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: 3186856" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 412: Just Out of ReachIt was in the distance now...just out of reach. A blurry image that was starting to focus, but still just too far away to make anything of. Any probing towards it caused it to retreat just enough to remain in the distance. But it was there...close. How close was impossible to determine, though.    Perhaps Jyren was right. This enclosing darkness Marix could see through the Force but was unable to grasp...perhaps it was here. It certainly felt stronger and closer than ever, but she knew well enough he had a habit of exaggerating or taking things out of context far too much. Still, though, the ‘when’ didn’t matter as much as the ‘what’ did. She was sure it was nothing like before. Not like Sadrak or Ket. Not like the Mrrakesh...and it couldn’t be Vong because they simply didn’t seem to exist in the Force. It was something else...and stronger.    Marix closed her eyes again, trying to find it and focus but still reaching the same problem as the last time. It was there, but it wasn’t. It was like...a nexus of sorts. Everything boiling down into a single point, and then everything coming out of it. Or at least, that was the assumption. Marix could not see beyond the nexus. And that was the most worrying part of it all. She could feel the close connection to whatever this was, and the sense of nothing after the single point could have meant any number of things...few of them, however, were very positive.    [Are you alright?] Loki asked in a soft voice in her head.    Opening her eyes, Marix avoided looking out the small viewport and instead kept her eyes on the various controls in the Kanyak’s cockpit. Ever the honest one with her constant companion through the years, Marix shrugged.    When she did not respond in any other way, the ship added. [It was bound to occur one day...everyone knew that.]    “It didn’t have to be like this,” she said simply.    [Maybe it did.] Loki responded a little too quickly for a ship that was supposed to have an aversion to clear thought. [Maybe this is exactly how it had to be.]    Marix sighed and closed her eyes again. There it was...still there. Still out of reach. And yet...so close to home.“Something is coming, Loki,” Marix said softly, “Something I cannot see. It is only a distant darkness to me...our people have been brought into a galactic conflict that we are not ready for. This isn’t something we can protect them from now, either...and...”    [And we are strong, Marix.] Loki did not finish that the way she was going to. [We have all been through very hard times, and we will get through this one together again.]    Marix did not respond at all to this, and so the point was ended there. It was a long few minutes of silence before Loki spoke up again. [The Araddon has given us permission to land...]    “Then get us there quickly,” she almost snapped at the ship, but Loki knew she wasn’t angry at him and so didn’t take it the wrong way.     But as she looked up to the viewport to see the battle outside, she knew why Loki had trailed off. The large, wedge-shaped Star Destroyer they were headed for was at the front line of the fight, its turbolaser batteries ablaze as it fired on a single Vong ship that looked almost like a tentacled asteroid...that was returning some kind of molten-fire like shots back at the larger ship.    Smaller dogfights were easily identified as bright flashes throughout the entire area, but from the looks of it, they were concentrated near the two remaining Mrrakesh ships...which were doing a very good job at both surviving and assisting the New Republic fleet in attacking the lead Vong ship.    Marix didn’t need to tell Loki to stay out of the fight. He knew not to...even if he wanted to get involved and have some ‘fun’. And so, as the Kanyak did his best to take a wide arc towards the Star Destroyer, Marix considered her next move.    There was a very delicate decision that needed to be made very quickly. She was leader of the Alraxian Empire, and while she had met these people before, it was under a different guise...though she had foolishly used her real name. So now, she had to decide whether to be up front with the New Republic and actually step off the ship as an Alraxian (which would complicate things immediately), or keep up the previous ruse and step off Loki as a human (which would likely complicate things in the long term).    The last piece of her people’s secrecy seemed to hinge on this, and yet Marix could find no good answer for it. There were too many questions lately...none that seemed to have good answers, either.* * * *Jyren watched the battle from his place on the bridge. He knew Marix was close, both from the reports of the sensor officers and from the Force. Tobias was already in the hangar with his usual two guards, who had taken him down there as soon as Jyren had been allowed to let them know of what was happening.    “Admiral,” the sensor officer from the left crew pit looked up to where they were standing, “The Empress’ ship has began its approach. It will be aboard in a few moments.”    “Good,” Admiral Tarus nodded to the man, then looked to another man in the crew pit, who Jyren recognized as the second officer of the ship, “Commander, the bridge is yours.”    “Yes, sir,” the Commander nodded, then moved to leave the crew pit and take the Admiral’s position and do his best to continue to coordinate the attack.    The Admiral then turned to face Jyren and Venda, “As much as I despise the idea of leaving my bridge during a fight, we have a dignitary to meet with.”    And then, without a word, the Admiral started to leave the bridge. Jyren exchanged a glance with the Jedi woman, who seemed to still be trying to figure him out, and then they both fell into step behind the Admiral. As they were leaving the bridge, however, Jyren heard the Commander speaking, “Good work. Push into the Vong’s main forces and take out that ship trying to break through our line.”    So...one Vong ship down. That was a good thing, at least.    The walk to the turbolift, the ride down to the hangar, and the walk across the deck to where Tobias and his two guards stood was disturbingly silent. By the time the three of them arrived, though, the unique form of Loki was just setting down in the hangar in front of them.    More fleet marines stepped up, obviously meant as both protection for Admiral Tarus and as the usual honour guard that seemed to be so common when someone felt like playing a little diplomacy. But, as they were currently involved in a battle, it was likely more the former.    It was not long before Loki’s hatch irised open, and a single figure stepped out.    Through the Force, surprise could be felt from most of the occupants of the hangar, as an adult Alraxian, even Marix, had a fair height advantage over even the tallest of humans. She was wearing what Jyren recognized as an altered Tam’Day’U commander’s uniform...a simple blue-black tunic with no markings at all but a distinct shape that showed it was meant simple to conceal a morphsuit beneath. But she did not carry her usual weapon at her belt...which didn’t actually surprise Jyren as much as seeing her step out as an Alraxian.    As Marix stepped over to the group of them, the Admiral nodded formally, “I apologize for the lack of a proper meeting between our peoples, but I believe you understand the circumstances better than I.”    Marix returned the nod, but it became more of a bow thanks to her height advantage, which, internally at least, she was absolutely loving. Her voice was that diplomatic one that Jyren knew she hated, but was also very good at, “You have my people’s thanks...” her silvery-violet eyes then looked over to Toby, “Time to leave, Tobias.”    The young human, currently, looked surprised...he’d obviously not been told why he was in the hangar. He immediately turned to Jyren, “But—!”    “Toby,” Jyren’s voice was as firm as he could manage without being angry, “You need to go.”    “But I—“    Jyren cut him off again, this time with a much stronger tone, “Tobias. Go with your mother.”    The fact that Jyren had just called Tobias, who was human at the moment, the child of the very not-human Alraxian woman was not lost on anyone in the hangar that could hear it. But Jyren didn’t care. Some things were more important, and he could feel through the link that, while Marix was annoyed, she understood the point. It was obviously why she’d walked out as an Alraxian. Get all the problems away as quickly as possible.    Thankfully, Tobias didn’t argue anymore. He grumbled something under his breath that, if Jyren or Marix had been a little closer, would have gotten him clipped across the head for. But they weren’t, so he got a pair of glares instead as he shuffled to Loki.    Eyes then shifted to Jyren...and then to Marix. A question was going to be asked that neither wanted to answer, but then the Admiral’s comm beeped. He grabbed it and spoke into the small device, “What is it?”    “Sir,” it was the Commander that was on the bridge, “A small Vong ship broke through our line. It was too fast and we were unable to break off and stop it...” there was a pause, then, “It has just rammed into the Stardust, sir. It was no bigger than a freighter, but there is significant damage to the lower sections of the ship.”    All eyes had now shifted to the Admiral and his comlink. Jyren knew that the Stardust was one of the two ships holding the rear line...it was the single Nebulon-B cruiser in the fleet, and usually an excellent ship at taking down fighters and smaller craft. Obviously, things still got through.    But before the Admiral could respond, the voice returned again, “Sir, the Captain of the Stardust is reporting Vong warriors aboard. They are heading up the decks and killing and destroying anything in their path.”    That was not expected.    And neither was what came next.    “Sir,” that was not the comlink. It was Jyren, “Give me some Fleet Marines and let me go.”    “Captain, I need you here,” Admiral Tarus shook his head.    “I can do you more good on the Stardust,” he answered, “And I don’t need a ship to get there. But you know as well as I do there is a small complement of troops on that ship. They need more. Now.”    Silence held in the hangar.    It didn’t take long for the Admiral to look to Marix again, “Can you take them to the Stardust?”    “Yes,” Marix nodded.    At that, the Admiral looked to the roughly twenty Marines that were around him, “All of you, into the ship. The Captain is in command,” Tarus then turned to Jyren, “Get in contact with the Stardust’s Captain immediately, and do whatever you can to keep that ship up.”    “Yes, sir,” Jyren saluted, and then looked to Marix.    In a few more moments, Loki had more passengers than he’d carried in a decade.</blockquote>

Verification