things, and that was probably one of them...but...    Her thoughts trailed off when she caught that look in Tobias’ eye again. He wanted to say something, but...but he wasn’t. That was the Tobias she knew. So much like Jyren she wondered if he was trying to do that or if it was just one of those things that had happened...and that meant he still wasn’t going to say anything until she did.    “What is it, Toby?” she didn’t feel like wasting time.    Marix didn’t need the Force to see how uncomfortable and nervous the young Alraxian was, but it sure helped. She watched him fidget nervously for a few moments before speaking down at the floor in a very, very quiet voice, “I...I...I want to...to...to...”    A sigh from Marix silenced his already quiet voice. She then decided to deal with him the same way she used to be forced to deal with Jyren. Marix turned to sit completely on the couch, adopting a casual seating position and a face of calm to match it and wipe away any kind of slightly dangerous hint that usually found its way into how she carried herself. It was also how she’d learned to be when being the Empress, and managed to fall into the same calm voice with the Force slightly layered in for a little help, “Just say it.”    That had an effect. This time, he looked up through the blue stripe of his jet-black hair and straight to her eyes, barely matching the look for long enough to speak in a slightly louder voice, “...I want to be a Jedi...”    “Toby!” the word escaped her before she could control her voice. After a quick moment, she just shook her head and ran a hand through her hair, “Toby, I thought we were done with this.”    They should have been. He’d gotten talks from both herself and from Jyren about it, trying to explain that all those fantastic stories were, in the end, just that...fantastic stories. It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t fun, and it sure as hell wasn’t anything like Tobias seemed to think it was. Not only did the kid have the usual Alraxian stories of how the Jedi of old had saved their people from the Darkwings, but he’d had Jyren and his father to relate stories of actual Jedi...that usually ended up just as exaggerated. Jyren had tried to fix this, but it had been far too late. So, they’d simply made it understood to Tobias that he would at least follow that Alraxian way like Marix and the rest of the BlueIce family had done. He had, apparently, accepted that...or rather, apparently not.    “I’m serious!” Tobias blurted out suddenly, this time all of his nervousness washed away, “I want to do it.”    “Its not what you think it is,” Marix said flatly, doing her absolute best to keep all the annoyance out of her voice and keep a rational tone, “And you’re too young.”    “But Jyren was younger tha—“    Quickly, she cut that one off with a shake of her head and a stern voice, “Jyren was human! You. Are. Not. Human.”    The words were slow, deliberate, and definitely filled with that anger that had been growing. Which didn’t help Tobias’ quick response, “I know! But I...I feel...” he waved a hand vaguely, “...its what I need to do...”    There was a surprising amount of sincerity in the young Alraxian’s voice. So much so that Marix couldn’t find a quick retort to that. He really believed that...and, whether that was something he’d made up for himself or something he truly did believe, it was hard to argue against. It didn’t help that Marix was not the kind of person to simply say ‘no’ and then use the reason ‘because I said so’ afterwards. Why she’d grown so protective of the little brat over the years was beyond her, but it sure didn’t help things.    “Do you want to do this to prove something to me? Or to Jyren?” Marix asked after a long silence.    Tobias shook his head, “I want to do it for me.”    Again, he meant it. But...still, “You’re telling me this now because you know I won’t stop if you. But, Toby, if you’re going to run off and do this to show off or with some crazy dreams of being a great Jedi then you damned well better end this right now and never speak of it again.”    That did bring a silence into the room. It lasted for long enough that the flared tempers were able to calm down and calm, if not slightly hesitant, tones of voice came into play.    Very carefully, and obviously choosing his words wisely, Tobias attempted to make sense of a thousand thoughts and put them into one coherent idea, “I don’t care....I don’t care what anyone says. Jyren is my father. And...and he comes from a family of Jedi. His mother...himself...I...I don’t want that to die because he’s Alraxian now.”    “But, Toby,” Marix said, reaching over to rest a hand on his shoulder and trying to put it lightly, “Jyren wasn’t ever a Jedi. He’ll tell you that himself.”    She was carefully avoiding the idea that it sounded like he was, in fact, wanting to do this for Jyren.    Tobias just shook his head, “His mother said otherwise...” trailing off, he let that hang for long enough so that Marix knew he’d been using that damned Holocron without either herself or Jyren knowing. Before she could say anything about that, however, he added, “But that isn’t the point, mother. I want to do this...I...I need to.”    Marix also avoided that word ‘mother’, still uncomfortable with it after so long. She knew, though, that this was already a decided issue. She wanted Tobias to be trained in the Force, but had noticed recently that he was resisting all of the Alraxian teaching just like Jyren had done. And...not to offend him, but she didn’t want Tobias ending up in the same middle ground. She wanted Toby to actually make a choice.    And...he’d made it. The problem was he made one that they thought was just some damned fantasy. But it wasn’t...and she knew he’d find someway to do it. But she did have an idea. At least something to delay the inevitable...    “We have other things that are important and need to be dealt with right now,” Marix spoke very calmly, and made sure not to sound at all angry, “Until we both can talk with Jyren about this, you’ll stay right where you are. Understand?”    Tobias nodded, holding back a smile. He knew he’d won, and knew that if he tried the same kind of ‘charm’ on Jyren, he’d manage to convince his father, too. It just made him wonder how long it would be until they saw each other again...a thought that was also haunting Marix, and had been since they’d gone off on their separate ways.</blockquote>

Verification