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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3047375" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 396: One Step ForwardNames were things that Marix had grown up learning as unnecessary. Or, at least, not for her or her ‘kind’. Because of this, then, it was not surprising that many times, Marix simply did not pay names any attention. It was the reason she did not know the name of the planet hanging in space in front of her, despite having been to it more than once. In fact, it was where she had taken Jyren not long before the twins were born as an escape from the general chaos of the Palace on Alraxia.    But even without a name, she knew the planet. It was on the edge of Alraxian space, and only inhabited by small, generally harmless creatures. Unlike Alraxia, it was not forested and had very little oceans. Instead, it was mountainous and dotted with a small number of rivers and lakes near the equator, where most of the native life survived.    From this distance, it was impossible to see the Mrrakesh, but Marix knew they were there. She could feel them...a heavy veil in the distance, making it difficult to see beyond. Shaking her head, she looked down at the various lights and objects in Loki’s cockpit and asked, “Still no response?”    [They are ignoring us.] the ship answered, a hint of a sigh(or whatever a Kanyak considered a sigh) at the end of that.    It was not surprising, though. They had sat there for over an hour, transmitting a simple, unencrypted signal to the planet and waiting for some kind of response. The fact that the Mrrakesh were obviously ignoring something as simple as that was not a good sign. In their own space, they had a habit of treating outsiders this way, but Marix refused to accept that this was, in fact, their space now.    “Are you sure they’re getting it?” she asked yet again, not really wanting to move beyond this point but knowing it was going to have to be done very soon.    [Absolutely.] Loki couldn’t nod, but the feeling was there. [There are two warships in orbit easily within range to detect both us and the signal...they are simply ignoring us.]    It had now been long past the time that had been originally planned on to wait. Marix wasn’t going to be able to hold this position any longer and just watch the blank nothing in front of her. A heavy sigh escaped her and she ran a hand through her hair, getting a few loose strands of it out of her face as she tried to think. She was glad Jyren wasn’t here for this. That would have been one more distraction that she didn’t need right now...    ...but this wasn’t like previous times. Jyren wasn’t all that was on her mind. The twins were safe back on Alraxia in the Palace, but unlike everything else, she simply could not find a way to thrust them from her thoughts. They just hung there, getting in the way of what she needed to do in the form of worries that never in her life had she expected to encounter. There was no way Marix could find to just put them out of her mind, or at least bury the thoughts as she was able to do with Jyren when it was necessary.    And so, Marix decided, she would just have to find a way to survive with them.    “Send a message to the Knights,” she said quietly, “Tell them to make their way here immediately.”*  *  *  *    “There’s something here,” Jyren stated firmly as the three of them stood in the middle of the street off in the outskirts of the main city on Obroa-Skai.    The Mon Calamari, Loro, gave him a sideways glance before saying, “It is an unmarked residence...but yes, I expect there is something here.”    “Something important,” Jyren grumbled, already tired of trying to hide the fact that he was allowing the Force to guide him from these two.    On his others side, his Twi’lek wingmate wrinkled her nose, “And you know this...how? We’ve been wandering in circles following nothing for half an hour.”    Jyren turned to give her a look he’d learned from Marix, then said flatly, “And now we’ve found something. Just trust me.”    The last part had been repeated so many times now that Jyren was beginning to sound like a broken holorecorder. However, every time he said it, the two of them went quiet. At least Tobias had gone back to the ship in orbit without much of a fight.    But without allowing this to go any farther, Jyren stepped up the couple of steps to the door and hit the small button to its side. For a long moment, they just stood there looking awkward, but soon the door slid open with a soft hiss to reveal a human female roughly Jyren’s age. Her hair was pulled back and she was wearing the kind of clothes that one would expect from someone who did a great deal of work...however, her features showed none of the details that would confirm that.    She looked confused for a half second after the door opened, but even the other two pilots caught the sudden change in her expression afterwards. However, the two of them didn’t know why. Jyren did.    “Afternoon,” Jyren nodded his head politely, “We are part of the New Republic Intelligence and are following up some leads...would you mind answering a few questions?”    “Of course,” she spoke with a thick Coruscanti accent, and motioned for them to come in before leading them to a very small room with a few minimal pieces of furniture. Both Loro and Rea were not foolish enough to ignore how odd all of this was. She was being too cooperative and a little too helpful without asking any questions at all. Something was up.    When they’d sat down, the two younger pilots got another surprise, as Jyren leaned forward to look the woman in the eyes and got straight to the point that neither of them knew was coming, “What were you doing in that Peace Brigade cell earlier today?”    “What are you talking about?” she was a good liar.    “Please, its been a long day and I’m not in the mood for games,” Jyern shook his head, “I know you were there. You left a trail leading here easy enough for a kowokian monkey lizard to follow. And that,” Jyren pointed to a small, hand-sized cylindrical object that was ‘decorating’ a nearby table, “Is not very well disguised.”    For a long time, there was nothing but the silence that the shock of his direct questions had brought up. But then, the woman sighed and hung her head before looking back up at Jyren and grumbling, “Those were for Master Skywalker to follow, not whoever the hell you are.”    “Well I found them,” Jyren snapped, “And I’m here, and I need to know what is going on here.”    “And why, exactly, should I trust anything you say?” that question seemed to be more of a default one to ask rather than something that actually needed to be spoken out loud.    And because of it, one more thing was added to confuse the two non-humans in the room when Jyren said, “You know you can. You wouldn’t have let us in if you didn’t. And, as far as I know, Skywalker isn’t anywhere near this planet, so I wouldn’t be expecting any help from him if that’s what you were hoping for. You’re stuck with what you can get, and that’s us. So I suggest you tell us what the New Republic wasn’t able to figure out and why you hid that Vong’s body in the storage room.”</blockquote>

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