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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3102596" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 400: Getting WorseOnly four of them remained.    Marix looked over her shoulder a moment to the other three Alraxians who had survived their infiltration, if it could be called that, into the currently-grounded Mrrakesh ship. They were safe for the moment, though...hidden within a smaller air duct that was easy to climb and also very much ignored. It also helped that it was just the right size for an average Alraxian to fit into.    And so six, at least, were dead...leaving herself with a single Tam’Day’U and two Knights. The Knights were behind her, with the other Tam’Day”U, a nameless female with nondescript brown-black hair, brought up the rear. In silence, they were heading upwards as far as this would take them. The metal walls made the other three nervous, but it wasn’t so much that they could not go on...they were forced to touch it, and all had taken the ‘precaution’ of putting on gloves and boots over their light armour. All except for Marix, of course.    While they moved up and Marix put the image of the very violent deaths of the other six out of her mind, a vicious fight was going on outside. The distraction to get the ten inside. It was not going well...but it wasn’t truly meant to. But it did mean that Alraxians were out there dying when they didn’t even have to be anymore. They were in, and so the distraction was no longer necessary.    ...but it would continue until they were out. The only way it would stop would be if all of the Alraxians outside were killed, which was, sadly, a distinct possibility considering the force of Mrrakesh that had met them outside.    These, too, Marix pushed aside, focusing on the moment. Trying to put her mind back into the old ways of thinking. Focus. Focus on the kill. But no...this wasn’t necessarily a kill but...yes. Focus on the kill. Ahead. Above....near.    The bridge was two more decks up, roughly midway into the ship and slightly off center of the bulky warship’s body. If all went well, and it probably hadn’t, there would be very little people there beyond whoever was in charge. Again, if all went well, the Mrrakesh had no idea at all that there were four Alraxians inside their ship. Their group had met the attack force outside, and the six had died outside...but so had the attackers...which meant Marix and the others had been able to slip through, hopefully, unnoticed.    And then they were at the top.    She made no signal at all, knowing that the Mrrakesh could easily detect them through the Force if they attempted any kind of communication through the Network. Thankfully, the others did not need signals. There were unspoken commands that were like instincts to even the Knights now.    In front of her face was a somewhat large panel that looked like it could be removed to exit the duct and into the actual ship itself. It was a risk, but Marix reached out very carefully through the Force before trying anything...    ...empty.    Focusing on the moment, still, and not letting the feelings of the fighting outside get to her, she extended her claws and quietly cut the panel off. She pushed it out, and quickly followed, getting to her feet and finding herself actually on the bridge...that was a surprise.    Marix was near the back corner, shielded from view by a number of bulkheads and consoles, all of which had very sharp, slightly triangular, features to them. There was speaking and barking of orders in the Mrrakesh language ahead of her, and she very carefully risked a glance around the bulkhead she was now pressed against to get a better view of the situation.    The bridge itself was rectangular, with two sets of doors to Marix’s right, and a small viewport on the opposite wall that provided a somewhat limited view of the world outside. In between were consoles, all triangular, as were the chairs in front of them, and all a shiny, polished metal. The quick scan of the room showed four Mrrakesh. Two were sitting in chairs monitoring consoles, while two others were standing at the viewport looking out carefully.    It was not hard to identify the commander, as he wore a flat green uniform and was a head shorter than all of the others...who wore the normal Mrrakesh grey. Short...hmm...that was odd. He was about her size, actually, which was odd enough for a Mrrakesh in general, but especially for a commander. He would have been seen as weak and...hmm...something was odd about this.    By now, the two Knights had escaped the confines of the air duct and were next to her, tightly pressed to the wall and clinging crystalline weapons close and ready to move the second she did. And then, just as the Tam’Day’U was getting to her feet, the door next to them slid open with a loud hiss.    It was bad enough that the two Mrrakesh at the viewport turned to look...but the real problem was that three very large Mrrakesh soldiers stepped in, immediately seeing the four Alraxians who had snuck into the bridge. The lupine features of each of the soldiers curled into snarls and a sharp growl was elicited from one as he snatched for an energy weapon at his side.    He never got to it.    The Tam’Day’U with them swung her feet around, sending the Mrrakesh onto his back with a heavy thud before she bounded up to her own feet and landed on his throat, making a distinct twist as she landed to crush his windpipe. A half second later a powerful, clawed arm slammed into the Tam’Day’U, sending her into the opposite bulkhead with an immense amount of force.    Marix saw the girl’s head snap back and the streak of soft blue when the body went limp. Dead. Another dead...    And two more were trying to follow, apparently.    The Knights had taken the opportunity to take two quick steps to the door and attack the two remaining Mrrakesh soldiers.  One managed to drive his blade through a weak point in the monstrous creature’s armor and then slid it across its chest, rupturing vital organs and creating more than one mortal wound...but this was answered by the Soldier firing his already-drawn weapon into the Knight’s stomach. Marix’s eyes saw the green pulse shake the Knight’s body before literally tearing through him and not only leaving a hole in the Alraxian, but a black mark on the bulkhead.    As the last remaining Knight grabbed the arm of the last of the Mrrakesh who had just entered, pushing its energy weapon to the side so that it couldn’t fire on either of them, Marix moved. Without time to draw her own weapon and seeing that the Mrrakesh soldier, who was nearly four meters tall, was about to simply tear the Knight’s arm off, Marix instead delivered a strong punch to the Mrrakesh’s nose.    It was stunned for a half second, long enough for the Knight to wrench the energy weapon out of the Mrrakesh’s hand. Not foolish enough to simply ignore this slight opening, Marix took the time to draw her small, metal blade, and drive it up through the underside of the Mrrakesh’s chin. If that didn’t kill it, nothing would.The loud burst of sound from next to her indicated that the Knight had changed priorities, having turned the Mrrakesh’s own gun against them. One of the two seated Mrrakesh now had a very large, smoking mark across his face and was sprawled out on the deck unmoving. The other had drawn his own weapon and nearly squeezed off a shot, but Marix used the Force to violently launch him out of his chair and into the two others, only one of whom was actually drawing his own weapon.    The three Mrrakesh hit the deck together, all scrambling against one another to get back to their feet while two of them tried to fire their weapons at the two remaining Alraxians. But time seemed to stop for Marix...as she immediately noticed something that was very, very wrong.    When she had opened up herself to the Force to throw that Mrrakesh, she had only felt a one other Mrrakesh in the room...there should have been two. In fact, now, as they were standing in slow motion, the Force screamed at her that only two were standing, not three.    But her eyes told her something different...and according to them, the green uniformed commander was there, pushing to the side and not drawing an energy weapon, but a large Mrrakesh knife, which just happened to be a sword by most of the galaxies size standards.    By now, though, Marix knew exactly what the difference between her eyes and the Force meant...and it was a horrible, horrible thought. Something she didn’t want to be true but knew, right here and now, was.    A green pulse jolted her back into reality, and she dove forward and under it. Staying low, another pulse went over, hitting one of the two the Force told her was there and ending his short stint in this fight. Seeing the other taking aim at her, Marix flung her blade, using the Force to guide it. The metal weapon did not hit the Mrrakesh, but instead his gun, sending both weapons off to the side as the large Mrrakesh reeled back. It was enough time for the Knight to fire another shot to send the Mrrakesh sprawling.    And then the commander had reached her, swinging his weapon like she’d never seen a Mrrakesh swing one. She rolled to the left, reaching up with her arm to catch a backhanded swing from the short commander. Her arm hit his wrist, and she immediately twisted her hand around to grab his wrist, wrench the weapon from him, and then throw him hard onto his back.    That had been the intention at least.    Marix had only gotten as far as getting the weapon out of his hand, when the throw had been reversed, and she had been tossed into a nearby console to hit it hard at the same time as the pang of the metal knife hitting the ground off to the other side echoed through the room. The pain was short from her back, but before she had a chance to get to her feet and catch a very oddly placed strike that was coming towards her, another, final, pulse was fired, and the commander was flung to the side and then to the deckplates.    Silence took over.    Marix turned to look at the only remaining member of their infiltration team, and gave the Knight a simple nod. He half bowed before dropping the disgusting, metal weapon to the deck and then stepping over to her. He was not foolish enough to ask if she was alright.    Besides, she likely would not have heard him. The second she had remorphed the wounds from the fight, Marix stepped over to the commander of the Mrrakesh and rolled his body over. Very gently, she ran her hand up the back of his neck...then stopped.    There it was.    She shook her head and got to her feet, motioning to the Knight that it was time to transmit a retreat message to the Mrrakesh and then get off of the ship itself. As he did this, Marix’s mind reeled. There was a reason that Mrrakesh was short. It was a Vong. A Yuuzhan Vong...in a Mrrakesh suit. She’d seen human and Alraxian now...but Mrrakesh...attacking here...pushing the borders...    It was getting worse.</blockquote>

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