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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3892123" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 540: InvasionThrough the canopy of the jungle above him, Tobias could see the ships. The looks like transports, of various shapes and design, none of which he recognized, but all of which he knew had one distinct quality: they weren’t Yuuzhan Vong.    Sometime in the few minutes between Master Ral reaching him on his comlink and where Tobias was now, still a good few minutes off from the Great Temple, the ships that had, according to Master Ral, been holding back and trying to remain ‘unseen’, had moved in. And now they were landing. There was no reason for them to be that low  otherwise.    “Tobias!” the comlink crackled with Master Ral’s voice, though there was a thick layer of static that was very hard to hear through. Someone was trying to jam the frequency, and almost had it, but wasn’t quite there yet, “Where are you?”    Lifting the small device up to speak into it, Tobias continued his sprint through the thick, but well traveled, jungle surrounding the Great Temple, “Be there in a couple minutes, Master!”    “No!” the words came through the static surprisingly clearly and almost immediately, “Several ships are setting down in the clearing. Stay where are you are!”    “But Master...” Tobias trailed off when he realized he hadn’t hit the ‘send’ button on the comlink, nearly slammed into a tree when he looked down to right this problem, then, after having stopped to catch his breath, spoke into a now-activated comlink, “Master, what’s going on? If we’re under attack then you need me! Its only you, the Masters Solusar, and me here besides the other children!”    “And you are one of those children, Tobias,” Master Ral continued that, but the words were lost in the static, “...Solo has just landed and is...assist. In conta...alon Kaarde in orbit...other Masters have the children in hiding until...an land safely. Stay where you are and out of....ight until we can get off the planet.”    Tobias’ first protest was an annoyed sigh, but then he looked ahead of him. Distantly, through the thick trees, he could see the clearing in front of the Great Temple. He couldn’t make anything out, really, but Tobias could damn well imagine what was over there. Again, he said into the comlink, “Who’s attacking us?!”    For a long few seconds, only static came through the channel. Then, “...eace Brigade accordi...Solo.”    Sighing again, Tobias put the comlink back into his belt pocket. He could hear it there, but the jamming was starting to hit the right frequency and he couldn’t really make things out that well anyway. He did, however, have a general idea of things now.    Peace Brigade. That made sense, as they had quickly become just as dangerous to the Jedi as the Vong were. It was only a matter of time before someone attacked them at Yavin IV, and it made a great deal of sense that it was the Peace Brigade doing so. The problem, however, was that the current population of Yavin IV, beyond the native animals and plants, consisted of three Jedi Masters, Tobias, and a handful of children. Well, no, apparently one of the Solo’s had landed and was there to help. Tobias assumed it was Anakin, feeling like he was the type to appear just at the right time to get things done.    But Tobias had seen at least five separate transports fly overhead, all of which would contain far more than their current numbers. Being outnumbered was normal for Jedi, but then again, there were only three true Jedi on the entire planet, two of which were protecting the young children.There seemed to be, however, a plan to escape. Tobias had no idea who, or what, ‘Kaarde’ was, but the impression he got was that this thing, or, most likely, person, was there to help them get offworld.    It was, at that point, with all of the facts he currently had possession of, that Tobias came to a decision.    A little too dramatically, considering the only things watching him were the native bugs of the jungle, Tobias removed his lightsaber from his belt and started towards the Great Temple. If both Masters Solusar were doing what they usually did, they would be back with the children, keeping them in a safe place until it was time to move. That left just Master Ral, Anakin, and Tobias to really fight.    And this was one fight he wasn’t going to sit out. Not when the lives of children were on the line like this.    Suddenly, a blaster bolt cut through a tree a little too close to his head. Pieces of wood shattered in all directions and Tobias instinctively dropped to the ground. Distantly, he could hear shouts now, indistinguishable words that were in the tone of orders. Two more blaster bolts went over him, both from his left rather than directly in front.    Courage fading into panic, Tobias rolled over onto his back and fumbled for the comlink, “Master! I uh...they’re shooting at me!”    Instead of simply waiting for an answer, Tobias’ eyes looked around him. Underbrush, dirt, small rocks...and a ditch about two meters to his right. As fast as he could, he turned and started crawling for it, heading for cover to try and figure out what to do next. Being a brave hero and fighting when your enemies could see him but having no idea where they were was more difficult than it should have been.    “...ee them...” the crackled, broken words came through the comlink as Tobias slid down into the very small ditch that didn’t drop him down nearly as far as he’d have liked, “...ing...or you. Hold on...”    Though Tobias could hear more blaster fire, and it was quite constant now, it was distant. Peeking up over his small piece of cover, he identified the direction of the sounds as coming from the Temple. Roars of sublight drives overhead sounded again, but this time when he looked up, Tobias could see nothing but leaves and branches...and a small, lizard like creature about the size of his arm eyeing him curiously.    Suddenly, a sense of alarm gripped him and Tobias realized it was the Force yelling at him to get his head down right this second!    Not one to discount the Force, Tobias immediately ducked under his cover again, the sound of a blaster shot much closer erupting nearby and then impacting the dirt just a half meter from his eyes. So much for cover...they knew where he was! But he didn’t know where...they...were...    Wait!    The Force!    It was hard to calm down when blaster bolts had, on three occasions in the last couple of minutes, nearly caught Tobias in the face. He didn’t close his eyes, for fear he wouldn’t have a chance to open them again, but did manage to get a metaphorical hold on the Force, pulling it into him and then reaching out very slowly...    There!    Two...three...at least three, maybe more, just a few meters in front of him, moving closer...he could hear them now, soft footsteps in the underbrush coming very carefully as they approached with caution.    Even the damned Jedi kids are something to watch out for.    The ‘words’ snapped Tobias into the realization that he was doing it again. It was like Thyferra. A voice. Hard, gruff, somewhat annoying in the way that the words were pronounced, as if the speaker didn’t understand Basic. But not words. They were all in Tobias head...    Tobias then made another decision, some rational part of his brain alerting him to the fact that at least three attackers were nearly on him and he still had the element of surprise of he did things quickly. Any concern over hearing that thought from one of the Peace Brigaders faded right away as a survival instinct took hold.    After taking a quiet, but deep, breath, and gripping his lightsaber in both hands, Tobias acted. In one awkward looking motion, the currently-human Tobias jumped up to his feet, activated the lightsaber with a snap-hiss, and just ran straight forward.    Eyes picked up five humanoids. Four humans, two of whom were almost jumping back in shock at the sudden action he’d taken, and a male Twi’lek near the back who was already beginning to squeeze the trigger of his blaster rifle.    Tobias swung his lightsaber in a long, horizontal arc as he continued to move forward, the blue-green blade cutting through three tree branches before managing to slice off the nearest human’s wrist. The scream of shock and pain that elicited from the middle-aged man nearly caused a similar reaction in Tobias, but the sound of blasters firing very close to him sharpened his thoughts to a point.    Two shots went high, sending down a branch with leaves crashing down just a meter behind him, another caught the dirt at his feet, and then a fourth, from the other human that was within arms reach of him, caught Tobias in his left side. The burning pain of the impact wracked his body, causing Tobias’ vision to go completely blurred. But those survival instincts were working full blast, and though he could still feel the pain, the wound was healing much more quickly than a human should have been able to heal.    This fact was apparent to the Peace Brigaders, and it likely saved Tobias’ life in another way...they hesitated. He hadn’t fallen, he hadn’t even screamed. In fact, Tobias had taken the shot, gritted his teeth and grunted painfully, but held his footing, his lightsaber, and his ground. When his vision returned, a second later, the faces of his assailants were the same as their one-handed companion...shock. Because on top of all they had just seen in that short second, the only sign of the blaster shot left on Tobias was the black mark on his tunic...    But shock could only last so long, especially in men that had come to kill people like Tobias. It was likely their first time seeing anything like this, and so the reaction was natural...but short lived. Despite Tobias’ resilience and ability to take a blaster bolt, he hadn’t attacked again. He was still standing there, blue-green lightsaber blade thrumming in front of him. So the Peace Brigaders made a decision of their own, deciding to test just how much this Jedi brat in front of them could heal for.    Before they could fire their blasters, however, a nearby tree came crashing down on the Twi’lek and two of the humans. The cried out more in surprise than pain as it dropped them and pinned them all to the dirt. The last of the standing Peace Brigaders, the nearest human to Toby, turned to see what had just happened, momentarily letting his guard down.    This time, Tobias did move. Some deeper training in him, probably beat into him by Marix or maybe even before that, took hold and he swung the lightsaber again, cutting a clean slice across the human’s torso and dropping him to the ground before he could do anything else.    “Tobias!” Master Ral’s voice was clear, and Tobias looked to see the frail-built Omwati Jedi Master leap over the tree that had fallen, give a quick glance to the bodies at Tobias’ feet, then look right into his eyes with that piercing look, “Turn around. We’re heading back the way you came.”    “But Anakin and the others...”    A volley of blaster fire followed Master Ral’s path through the trees, causing both Tobias and his Master to duck and glance that direction, seeing a group of Peace Brigaders heading their way. Master Ral forcibly turned Tobias around and pushed him forward, “Kaarde is on the ground and has the children. We, however, are in the same situation as young Solo, cut off. We’ll have to find our own way off Yavin and it is not through those men. Now run!”</blockquote>

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