NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3693237" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 503: Breaking and Entering“Why are they still shooting at us?!” Marix growled as she was thrown into the bulkhead near Loki’s hatch.    [You told me to stop fighting!] Loki sounded furious. [Apparently they took that as an invitation to take free shots!]    “Well...” Marix trailed off angrily, sighed and looked to the hatch. It seemed like she was always boarding ships one way or another. But that was where her skill was. Marix could only do so much piloting, and right now she needed to find a way to stop these Mrrakesh, or at least delay them for long enough to give the Jendari time to arrive. So, Marix attempted a different question, “How close are we?”    [There’s no hangar that I can see. But...I think there’s a docking tube or something similar extending.] Loki paused, made an odd mental sound as they rocked from another hit. [A few more minutes, probably.]    Despite the beating they were taking that was making it hard to stand, Marix forced herself upright and looked to the hatch in front of her. Out of annoyance, she grabbed the neckline of the armour she was wearing and had to tug it to the side and back into place. The old Tam’Day’U armour she used to wear didn’t fit anymore, so she had this new...thing. It was what the Knights had, but a black colour that she preferred and lighter so she could move. Really, it was just padding over the skintight morphsuit, and she didn’t need it that badly, but not having to remorph wounds wasn’t a bad thing.    While she was ready with claws, her left arm had a knife sheath on it. It wasn’t the vibroblade, that was back on Alraxia in a dead Mrrakesh still. Instead, it was one of the weapons that had been in her room in the Palace for years. Finely crafted metal, it was sized for an Alraxian and more a short sword than a knife. She’d never actually gotten a chance to use the thing. And then there was the weapon on her right arm, just underneath and causing her to actually have to pay attention to it. It didn’t weigh much, but it was enough to be a change. It was a very small, but also very effective wrist blaster. This, she’d used before, a lifetime ago.    [Marix.]    Her thoughts returned to the moment, and Marix realized that Loki’s voice was suddenly different than before. For some reason, it worried her, “What is it, Loki?”    [You were...you were right, actually...] he sounded nervous!    Curious, now, Marix decided a careful approach was needed, “I believe I am right on most things. But enlighten me...what, exactly, was I correct on this time?”    [There was...this...female...] the ship trailed off pathetically.    Slowly, Marix began to grin. It soon became a wide smile the likes of which very rarely crossed her face. But then she realized something and it suddenly caused her moods to completely reverse. Despite this, Marix managed to keep her voice even, “Loki...are you hurt?”There was no silence in the pause. Instead, there was a loud mechanical sound that echoed through the entire hull of Loki, originating from the hatch in front of Marix. They were coming in...    [What if we don’t come back this time?] Loki’s voice was almost a whisper in her mind as she could hear the sounds of cutting at the hatch. Through the Force, she could feel the shocks of pain from Loki.    “We always come back, Loki,” Marix said as reassuringly as she could, adopting a simple readied stance and hating this. She could open it herself and spare Loki the pain, but she needed that short moment she’d have when it opened to attack. It wouldn’t be much, but it was something.    And then, Loki had to say the one thing she didn’t want to hear. [Not always...I...I thought we always did but...Jryen didn’t come back...]    The worst part is she had no time to say anything in response. There was an odd, orange spark from the hatch, a liquid that wasn’t exactly blood seeped out before solidifying. A metal blade came through, and then the hatch collapsed in on itself.    Marix didn’t wait to see anything. Extending her right arm, she tensed a single muscle in her wrist and fired the blaster. The small, blue bolt of energy shot into the suddenly-visible docking tube and caught the first Mrrakesh in the face, sending him back into two more and blocking the path. She was right behind the shot, drawing the blade from her other arm and charging in.    Pouncing on the first Mrrakesh, she finished the job by driving the blade deep into the Mrrakesh’s neck. But then the weight shifted as the two Mrrakesh under their now-dead companion forced the body aside. But Marix was already moving, pushing up off of the body and slashing with the blade. The force of the swing took off the wrist of another Mrrakesh who was trying to grab her with a free hand, and she immediately twisted back to avoid a swing of a large sword from the other.    Still bent back, Marix tensed the same muscle as before, and another blue blaster bolt shot out, hitting one of the two Mrrakesh in the upper chest and burning straight through the armour he wore. There was no time to finish that one, though, as she returned to an upright position, the currently one-armed Mrrakesh was swinging its own sword to take her head off.    Marix shifted as best she could to plant her feet and parried the strike with her own blade just over her right shoulder. There was a loud pang of metal clashing with metal, and then an ear piercing screech as the stronger Mrrakesh slid his blade down more and more to the point where it would go right below the tip of her’s and into her neck.    But Marix wasn’t going to let that happen. Her left hand now had claws extended and she wasted no time in slashing them across the Mrrakesh’s face. It wasn’t fatal, but it served the purpose of causing the Mrrakesh to lose his grip on the sword in his only hand. With that, Marix did finish him off, twisting her blade around and then simply driving it straight into his throat as with the other. It was best way to make sure they stayed down, and was also the only part of their bodies that was completely unarmoured.    When he dropped with a thud, Marix looked up to see...no one else.    Only three.    They obviously didn’t know what they’d grabbed.    Good.    Very quickly, she looked at Loki’s very badly damaged hatch. She’d never seen him hurt that badly before. Firmly, Marix spoke up, “Loki, seal of whatever you can and get out of here as soon as you’re free.”    [I’m not leaving without you.] he spoke just as firmly and sounded as stubborn as a little child.    “Yes, you are,” that was stated in the distinct tones of the Empress, not Marix, “You get out there and shoot as many of them down as you can. Keep them off of our home.”    [I won’t leave.] Loki obviously didn’t care who was giving the order, he was going to remain stubborn.    Marix looked over her shoulder to the other end of the docking tube. It was still closed. That likely wouldn’t last much longer. There wasn’t time for this...so time to say something important that she’d put off for a long time.    [Loki...] she shifted to a different form of ‘speaking’ mainly because she was already heading over to the rest of the Mrraskesh ship and preparing to find a way to open their hatch. [You won’t live long if you sit here stuck to a Mrrakesh cruiser. You get off of this thing the second you feel the tractor beam is gone and you do whatever you have to out there. But you stay alive and you don’t do anything stupid like I know you want to. If I don’t survive this, you have to...] she paused a moment, mainly due to finding a switch to open the hatch and then finding it was locked. [You’re the only one I trust to pair each of the twins with a Kanyak as loyal and as strong as you.]</blockquote>

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