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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3364475" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 438: InformationMarix knew, immediately, that the rest of the occupants of the freighter she had boarded were either Rodians or similar creatures that didn’t seem to notice horrible smells. The entire ship reeked of...of...things Marix didn’t really want to think about. Not to mention the fact that half of the bulkhead in the corridors she was navigating to reach the bridge were patched up with random plates of durasteel.    Thankfully, it wasn’t a big ship, and it also wasn’t very occupied at the moment. She managed to find the bridge without running into anyone else, literally or figuratively. Like the bridges of most freighters this size, it had four seats and just enough room to maneuver between them. The rest of the walls were covered in controls and switches, half of which probably didn’t do anything, and then there was the slit of a viewport in front of it all.    With a quick glance behind her to make sure she hadn’t been followed, Marix stepped forward and slipped into the pilot’s chair. While her hands skimmed across the control panels, her mind was bringing up the old memories about these things. Years ago, with Max, she had flown ships like this. Well...more pointed and pressed ‘go’, but it was close enough. She just needed to remember where the flight logs were stored...    A small, rectangular protrusion near what Marix was fairly sure was the general alarm(why a ship this small needed one was beyond her) caught her attention. It was greyish, and looked to be set into the panel itself. Carefully, she reached over and attempted to pull the object up. Slowly, and with a bit of resistance, the rectangular shaped object relented and allowed her to pull it out of the slot. A moment later, she held a small datacard that could be read by, hopefully, any working datapad. It took a moment, but Marix managed to find a pocket to stuff the object in before getting back to her feet.    Flight logs were one thing, and would be helpful to a point, but she needed more information. If this ship had been the one they had chased from the Gate, it didn’t really matter. At this point, the specific ship was not important to Marix at all. Currently, Marix was trying to work out the ‘why’, which wasn’t terribly hard...the Vong were likely going to come back. Scouts were inevitable. The real ‘why’, was why they were using smugglers. She had a feeling it had something to do with the Peace Brigade, but wasn’t liking how far this whole connection between the two might just go. Implants in that Rodian definitely did not seem like there was a partnership going on.    Very carefully, before she left the cockpit, Marix reached out with the Force. It didn’t take long at all before she found a glint of light in it...another nearby being. It felt to be close, too. Still keeping her layers on tight, as the ship was open to the freezing air and definitely no warmer than outside, Marix left the cockpit and looked down the short corridor to see where this other being might be. There weren’t many doors at all, likely due to the fact that there wasn’t much space in the ship at all.    This made it easy for Marix to pick a target, heading for the first door she could find. After leaning against it to listen, but hearing nothing, she sighed to herself and decided to just head right through. Standing back and ready, Marix hit the switch to open the door.    It clicked, then hissed as it slid up to reveal a small quarters. As soon as the door opened, another Rodian, this one with pale-blue skin, got to his feet. Upon seeing Marix, the Rodian started to literally dive across the room to where Marix could see a blaster sat on a table. Ready for this, Marix also dove forward, but instead of going for the blaster went straight for the Rodian. She hit him hard, forcing him to the ground with her on top of him. When the Rodian attempted to swing a punch at her face, she caught his fist and, with the help of the Force to strengthen her arm, broke his wrist.    The loud crack of the bone snapping was accompanied by a nasal yelp of pain from the snout of the Rodian, though he still struggled under her to reach the blaster. Marix dug her knee hard into his chest...even by human standards, Rodians were frail, “Stop struggling and I won’t break anything else.”    It was likely hard to understand what she was saying, as Marix was still talking through the cloth that was across her face. Despite this, though, the Rodian seemed to get the point, “Kee uata!”    Huttese.    Marix rewired her thought process and responded in Huttese, “You will answer all of my questions. Each time you hesitate, I break something else. Do you understand?”    The large, glossy eyes of the Rodian somehow managed to look worried. He said nothing, but instead just nodded hastily.  Certain, now, that this was going to work out well enough, Marix asked, “Why are you working with the Vong and what are you doing here?”    If it was possible to almost hesitate, the Rodian managed it. However, he obviously took to heart Marix’s threat, and answered quickly enough, “Hutts exploit my people! Me! Get revenge! We help them take Mygeeto, they help us with Hutts!”    Thankfully, Marix was strong-willed enough not to react outwardly to this. Instead, she just asked another question as she followed this train of thought, “The Vong are going to attack the Hutts?”    “Hutts ally with Vong...” the Rodian made a sideways glance to the blaster, which caused Marix to dig her knee in harder and his voice to come out with much more effort, “Vong in charge here...he gloat! Hates the Hutts...Vong know the Hutts only try to use them...Hutts no get away with that. They will see.”    So he could understand the Yuuzhan Vong...that was an insight, all by itself. And it prompted Marix to ask another question, “Why don’t you have an implant like your friend?”    “Friend...?” he paused, then seemed to realize what Marix was saying, “Neetar...you kill him! I...” he paused again, realizing the situation, then seemingly realizing, again, that it was not possible to fight back right now, “Slave seeds...they not put in all...not trust us. Think we betray them. Like Hutts...try to use us. Think we weak...but we know galaxy...they don’t. We stronger and they see that soon...so will you!”    It was then that the Rodian used what strength he could manage to throw her off. This didn’t take much, as Marix was human and, therefore, fairly light. She fell backwards, hitting the bulkhead and immediately flipping up to her feet. The Rodian, however, was smart enough to not just have kicked her off. He had used his momentum to also get up, reaching for the blaster once more. This time, he got to it.    When Marix was up on her feet, the Rodian fired a quick pair of shots without really aiming. The first went high over her left shoulder, but the other was aimed dead center for her stomach. In the close quarters of the small room, Marix had only the blink of an eye to react...but it was more than enough for her. By the first shot, she was moving, and so the second simply singed the outermost layer of her clothes. After the shift to the side, she charged forward again, hands reaching for the blaster and wrenching it from the Rodian’s hand.    A fairly strong knee came up and caught her in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her and sending her back a half step. The Rodian used this time to dart for the floor, once again going for his beloved blaster pistol.  Marix recovered quickly, though, and dropped a two-fisted slam to the back of the Rodian’s slim frame. It sent the Rodian’s body straight down hitting face first with a loud thud. But Marix knew it wasn’t over, and wasn’t going to let it continue, either.    The second the Rodian’s body hit the ground, she dropped over him, reaching down and snapping his weak neck as she had done with the first.    Now it was over.    Marix got up to her feet again, wishing she’d had a chance to learn more. But that was it. She’d pushed her luck far enough, and now it was definitely time to leave before things started to go pear shaped.    “Bos sos si?!” the words echoed through the corridors twice. Marix had no idea what they meant, but she recognized the harsh, violent tone of voice that spoke them...which meant that, most likely, the language was that of the Yuuzhan Vong.    ...apparently, the Force had decided that this had all been far too easy for her.</blockquote>

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