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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3164271" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 409: Out of Darkness They ComeAn Alraxian day was a good five standard hours longer than the galactic standard. Probably more, as the hours were off, too, but that was something Marix had never contemplated. The odd thing, she found, was how her mind worked in two different measurements of time. She knew the hour, day, month, and year in both the Alraxian calendar and the galactic standard without any effort. It was so very clear to her that she wondered if part of the other personality within her was still ‘alive’ somewhere, albeit in a very small form.    Shadow.    The cloned child that could never have grown up, and would have died long ago, was not technically dead within her now. She was not technically alive, either. And though Shadow had been the dominant personality for the first few years after they had merged, certain...things occurred that caused her to fall back and Marix to ‘step up’, as it were. Most of these things centered around Jyren. Though both clone and original had been wiped of emotions and turned into weapons, Marix, after so many years to herself, had seemed to move past it, growing to what most would call something close to normal.    It likely came hand in hand with having truly grown up, something that Shadow was never very good at handling. The physical changes were enough to drive the child’s mind off the deep end, and the mental ones sure didn’t help. So Marix became the dominant. And somewhere along the line, Shadow seemed to disappear. Or, at least, fade so seamlessly with Marix that the difference was simply not noticeable.    It was odd, really, as Marix couldn’t pinpoint the exact day when she really had begun thinking herself as ‘Marix’ instead of ‘Shadow’. She was sure it was before the twins were born, and was also fairly sure it was before they were conceived at all. But she was ‘Shadow’ when she and Jyren were...married(a word that somehow still sent a shiver down her spine, another hint of the Shadow personality)...so it was sometime in that gap. That gap of...barely a standard year. Not even a full Alraxian year.    So much had happened. Back then, she wouldn’t have stood like this, staring out at the six Mrrakesh ships from her vantage point on the Gate, really just thinking. Her mind had always found a way to just be blank so that it wasn’t clouded with all of these...things. But now...now things were different, and that was all she could come up with.    A surge of emotion through the Network caused her to slip back into the moment, her eyes refocusing on the view and her mind working through the Network to do her best to calm the sudden panic. As she did so, she found the source and sent a very simple message. What is it?    But no response came from there.    Instead, one of the Knights that was at a console behind her, as she was standing in one of the many control rooms that dotted the huge, ringed Gate, turned and spoke up in a somewhat alarmed voice, “My lady, a group of ships has just appeared from darkspace.”    Marix tried to reach out with the Force to confirm this, but found nothing beyond the occupants of the six Mrrakesh ships. She cursed to herself and then turned to face the Knight, noting that he was definitely not one of the former Tam’Day’U, as he had too much worry slipping into his voice. Keeping her voice calm, she asked, “Can you identify them?”     She caught sight of the Knight’s tail swish behind him, which answered her question. He did, however, glance down to the console and put a gloved hand to the metal screen to touch, carefully, a command before looking back to her, “It is the same group that has been searching the nearby systems. At least ten objects, many of them close to the size of Thor...”    His reference to the largest of the Kanyaks was notable, as the ship, which was technically supposed to be her ship, as the Empress, was massive. But, then again, it was only massive by Kanyak standards. The Mrrakesh ships weren’t much smaller, which meant that these ships, that were definitely Yuuzhan Vong, were about that size, too. Cruisers of some kind. Maybe not a true battle group.    That was wishful thinking.    “My lady,” the Knight cut in, and when her eyes focused on him again, he went on, “There is an audio transmission coming through...it is...originating from the new ships and it sounds like it is in Trade.”    “Put it on,” Marix said in Trade, not meaning to but her mind was already switching to prepare to hear it rather than the Alraxian they had been speaking before. Thankfully, the Knight understood her, even if he didn’t speak the language, and did so.    In a moment, a gruff, angry sounding voice echoed through the control room, and Marix noted that odd accent she had heard from a Vong trying to speak Trade before, “...Subaltern Juula Kreesh. Your defense is an insult to my warriors, infidels. These unliving beasts will be torn from the skies by the power of Yun-Yammka!”    And then it ended. Cut off into the usual nothingness of the ‘airwaves’ of space.    Marix looked out towards the Mrrakesh ships. Apparently, this Subaltern Kreesh was as fanatical as the rest of his people. So much so, in fact, that he had transmitted that message simply as a boast than to make any real demands. It was, however, not surprising. The Vong did not seem to make demands. They simply took.    She turned her eyes from the view of space outside the Gate and walked over to the console where the Knight sat. Reaching down past him, she hit a few simple buttons on the screen to set the comm unit to transmit what was supposed to be a secured channel to what was the flagship of their defense, the Mrrakesh ship that the Alraxians had renamed Sekhmet.    “Commander,” she said in a firm voice, and speaking Alraxain again. She did not need to identify herself or even wait for acknowledgment that they had received the message, “Your training is over. The Yuuzhan Vong have arrived in system and are coming towards you...” she paused a moment, and then could only find one other thing to say, “Mar Dresio ni achla pann.”    May the Force Protect us all.</blockquote>

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