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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3660832" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 495: Change of PlansRemorph the wound.    Gods it hurt. It hurt so much. The pain was making it hard to think straight and he was panicking and that was just making it all worse and worse.    Remorph. The. Wound.    Somewhere deep in his mind, the words cut through the chaos. It wasn’t really a voice. They weren’t even really words. They just were. Instinct was the closest to it but much more demanding than instinct, if that was possible.    Remoph. Now.    He was avoiding it. Avoiding it because...because it hurt! Wait. Stop. Somehow, he found the focus and centered it around the pain, willing his body to pull together around the gaping wound that was still allowing blood to leave his body. He was dying. He was dying but it was stopping and he would live...    No.    But he wasn’t bleeding anymore! He was safe now! Alive!    Get up.    The wound was still weak! Remorphed or not, he could still tear open strengthening tendons with fast movement like that!    Get. Up. Now.    The words did it again. They made his body move while his mind argued with...with...itself, apparently.    Tobias stood up, falling back against the not-so-solid wall behind him as his eyes opened and gave him a view of the scene in front of him. His eyes came into focus just in time to see a large Yuuzhan Vong drop to the ground right where he’d been.    “Get your lightsaber, Tobias,” Master Ral sounded out of breath, and looked terrible. His robes were cut and sliced in multiple places, revealing painful looking wounds. Yet the Jedi Master stood up straight, the two Vong at his feet and no longer moving.    Get the lightsaber. Quickly. Stop standing there.    The ‘voice’ hadn’t gone away. And it was still succeeding in keeping Tobias alive, as he turned around to see the metal cylinder of his lightsaber hilt a couple of meters away. With the Force, he called the weapon back to his hand then looked to Master Ral, “Are you okay?”    “Never do anything like that again,” Master Ral’s voice actually held a hint of venom in it and he sounded so much like Marix it made Tobias’ blood go cold, “Do not simply put yourself in the path of an attack. If you are going to survive a fight you have to see everything.”    “But you were...”    But you were face down and they were following up with killing blows. You were going to die.    Master Ral shook his head, “I was moving. You must calm your emotions, Tobias. They cloud your judgement and they will get you killed. The only reason those two warriors didn’t finish you was because I was forced to press an attack to distract them.”    Tobias hung his head, and then mumbled softly, “You won...”    “I did,” Master Ral turned and started to the now-closed door where the two Vong had first exited from, along with the now-dead human, “And because of that more fighting is going to be even more dangerous. We’re both injured now, Tobias. And we’re still on the enemy ship.”    He hadn’t considered that. Of course, why would he have? Tobias had no real combat experience in his life. He’d seen fighting. He’d heard about it. But he’d never been the one actually there, in the middle of it all. And Master Ral was not going to be able to protect him the whole time. Tobias had to look after himself.    Somehow...    Master Ral reached the ‘door’ and checked the walls for a few moments before finding a membrane-like indentation. Pressing his hand on it caused it to deflate, and the door opened with that strange sound to reveal the room from before. It wasn’t Vong in there! Well, yes, but only a few...three, four more warriors were turning to the door with looks of surprise and anger forming on their faces.    In the center of the room was a huge pit, and in it, hundreds of humanoids. They looked to be half-dumped into some kind of liquid and many of them had the coral-like protrusions from their faces that the man from before had. And then there was the creature in the middle of the pool. It was like a floating squid, with a bulbous body, two tiny little eyes that were turning to see these newcomers, hundreds of long, thin tentacles, and a very large, sharp tooth.    And it was in Tobias’ mind. He could feel it there, searching...searching...digging...    “A Yammosk,” Master Ral spoke the word but it meant nothing to Tobias.    Tobias shut his eyes tightly and shook his head, “Its not using the Force but I can...feel it!”    When Tobias opened his eyes again, the warriors were closing in and Master Ral had his lightsaber up and ready, “This is what we felt. It is using those people. Feeding off of them and nearly touching the Force. And...”    Master Ral didn’t trail off so much as just stop mid sentence. By now, Tobias had reignited his lightsaber and the blue-green blade was up in front of him as the warriors made a slow approach for some reason.  They seemed to be trying to get a good look at their two opponents before attacking.    “Master...” Tobias was suddenly much more worried than he was a moment earlier.    Suddenly, the Omwati Jedi turned to the nearest of the Vong, who was now charging, and hurtled his lightsaber. The blade flipped once, then dug straight into the Yuuzhan Vong warrior’s chest. The force of the throw sent the body flying back and into the warrior that had been behind him. Immediately, the blade was returning, too, as Master Ral used the Force to pull it back.    But the two other Vong were going to get to them before the lightsaber. Tobias had to act. He had to. But...the last time.    No. Focus.    The voice again. Whatever that was, Tobias couldn’t help but like it. Hearing that, alone, focused him and his eyes made a split-second survey of the two Vong. And he decided what to do.    Ducking low, Tobias ran straight for the first of the warriors, sweeping his lightsaber at the Vong’s legs. The speed with which he moved was enough that the warrior didn’t have time to counter, and the armour at his legs was light enough that, somehow, the lightsaber removed both of his lower legs from the rest of his body.    Remembering what Marix had taught him, Tobias was already looking to the second warrior. The amphistaff was swinging down at him already, and all that Tobias could do was to plant as feet as best he could in his crouched position and swing his blade around to parry the weapon. When amphistaff met lightsaber, the Vong didn’t simply push against the other weapon. Instead, he whipped his staff away, twisting it around and then slashing towards Tobias’ exposed left side.    But the amphistaff met another lightsaber, and Master Ral’s deflection of the attack gave Tobias the time he needed to get up to his feet completely, swinging his lightsaber high towards the warrior’s head as he did so. Again, there was a unique sound as the energy of the lightsaber was caught by the amphistaff, but it was followed by a growl of pain from the Vong as Master Ral cut off the warrior’s other arm, then sliced his blade back down to finish the warrior off completely.    “Time to go, Tobias,” the words were the last thing he’d expected to hear from Master Ral, especially when the last of the four warrior was getting up and charging for them, amphistaff in a whip-like form rather than that of a bladed staff.    “But what about—“    Master Ral grabbed Tobias arm and ran for the way they’d come in.  As he dragged Tobias with him, the Jedi Master spoke quickly, “We found what we were looking for. We need to leave now.”    “What about the people?” the door closed behind them and Master Ral was kind enough to relinquish his grip and allow Tobias to keep up on his own.    But they only went a few steps into the corridor before Master Ral stopped and pointed his still-active lightsaber to the human that Tobias had cut down, “They are all like him. There is nothing we can do right now.”    “Why are you in such a rush?!”    The words were spoken just as the remaining Vong warrior got through the door and came up behind them. With only a little room to maneuver, Tobias was between his Jedi Master and the Vong. Thankfully, he saw this right away and didn’t try anything stupid. Or, at least, anything that, to him, was stupid. What he did do was turn, raise his lightsaber, and plant his feet.    The Vong warrior whipped the amphistaff around, the snake-head of the weapon spitting poison at Tobias as he tried to swing his lightsaber at it. Some of the poison landed on Tobias’ shoulder, and it felt more like acid as it ate through his clothes and then down to his skin in a matter of seconds. The searing pain caused Tobias to cringe, but he pushed it aside somehow, knowing that this kind of distraction was what got him a knee to the stomach last time.    He spun his lightsaber around, this time successfully batting away the head of the amphistaff, then twisted left to avoid a fist aimed at his face. Having learned well from Marix not to let an advantage go, he spun the lightsaber around again, and took off the Vong’s arm at the elbow, though this seemed to have no actual affect on the warrior, who sent a flick through the amphistaff and it immediately went rigid.    When the weapon came down at Tobias’ injured shoulder, he managed to insert is blade in the way and catch the staff. Two hands pushing against one should have meant Tobias could push away the Vong, create an opening, and end it...but this warrior was extremely strong, and pushing both weapons down to Tobias.    And then he had an idea.    Tobias deactivated his lightsaber, and then felt a violent pain as the amphistaff suddenly cut into his shoulder wound. His vision went red, but he didn’t lose focus, and thumbed the activation switch of the lightsaber again.    The snap-hiss was sudden and muffled as the blade ignited directly through the warrior’s neck. The Vong dropped, his amphistaff leaving Tobias’ shoulder in the process. Immediately, he went to remorphing the wound. It was slow, and he didn’t even completely get it due to being so rushed and inexperienced, but it would be enough until normal methods of healing could take over. His arm wouldn’t fall off, at least.    There was a moment where he looked to Master Ral and actually saw what might have been pride in the Omwati’s eyes. Tobias was sure that Marix would be proud. That was an unorthodox tactic, but a perfect tactic for an Alraxian. She would be proud of him for that, even if she screamed at him for being recklessly stupid.But then he felt something in the Force. It wasn’t the...Yammosk or whatever that was. It was something else. It reminded him of the feeling he got when danger was eminent, but at the same time was completely different.    Master Ral obviously saw this in Tobias face, and nodded, “That is why we must leave.”    “What is it?” Tobias asked as Master Ral led the way, swiftly, back to the hangar to their ship. So much for a long exploration of the Vong ship...    “Something is happening,” it was vague, but it was obvious that Master Ral was explaining the best he could, “And we have to leave this ship right now.”    “People are going to die...”    Tobias had no idea how he knew that, but he did. People were about to die. Hundreds. They weren’t even dead yet and he could feel it coming. It was a terrifying sensation and it took all of his focus to continue after his Master.    “I believe so,” Master Ral agreeing to that was in no way comforting.    It was coming fast, rocketed from light years away. There were other Jedi involved in the battle for Fondor. Many of them much stronger in the Force than either Tobias or Master Ral. But they were all busy with their own little battles within the greater fight. None of them were currently detached like Tobias and Master Ral were. And so, despite some of the greatest Jedi of their time being there, no one knew what was coming. Even the two Jedi that did know didn’t know what, exactly, it was. They simply felt its approach. And it made them both much more urgent in getting to the shuttle.</blockquote>

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