Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3276265" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 429: No Response“Tell me I’m not seeing what I think I’m seeing,” Marix said as her eyes looked at the ragtag fleet that the humans in the Empire had ‘put together’. The group of ships was gathered on the far side of one of the moon of the planet, Cyr, which was one of the larger worlds that the humans occupied. Currently, Loki was close to the moon’s surface, and, since it was an empty and very dead moon, that meant they were able to stay low, sneak in close, and not be noticed because no one was looking.    [I uh...] Loki trailed off a moment, sounding just as surprised. [I think that I am seeing the same thing.]    Marix shook her head and brushed a streak of black hair out of her face before leaning back in her seat again, “Maybe Jyren wasn’t the only human that was completely crazy.”    Through the Force, Marix could tell that comment made Loki uneasy. Strangely enough, it didn’t phase her, and that was something she decided not to dwell on. Noting the ship’s discomfort, though, she added, “Those ships are over forty standard years old. No, actually, two of them look to be that young. The rest are designs I don’t even think I’ve ever seen.”    Marix could tell that Loki was trying to get a closer look from the fact that his sensor panel showed more detailed readings on the seventeen ships that were hanging in orbit not far above them. After a moment of studying them, the ship decided to add in his own comment. [One of the medium sized cruisers looks like the ancient Jedi Battle Cruisers...]    “That’s not possible,” she shook her head again and leaned forward, trying to find the ship he was pointing out, “Those are thousands of years old. There is no way one of those could still be flying.”    [...my mother clearly remembers the Darkwing Wars...] Loki said sheepishly.    The very word, ‘Darkwing’, sent a cold chill up Marix’s tail. She left reality for a short few moments, but something strong grabbed a hold of her and yanked her back. Her mind realized what Loki had been saying, and she decided to respond as best she could without that...word, “But you’re both Kanyaks...alive. Meant to live that long. That thing is a rusted, metal, hunk of junk that has to be held together by the terror of the people on board!”    That actually got a mental laugh from Loki.    Raising an eyebrow, Marix glanced upwards to the ceiling.    Even though she said nothing, Loki knew that gesture and what it meant. He calmed himself and explained. [Remember the stories you told me about some of the ships you and Max flew aboard years ago?]A hint of a smile crept onto Marix’s face. Most of those stories involved very dangerous endings where she had barely gotten out alive...and one where Max hadn’t...but the ships had always been just like she’d described a moment ago. In fact, the very phrase itself came from Max. That, alone, caused memories she didn’t particularly want to come back to start to surface. Her old smuggler friend was long dead, and yet...    [So what do we do now?] Loki, thankfully, cut off her thoughts. For some reason, in the last few days, it had become harder and harder to keep her mind from wandering off.    But Loki, as always, was able to see the problem and help her focus in on the moment when, for whatever reason, she couldn’t do so herself(which was rare, admittedly), “Once you’ve got as much information on all of those ships as you can get from here, we sneak out...then turn around, and come back in system along a noticeable path,” she let out a long sigh and closed her eyes, “Then I have to be the Empress.”    A mental nod could be felt through the Force as Loki did as he was asked...well, no, told. But he knew that, in reality, she was really asking him to rather than ordering him to. For some reason Marix always avoided orders with him...something that, Loki noted, had only ever extended to one other person...Jyren. [They must know they will not stand a chance against the Mrrakesh.]    “Has that kind of logic ever stopped a human?” Marix asked out loud, more as a general question to the universe as a whole than one directed at the moment. But then she found that she had to add on to that, “...has that kind of logic ever stopped us?”    [I would like to think so...] Loki’s ‘voice’ sounded slightly distracted, which was good because that meant he was doing his job. [...not that we are perfect, but we try our best not to take trillions of lives with us.]    For some reason, Marix was feeling odder than usual, and it was the only reason she could give herself for why she ended up saying, “I’ve put trillions of lives on the line more than anyone, Loki...and always when I didn’t have to.”    The ship didn’t know how to answer, and so he just decided to keep going on with what he was doing rather than responding with something stupid. Strangely, though, the silence ended up annoying Marix. She’d gotten to used to Jyren saying something...well..stupid. There was something both very endearing and impossibly aggravating about how he would never give up on a point...    Finally opening her eyes again, Marix pushed that away. This was most definitely not a good time for thoughts like that. Deep in the back of her mind where she wouldn’t really notice, she admitted that there would never be a good time, but that was kept away from her primary thoughts. She didn’t need to deal with that right now...and, quite honestly, didn’t want to.    And then, finally, things started to get back to normal.    [Four small ships have just changed their course and are accelerating straight towards us.] Loki said just as Marix’s Force sense started to tell her that something was wrong. Loki sure had good timing.    Immediately, Marix sat forward and had a look at the small screen that was the primary sensor for Loki’s systems. On it, she saw the ships, roughly the size of an X-Wing, but dart shaped and extremely fast despite the fact that they had to be older than she was...which was saying something. Her eyes quickly shot across the other controls to look for something, but found no indication of it, “They haven’t tried to contact us?”    [No.] Loki answered flatly. [I do not believe they care what we have to say.]    A curse escaped her lips and Marix looked to the communications systems, “They are bloody well going to care in a moment,” she then opened a channel on the frequency used only by herself and one that, across the Empire, would cut in over all others to be heard. Marix had taken a deep breath beforehand, then hit the switch as she put on her Empress voice, “Incoming ships. You will stop your intercept course and turn away. That is an order.”    No response came.    Marix waited an entire minute.    Now, the four ships could be seen more clearly in the viewport against the backdrop of nothingness. If they didn’t respond, that meant they either didn’t know who she was or didn’t care. Hopefully it was the former, as the latter would make things even more difficult. But...she sighed. It was hard to find anyone in the Empire who didn’t recognize her voice, but that would be typical of this situation.    Alright. Fine. She hadn’t wanted to do this, as it was always a dangerous thing to do...but they had given her no choice.    Hitting the switch again, Marix spoke sternly, “This is your Empress. I am ordering you to stand down now.”    She knew the message got through.    There was no way it couldn’t at this range.    And yet, still nothing happened.    [Marix...]    Her silvery-violet eyes were watching the four growing forms above them. They were becoming distinct shapes now, getting closer and closer every second that passed. She allowed five more of those seconds to go by before, finally, she said to Loki, “They’ll be in range to fire in a few moments...Loki, start moving and don’t let us get hit...” she trailed off as the surface of the moon below them began to move, “...and send a message to the Jendari. Tell them they need to jump in now.”</blockquote>

Verification