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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3902714" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 543: Secondary ForceIt was not something that the Jedi were known for. It was not something many in the galaxy were ever proud of. But, at some point in time, everyone was forced to do it.    Master Corentan Ral and his currently-human apprentice, Tobias BlueIce, ran. They ran from the Peace Brigade invaders that had attacked the Great Temple that served as the main complex for the Jedi Academy. They ran away from the Temple, where two Jedi Masters had remained with the young children that had been remained. But, according to Master Ral, some man named Kaarde was getting them offworld safely...though that didn’t include either Mater Ral or Tobias, who had run so far, so fast, that they had even surpassed the lake temples kilometers out from the Great Temple.    Tobias’ legs ached. While some part of him wanted to blame that on being human, he knew full well that the distance they’d moved in such a short time would have him in the same shape if he’d been Alraxian. Not surprisingly, Master Ral showed no sign of fatigue at all, despite the fact that he, like all Omwati, were thin and quite literally hollow-boned due to their avian ancestry. He sure as hell didn’t look like he could run as far as he had so easily...but Tobias was getting used to things like that from his Master.    They had lost the group of Peace Brigade pursuers at least ten minutes prior, but had continued moving without a word being said. Tobias knew what they had to do. It was actually a rather basic strategy. All of their focus was put to escape, first and foremost, and then, once they had reached a safe hiding place, then they could stop and figure out how to get off the completely undefended world.    Undefended.    These were Jedi Knights, protectors of the galaxy! And the New Republic wouldn’t even bother to have a small fleet to—    “GAH!” Tobias’ thoughts diverted his attention from the ground below, which was filled with underbrush, small rocks and, of course, tree roots specifically designed to catch feet because obviously trees ate small boys that were foolish enough not to watch their footing.    ...well, that was what Marix always told him.    At least when he hit the ground, Tobias didn’t hit a rock. He even managed to get his hands up in front of his face, flipping over twice before finally sliding to a halt in the dirt. When he’d stopped moving and discovered that now all of him ached, rather than just his legs, Tobias had the good sense to groan.    Though his vision was currently blurred, and what he could see consisted of leaves and dirt and underbrush, Tobias could at least hear clearly enough. Beyond the normal noises of distant animals and other such things within the jungles of Yavin IV, Tobias heard Master Ral’s swift footsteps come to a sudden halt before growing louder.    A thin, but strong hand got a hold of Tobias by his left shoulder and began to pull him back up, “Are you alright?”    “Tree hasn’t eaten me...” mumbled Tobias as Master Ral helped him to his feet again. Seeing a look of concern suddenly form on his Master’s blue features, Toby managed a half smile, “I’m still standing...so my legs haven’t fallen off. Guess I’m alright, then.”    Master Ral’s head shifted slightly, as if he was looking past Tobias without actually looking. There was a short pause, but then Master Ral’s voice returned to its usual calm, almost airy tone, “They will continue searching for us. We will get off of this planet, but we must keep moving for now.”    Tobias was already nodding his head before Master Ral had finished, “I know...I know...where are we going, though?”    Turning to look over his shoulder, towards the direction they’d been heading, Master Ral said, “About four more kilometers south of here there is another group of smaller temples. They were bombed and leveled during the Galactic Civil War, decades ago, but the ruins are a good place to catch our breath and regroup.”    From the start, Tobias knew that being a Jedi wasn’t going to be easy. He knew that it was going to be the hardest thing he’d ever done, but he also knew that he could do it. Tobias knew that despite his own doubts about himself and worries, he could find a way to do it.    ...he just wished someone had told him he was going to be stuck running everywhere as fast as he could.    One thing Tobias hadn’t learned much of just yet was the art of healing, and what little he had learned hadn’t ever proved to be that useful. Well, no...the truth was that Tobias just wasn’t confident with it and couldn’t focus well enough to get it done. It was definitely one of the more complicated Force techniques that would take much more time and practice to grasp at all. So, instead, Tobias prepared himself for the continued run by taking the short break to catch his breath and run through a few breathing exercises that Marix had taught him.    “Tobias...”    Eyes still closed, he just nodded again, knowing what Master Ral was saying, “Sorry, Master. I’m ready to move again.”    “No,” that word surprised him enough to open his eyes and see Master Ral was looking up trhough the canopy of the jungle, “Do you hear that?”    He didn’t. Or maybe Tobias did hear it, but just didn’t know what ‘that’ happened to be. To hell with it...    Half a minute later, Tobias was a bit taller and though he still ached, had a few new muscles in his legs to help with the run that he had been expecting. More important, though, being Alraxian again meant he had sharper hearing and...    That was odd.    It didn’t sound like anything Tobias had ever heard before. A constant, very low-pitched drone in the air above them. It was close, he could tell that, but...    “What is that, Master?!”    Tobias’ voice changed a bit, too, when he shifted back to his Alraxian body. His voice lost the awkward pitch that most human teenagers had, but instead it gained a quality that most humans would consider just right for a child. The last bit always annoyed him, because he was far older than any human children, but for some damned reason everyone always looked at him like he was less than half his age...    Master Ral still seemed to be getting used to Tobias’ ability to morph, but it only caused him to pause for a fraction of a second. His two eyes were still directed upwards, looking for something...which was odd, because Master Ral rarely used his eyes to find things. A few short moments passed and the sound grew slightly louder before Master Ral pointed upwards, “There.”    Though it took a moment for Tobias to follow the direction of Master Ral’s finger, Tobias saw it. It was a black spot against the orange gas giant, Yavin. No...no it wasn’t black. It was more of a greyish brown with an odd, crab-like shape and it was growing larger because it was coming closer...and around it, Tobias could see smaller dots, raindrop-shaped objects moving like darts across the sky.    Oh gods no...    “Is that...are those...?” Tobias couldn’t bring himself to say it. While it made perfect sense, the very thought made his stomach turn even more and any hope of getting off the planet fade from his vision.    “Yuuzhan Vong Coralskippers and some kind of transport,” Master Ral looked down from the sky to Tobias, “Most likely a landing craft and I doubt it is the only one.”    Shaking his head, Tobias turned to face his Master with a face that showed that any hope Tobias had felt about their escape was now gone, “What do we do now, Master?”    Reaching over and putting a surprisingly strong hand on Tobias’ shoulder, Master Ral gave him a serious look in the eye. It wasn’t at all the kind of reassuring face Tobias was used to getting, but somehow, it had a similar effect.    “We head for the ruins, just like I said. The only thing we do different is we keep our eyes and ears good and open the whole time and we move faster.”</blockquote>

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