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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3592336" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 474: Bothawui“Its good to see you again, sir,” Obrack Loro said with a bow and what was, for a Mon Calamari, a smile.    Rulae Nok nodded politely and managed his own species’ version of a smile, “And you, Loro. I assume you all know what’s going on?”    Technically, ‘you all’ meant the three others in the room: Adria Harken, Obrack Loro, and Rea’tin Lor, the only remaining members of Zephyr Squadron beyond Rulae, himself. They would still be flying as Zephyrs in a single flight, as the rest of the pilots in the fleet were already assigned to squadrons and the operation was too important to send in half-trained rookies.    The three others nodded. Apparently they had all been briefed on the situation and the overall plan and that did make things much easier.    Rulae reached up to adjust his uniform slightly and then said, “They’ll be assigning us to some new XJ X-Wings so we’ll be flying good ships. I’d like to get us some simulator time in as soon as we can so we can brush up after a few weeks off.”    “Sir,” it Adria Harken, the red haired human woman, who cut in, “Do you really think this is going to work?”    Allowing himself a shrug, Rulae turned to lean against the wall in his new office, “I’m not a Jedi...I can’t see the future. But it’s a solid plan. Centerpoint can create a gravity well in the entire Corellian system and trap the Vong there. The only fleet they have that can attack us is the one that hit Gyndine and this one is twice that size. We’ll overwhelm them.”    “I don’t like the idea of trusting in Centerpoint,” Loro said quietly and obviously to himself.    To be truthful, neither did Rulae. It was an ancient space station with extremely powerful gravity generators. Some speculated it was the device that brought the planets of the Corellian system together thousands of years earlier, created by some ancient, long dead species. Scientists had studied it for years but they still barely understood it, and that was the worrying part for Rulae...using some ancient technology that was obviously extremely powerful without understanding all that it could actually do.    But it wasn’t Rulae’s job to question the plan, so he kept the concerns to himself. Which meant he decided that he needed to say something to the others that wasn’t exactly a lie, “Centerpoint isn’t our concern. Ours is to take out the Coralskippers and stay alive. So let’s worry about that.”    The other three all nodded at that. At least they had their priorities in line. So now they had who knew how long to get into the simulators and learn to work together again. Hopefully the Vong wouldn’t attack for at least another couple of days.* * * *    Tobias sat in the small shuttle across from Master Ral, who had been meditating for a good three hours. Tobias had spent the time resting, relaxing, and idly doing nothing at all. He should probably have been meditating as well, but that was one thing he’d still yet to get any good at.    But he wasn’t.    Instead, he was sitting there enjoying the few moments of rest. Tobias had the feeling there was going to be precious little rest to be had. Of course, he was still unsure of why they were on this New Republic ship. There had to be more than just checking up on Master Ral’s former apprentice...who seemed at least a little bit unhinged. Though he hadn’t been in training for very long at all, Tobias could sense the thing in Tokarr that was likely worrying Master Ral. He could only describe it as a small point of unease. It was like an uncomfortable feeling manifested into the Force and buried deep within a person.     And Master Ral wanted Tobias to talk with the Miraluka. That had the markings of a test all over it, which worried Tobias even more. It was one thing to deal with rocks, but another person? Another person that’s Force Sensitive and likely knows any tricks he would try? Tobias worried he would end up doing more harm than good.    Okay. One thought at a time.    As best he could, Tobias tried to calm his mind. He drew on the Force and did his best to push away everything else. It was a task so much easier said than done, and it was even more frustrating how easy everyone always made it look. But for Tobias, it always seemed like he spent more time trying to calm himself than actually remaining calm...though he was getting better.    His sense of time faded and Tobias soon found himself not really seeing as much as feeling. How long it took to reach this, he didn’t know, but the calm it provided was an immense relief. The Force itself was the only sense left feeding any information to Tobias’ brain, and it was an amazing sensation. A bright light next to him had the familiar feeling of Master Ral, while there were hundreds upon hundreds of smaller lights all around...all of varying brightness. Though he wasn’t really seeing them. It was odd. They were there, but Tobias just seemed to...to know they were there, with his brain converting the information into a form of sight even though he was fairly sure it wasn’t at all.    And then, suddenly, Tobias realized he was seeing.    It was Marix. She was...was...fighting? She was moving too fast and...she was holding something. Something terrified. She was worried, too. That was odd enough. Marix being worried...had Tobias ever actually seen that before? But what was that huge thing? By the Force, was it a Mrrakesh?! He’d never actually seen one but it was the only thing he could link with the monstrous, fast-moving thing. No...no, things.    Suddenly it was gone.    But as Tobias’ sight readjusted, he realize he was not in the shuttle.    What he saw was odd coloured walls that couldn’t have been made of anything he recognized. It wasn’t Alraxian, he was sure of that...and it didn’t look metal. But then what he was seeing didn’t matter. A violent, searing pain wracked through Tobias’ body from his stomach. It burned deep and then whipped around to his spine, digging upwards until he felt he was going to pass out from the overwhelming pain and then...    Tobias’ eyes opened. He was gasping for breath and could feel a vague burning along his spine that was slowly fading. It was then that he realized Master Ral was still there, eyes closed. He hadn’t moved...that seemed odd. Master Ral was always there to say something if Tobias experienced something like that...    But what was it?    After a deep breath, he closed his eyes and tried to at least slow his breathing.    What was that?    Mind racing, trying to understand what had just happened and make sense of the pain, Tobias had completely forgotten the first thing he’d seen. At least that had made sense...but no. His entire focus was on the pain. Why? What was the Force telling him? What was that place? What did it have to do with...anything?    Answers didn’t come, and Tobias was left in a state of fear for the entire hour until Master Ral finally ‘awoke’ from his meditation.</blockquote>

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