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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3815485" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 526: Getting a GripIt was a rather awkward return to the shuttle that Tokarr had stolen. A quick comm message from Adria told Rulae that she had arrived at the shuttle and taken the Jedi woman’s body inside the mostly-wrecked shuttle. How she’d dragged it so fast was beyond him, as she never struck him as very strong but...apparently she had. And now, after running into a very surprising young Jedi apprentice that seemed to pop up all over the place, Rulae found himself carrying a body over his shoulder.    If it had been up to him, he would have left the body.    In fact, it should have been up to him. Rulae was still not completely sure why he had a corpse over his shoulder as they walked to the distant light in the darkness that was the shuttle. But Tobias had...begged. Begged and nearly cried. He was so damned insistent that the body be taken back to the Jedi, despite the fact that Tokarr had left the Academy when the war started.    After Rulae had relented and just picked the body up, Tobias had gone quiet. One thing Rulae did notice and thought to bring up was the fact that this young man was not human at all. In fact, he looked like his mother had when they’d fought at that Gateway. Taller, still a bit of a wiry build to him, but with a feline appearance to him and a dark blue stripe through impossibly messy black hair that made him stand out even in the dark, Thyferran night. Knowing what he did about the fact that Tobias could change his shape, Rulae was able to write this off without too much trouble.    Rea on the other hand...    To put it simply, she hadn’t stopped badgering the poor kid about it. But after the intense demanding that they take Tokarr’s body, Tobias had gone silent. He’d just fallen into step behind Rulae and walked with his head staring down at the grass at his feet. But the silence seemed to take Rea from a stance of curiosity as to how this could be the Tobias she knew to concern...the questions starting to direct to the “Are you alright?” end o f the spectrum.    But, finally, as the form of the shuttle began to become more than just a dim light on the horizon, Rea had given up and starting walking quietly, too. In the silence, though, something came to Rulae’s mind. He had been putting pieces together, trying to figure something out, but it still didn’t completely make sense.    Though he figured it was probably a futile act, Rulae stopped a moment and turned around to ask, “Tobias, what are you doing out here?”    The young man let out an overly dramatic sigh, then shrugged and made a weak motion to Rulae’s shoulder, “My...my Master...he and I were sent to bring him back.”    The same reason.    Well, no, not exactly the same. It was close, though. This Miraluka had stolen a shuttle and killed people aboard the ship, but the Jedi wouldn’t be after him for that. Obviously, Tokarr had a past with them, though it was brief. Still, what did the Jedi want with him?    “Master Ral said he was dangerous,” the words from Tobias were soft and barely audible, as if he was talking to himself.    But that didn’t make sense. The boy had just answered a question Rulae had thought...    “I’m...I’m sorry,” Tobias mumbled again, his face, and most of the skin that could be seen, going slightly red, “I can’t...can’t really...turn it off.”    His words were stuttered, but not in the nervous way that Rulae had heard from the young man before. He sounded afraid or worried or...something else. But at least he gave a good explanation, even if it wasn’t all that comforting. Tobias was, in fact, a Jedi apprentice and reading surface thoughts was supposed to be something they could do. But not turn it off? That seemed an odd way to put it.    One of Rea’s small, gloved hands came to rest on Tobias’ shoulder gently, “Toby, please answer me...what’s wrong?”    For the first time, the young Alraxian boy turned to look at her. Rulae had to shift his weight slightly, suddenly regretting just standing there with the corpse on his shoulder weighing him down. He was, however, intelligent enough not to bring up the annoyance of it when Tobias had finally responded to a question that was important and, up until that point, very strongly ignored.    There was one of those odd, uncomfortable silences that seemed to be just filling this walk back before Tobias shook his head and looked back down at his feet, “I almost killed him. Twice. The first time I made a mistake and he killed Venda...and...and I still wouldn’t kill him and I don’t know why. He would have killed me if...if you didn’t...” again, the young man shook his head, “I always wanted to be a hero like Jyren but I keep coming right to the brink and nearly getting myself killed.”    Now this Rulae could understand. This was something he could handle. It was like putting him in the cockpit again, it wash is natural environment. The Force, all these Jedi things, even the whole species thing with this kid were beyond Rulae, but this...this he could do. He’d dealt with so many kids coming into Starfighter Command just like that, then suddenly facing the reality of combat was really like. Most all of them froze up, didn’t react, and nearly got themselves killed. Actually, for most, it was not ‘nearly’. Very few new pilots survived because of that.    “No...no that’s not it,” Tobias was looking at Rulae again, shaking his head. The whole mind reading thing was starting to bother Rulae, and Rea didn’t look too happy with it, but Tobias didn’t even seem to notice it at all. In fact, he just kept going on, “I can fight. I...I’m not the best, but I can defend myself. I know how. Jyren...my mother, they taught me to fight for my own good. Its not that I freeze up. I just...I looked down at him, I had my lightsaber there at his neck and I was swinging to do it and...and I didn’t.”    Tobias continued shaking his head, as if that, in itself, was becoming a sort of nervous twitch, “And I don’t know why I keep stopping myself when I know if I don’t do it they’ll kill me.”    And just like that, it was right out of Rulae’s league again. It seemed that no matter what, no matter how close it seemed to get to being something he could deal with, one little thing had to jump right in and make it completely impossible again. This poor kid was on the edge of driving himself crazy from the way he was speaking and Rulae couldn’t do anything about it before he had no real insight into the whole Jedi thing...and if he said that thing, it could very well do more damage than good.    That thought, though, brought it into perspective. Then, almost without realizing it, Rulae said simply, “Tobias, look at me.”    It wasn’t the strong voice he used to give orders, but it was firm enough to get Tobias’ attention again. When a pair of silvery-green eyes looked directly at Rulae, the Duros officer went on, “I need you to focus right now. Its over. It may not have happened like you thought, but its over. You have to pull yourself together here and stay with me. Okay?”    “But two people are dead now because...”    “Not because of you,” that time, Rulae did speak in the same voice he used for giving orders, loud, strong, and very forceful. Part of it was deliberate, but part of it was also out of pure annoyance at the way Tobias was speaking. He sounded so much like his father, taking the blame just because he was there like he had some foolish desire to be the very reason for every single wrong that ever occurred. It was so damned infuriating because it never did anyone any good.    Quickly, though, Rulae pulled his voice back and made sure to keep his cool, “We’re going to regroup back at the shuttle, contact the authorities here on Thyferra, then head back to the fleet. But we cannot do any of that if you don’t calm down. You have to pull yourself together right now or I will leave you here. Do you understand?”    It was then that Tobias did something that Rulae had never seen Jyren do. The young man stared straight into Rulae’s pair of large, teardrop shaped red eyes and, as his face went from panic to a disturbing kind of nothing. Tobias’ breathing slowed to a more normal calm, and then, after one deep breath, he nodded and said softly, “I understand.”    Maybe Rulae should have said something more. Maybe he should have spoken his concerns of how Tobias had just so suddenly shifted. But to bring that up would mean continuing a line of discussion that had, thankfully, just ended. It did not need to be brought back...at least, not until they were off of Thyferra and back at the fleet, where all of it could be settled and everyone had a time for some rest. It had only taken a day to find the fugitive, but Rulae could see in both Rea and Tobias’ face that, for them at least, it had been more like a month.    Of course, the Duros couldn’t see the same feeling on his own face.</blockquote>

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