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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3702959" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 506: Coming BackThe controls for the docking tube that was still connected to Loki were easy to find...they were on the other side of the airlock. Marix had run into no other Mrrakesh on that short trek, and quickly did her best to figure out how to work the thing. It was similar enough to the consoles and computer terminals the rest of the galaxy used, but that didn’t mean she could read Mrrakesh. So it took a few moments, but she found the right switches, hit them, and heard the mechanical sounds that indicated success.    When she looked out the viewport attached to the airlock, which was really a small slit at Mrrakesh eye-level (meaning she was on her toes to see through it), Marix could see Loki carefully drifting away. Good. He didn’t say anything but at least he’d listened. Loki wouldn’t have been stupid enough to just sit there, though, and if he was at least half as smart as she figured, he’d get into the fight and keep himself alive...while keeping close to the Mrrakesh ship she was on.    But Marix couldn’t blame him. He’d said something that had obviously been bothering him for a while and now it was starting to eat at her.    Jyren didn’t come back.    It was a reality that had far reaching consequences with both Marix and Loki. They’d always come back. Through the worst of the worst, if one of them was separated, they came back...somehow. Every single time something had gone wrong, they came back. Maybe it was luck, but Marix had never thought of it that way. It was just the way things were. They were good enough to survive.    But Jyren didn’t die because wasn’t strong or fast enough. While meant everything they had always counted on might not mean a thing anymore. For all the taunting and fun she had with Jyren about his skill, he was the only one who could keep up with her. Even the other Tam’Day’U couldn’t. And it wasn’t their link. He was just that good...despite all the idiocy, he really had been.    The thoughts were not as easily pushed away as they should have been. Marix couldn’t help but wish that her and Shadow weren’t so...the same anymore. Then, at least, she could stay focused on the job while a completely different part of her worried about everything else. But Marix was years beyond that now. Shadow was...not really gone, but at the same time, not really even there anymore. It was an odd experience, but it was inevitable. Shadow would always have been a child, and she was, essentially, Marix so it wasn’t that much of a...    Footsteps snapped her out of it.    They weren’t close, but the metal of the corridor around her made them easy for her to hear, softly echoing. Soft? That wasn’t Mrrakesh...no, no it was, but still a good ways away. Marix’s senses focused and she quickly took in the area around her. A Mrrakesh-sized corridor, wider and higher up than she was used to, it was the same boring looking metal design that the other ship she’d been on was like. The corridor also only went one direction: behind her.    So, in the interest of not remaining trapped, Marix swiftly headed out of the section she was in and began to formulate a plan as she moved. Get to the bridge. Kill the command crew. Then...then...then there shouldn’t have to be any more then. Just get to the bridge, which was, if her previous experience was correct for this ship, too, about ten decks up. A long way...    The footsteps were getting closer. In fact...    Marix looked up and found something useful. The ceiling of the corridor was actually thinner than the deck, as the bulkheads started to hit a slight inward angle just above Mrrakesh head height. Identifying a pair of protrusions that looked to house lights, she quickly jumped up, one hand grabbing onto the light’s housing. Marix didn’t need to dig claws in to take hold, and was able to pull herself up to get her other hand on the other side of the ceiling. With a few swings, she managed to pull her legs up, using the angled walls to pin herself to the ceiling as best as was possible. In her mind, Marix cursed having hair that hung down just enough to be annoying.    It had only taken a minute to reach the spot and hold herself there, but the footsteps were closer...and she could smell him. It wasn’t that it was a powerfully bad smell or something foul, but it was distinctly Mrrakesh. And that presented a problem that she had purposely put out of her mind because there was no avoiding it. Mrrakesh had much stronger senses of smell than Alraxians. If she could smell him, he could smell her.    The sounds of the footsteps had stopped, and now Marix could hear heavy breathing. Through the Force, she could feel a presence close to her, though directly pinpointing it wasn’t possible in her current situation. A very slight tremor moved through the bulkheads she was clinging to...that wasn’t damage to the ship. It was too soft, and she’d barely felt it.    Marix carefully tilted her head down to look down the corridor more. She felt the tremor in the bulkheads again and this time saw a foot and part of a leg come into view at the same time. The Mrrakesh was being careful. His steps were silent to her, and her only indication other than her eyes that he’d moved at all was that gentle tremor up the bulkheads that anyone else probably wouldn’t have even noticed.    He knew she was there. It would only take a few moments for him to pinpoint her. Mrrakesh sense of smell was stronger than their vision, and she’d heard of instances where Mrrakesh soldiers could exactly pinpoint Tam’Day’U in pitch black where they wouldn’t be able to see. She would be caught soon...    Another tremor, but this time she heard the step, too. Marix only heard it because she was listening more carefully for it. Now she could see him completely, though. In a moment he’d look up...    Marix acted.    Relaxing her leg muscles was enough to detach Marix from her hiding place. Her legs swung down, away from the Mrrakesh and putting her back to him. After barely a half second, her hands released the lights’ housing and she threw herself back towards the airlock.    By now, the Mrrakesh soldier had a weapon out...not a sword, but a large, black-plated rifle that was as big as his forearm. Marix landed, twisted her right arm around, and tensed her wrist muscle again.    Both weapons fired at roughly the same moment, their sounds mixing in the otherwise-quiet corridor. Both shots, the green blast from the Mrrakesh’ rifle and the blue from Marix’s small wrist-blaster, missed their target and left scorch marks on the bulkheads instead.    The screech of another shot from the Mrrakesh’s rifle was not met with the simple, quiet pulsing noise of Marix’s weapon, but instead of two quick steps that made gently clanging noises on the metal deckplates as Marix spun around to face the Mrrakesh completely. The green bolt of energy went straight over her left shoulder as Marix continued her motion, ducking low because Mrrakesh always aimed high due to their height. Marix also aimed high before squeezing off another shot of her own, which hit the Mrrakesh in his snout-like face and sent him to the deck with a loud crash.    Immediately, Marix ran to the body, checked to make sure he was dead, then dragged him out of the junction he had fallen into where the airlock’s corridor met with another pair of corridors going off in opposite directions. She pulled the body out of sight, checked it for anything useful, and when nothing was found, Marix moved to the junction.    Stealth was going to be impossible here. The Mrrakesh aboard would smell her before Marix could see them, most likely. That meant she had to rely on her speed. Ten decks to get to the bridge and she’d have to run the whole way...    Marix once again drew the blade sheathed on her left forearm, then shifted it to her left hand in a reverse grip. There would be no time to stop and fight. She’d have to just plow through...which was easier said than done with the Mrrakesh. Speed and size would mean everything. Being small did have its advantages, though she’d never, ever admit that thought to anyone at all.    After a quick glance down both directions showing nothing unique either way, Marix did what she did well and just made a decision. Marix went right, and she immediately broke into a run. Speed...speed and she would make it out of this.    Speed, and she would come back.</blockquote>

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