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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3906074" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 544: BarricadeMarix groaned as quietly as she could after getting a look out a small slit in the wall had probably been designed more for blasters to point through than eyes. Apparently, Loki hadn’t been joking. She could see at least a dozen figures moving through the makeshift streets right towards the main entrance...which Marix had been planning to use as an exit. That was going to make things difficult, but that wasn’t at all why she groaned.    “Gods,” she had to stand up straight again after leaning down to see outside, which meant shifting the weight of the unconscious Yuuzhan Vong she carried over her shoulder yet again, “How you can be half Jyren’s size and weigh twice as much as him I really don’t know.”    She had been about to get moving again, but immediately stopped herself. It was dangerous, stupid, and something she wouldn’t have done had it been many years earlier, but Marix closed her eyes and forced herself to take a slow, deep breath. She was still thinking of Jyren as being fine and just not there with her. And it bothered her on far too many levels. So much that it was distracting her and that was the last thing she needed, especially in her current situation.    Very much aware of the danger that closing her eyes would do, despite her other senses, Marix very quickly did something she was good at. Almost forcefully, she pushed the emotions aside. The moment later when she could feel nothing but the focus needed to keep moving combined with the weight of the damned Vong over her shouler, her eyes opened again, suddenly more silver than violet, and Marix was moving.    The distinct lack of guards for the last few minutes since the beginning of her escape was beginning to concern Marix. If everyone was moving towards the entrance and simply setting up a fortified area there, no amount of experience and skill would keep her alive. There was a point when the number of weapons being fired was just not possible to be avoided, just as there was a point where so many wounds were being inflicted that morphing simply couldn’t keep up. That was how many Tam’Day’U had died through the years: simple attrition.    [I should leave you.] Loki’s voice chimed into Marix’s mind as the main entranceway began to come into view.    Marix’s eyes stayed focused on the end of the corridor ahead of her, but she extended her senses outward with the Force, towards the main entrance that wouldn’t be very far away from that point. If her memory was correct, and it usually was for layouts of buildings, once she exited the corridor into the main hallway, the main entrance would be a good thirty meters to her left...but the there was also a guard station just five or six meters from where she was going to come out, and Torno’s main chamber was quite literally just around the corner in the opposite direction.    It would have been easier if Marix wasn’t carrying a Yuuzhan Vong with her, but this was a chance she wasn’t about to pass up, so she’d just have to deal with the problems it brought...and that meant no sneaking, just the direct approach.    She waited to respond to Loki after she could see where the corridor ended, noting that there were no beings aiming rifles at her, nor did she feel anything nearby through the Force. That was an even worse sign. [Loki, how bad does it look out there?]    [They just closed the main door again...] the distant ship didn’t miss a beat. [I didn’t get a count but you’re going to have your hands full and...well, at least one of them was carrying something big.]    Marix decided to worry about that last part later. [How’s the sky?]    [Empty.] the response from Loki was a bit slower this time, and he sounded somewhat worried, too. [Got clearance to take off and I just did a flyby on an exit vector. I don’t think they’ve made the connection.]    [Good.] reaching the junction, Marix stopped and waited for a long few seconds. She heard nothing out of the ordinary, and still couldn’t feel anything in the immediate area...carefully, she stuck a head out, looking back towards Torno’s chamber first.    Two small crates stacked against the far wall just before the corner that lead into the chamber, an open door that had been open when she’d passed by before, and a temporary light fixture standing in exactly the same position it had been before. Clear.    Her head went the other direction, where she could see the large door that served as the main entrance. It was big enough to allow the entrance of medium sized speeders if needed, maybe even a small ship. But the door took forever to open. There was, however, another, smaller door within it, off to the right side that saw the most use. And Marix could see them.    The second she got a quick count and assessment of the situation, Marix pulled her head back, hoping that she hadn’t been spotted.    Crates had been moved to form a barricade in front of the entirety of the entranceway, with a particularly large collection in front of the smaller door. She had counted at least twenty five heads, and suspected more due to the height some of the crates had been stacked to. Marix had also spotted what Loki had seen...and identified it as a large, anti-personnel artillery cannon that was aimed down the corridor.    Torno was taking this very, very seriously.    Considering the way the Vong had taken many of the Hutt’s worlds, however, Marix couldn’t blame him. He likely suspected either Peace Brigade agents or outright Vong spies attempting to escape and make contact with a full army for an attack. There was so much wrong with that, but Torno was no tactician...he was, at best, a mercenary type who was just a survivor. Some Hutts had a good military mind, but those were the ones that had retreated Hutt Space entirely. Stubborn fools like Torno stayed behind in a futile attempt to take back what they swore to be their’s.    That, at least, was one thing working in Marix’s favour. Well, that, and the fact that the unconscious Vong on her shoulder was being good and remaining unconscious.    It was obvious, now, that her usual plan of charge in, move fast, and go right through wasn’t going to do Marix any good at all. Even without that anti-personnel cannon, the corridor wasn’t wide enough for her to dodge all the shots that would be coming her way, and every bit of cover Marix might have used was currently a part of the barricade. Torno might not have been a tactician, but at least one of his guard’s had some basic ideas that were intelligent enough.    Or maybe Marix could charge them...    [Loki, I don’t have time to debate this with you so just answer me one question.] she had an idea, and it was a crazy one. But like most crazy ideas, it would work. That, Marix had learned from Jyren. [How fast can you get here?]    Knowing that tone and particularly noticing Marix’s choice of words, Loki answered directly. [About seventy five seconds.]    [Prove to me you’re as fast as you always brag and make it in forty.] Marix could heard movement. Shouts. Yells. They echoed right to her, though the words were lost in the echo, the point was obvious: they’d seen her.    [On my way.] Loki’s voice had that worried hint in it, as he knew she was up to something that he probably wasn’t going to like. [Why the rush?]    Marix told him.    She also told him her idea.    To Loki’s credit, he only complained in the form of a loud groan that echoed in Marix’s skull. Then, a slightly cocky edge taking over enough that Marix knew he’d be grinning if he could, Loki said. [Be there in twenty.]</blockquote>

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