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<blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 4445924" data-attributes="member: 10079"><p><strong>Chapter 592: Connections</strong></p><p></p><p>By the time Tobias and Corinna had reached the street level of Bestine, Tatooine’s second sun had set. Compared to most cities in the galaxy, Bestine was quite dark at night. Sure, there were glowrods set up as lights at various intervals down the main streets, and there were a few others outside doorways and even on the corners of the larger buildings, but that seemed to be about it. The moonlight didn’t add much, either. None of it would have annoyed Tobias if he hadn’t been in a human body, but he was and that meant his senses just weren’t what they could have been.</p><p> </p><p>And he wasn’t ready for Corinna to find out he wasn’t technically human. Something told him that would be a rather...odd conversation. More than it would normally have been, with the way she seemed to be. In fact, if there was one word Tobias could describe her with, he was becoming more and more sure it was ‘distracting’.</p><p> </p><p>She seemed to be doing it on purpose, too. While she had been surprisingly quiet since they reached the streets, just letting Tobias idly wander to find Master Ral, she was walking behind him just a bit too close for his comfort. And she had to know that, since he could feel that her Force sense was definitely focused in his direction more than the rest of the surroundings.</p><p> </p><p>It didn’t take long before Tobias had to stop. It was too unnerving and, on top of that, he had no idea where to go. Of course, there was no way he was going to tell Corinna she was driving him insane. Somehow, he figured that would just make it worse. So instead, he tried to find Master Ral the best way he knew without the help of a comlink...which would have actually been quite helpful...</p><p> </p><p>Instead, Tobias attempted the same thing he had done that had found Corinna earlier. Slowly and deliberately, he took in deep breaths, calming his mind and drowning out the various beings occupying the streets even at night. With each of them, he drew in the Force around him, seeing out further and further in that odd non-colour that was probably something close to how Corinna saw the galaxy. As with his last attempt, Tobias first saw countless beings all around, most very dim in the Force, but some slightly brighter here and there.</p><p> </p><p>And then Tobias found a bright, shining beacon in the Force that had to be his Master. The fact that he had thought Corinna had been his Master, upon ‘seeing’ Master Ral’s presence, was almost insulting to the Jedi Master. Where Corinna’s presence was amplified from her natural strength in the Force by her constant use of it, Master Ral was so clear once Tobias found him. But when Tobias opened his eyes, he knew why he had found Corinna instead.</p><p></p><p>It looked like Master Ral was clear on the other end of Bestine. Tobias just hadn’t searched long enough, having simply latched onto the nearest presence in the Force rather than actually searching. He would have to do better next time...</p><p> </p><p>“You know,” Corinna spoke up suddenly, “For a guy with two eyes, you do that quite well.”</p><p> </p><p>Tobias’ concentration broke. Thankfully, he was sure of which way to go to find Master Ral. So, he turned a questioning glance to his Miraluka companion to find her much closer than he’d thought, “What do you mean...?”</p><p> </p><p>Of course, that brought the smile back to her face and she nodded off in the direction he had found Master Ral to be, “You feel like a Miraluka when you do that. It was why I came running, actually. I’ve never seen anyoen that wasn’t a Miraluka see like we do.”</p><p> </p><p>“Really?” Tobias hadn’t meant to ask it, but his mouth and his brain were not really working together very well for the moment. In all honesty, he had thought it was something all Jedi could do. But as he thought about that, Tobias realized that he hadn’t actually been taught it. Sure, the pieces were all part of his training, but he’d just put it all together in a way that seemed to make sense and always expected everyone else had, too. But he put that aside and quickly put a stop to too much else on that subject, “Master Ral’s on the other end of the city from the looks of it.”</p><p> </p><p>Corinna simply nodded to that, and they were walking again. And thankfully, beyond some odd smells that were best not investigated and a few landspeeders that didn’t seem to care about pedestrians, the trip across the city was uneventful. It did take time, though, and Tobias couldn’t help but feel like he should have at least tried some kind of conversation. Of course, that was as far as it went, as he could never really come up with anything to say that wasn’t incredibly foolish or blatantly pointing out the obvious.</p><p> </p><p>Because of that, Tobias was thankful when they found Master Ral casually walking down the street right to them. Tobias quickly introduced his Master and Corinna and then very carefully explained how he’d run into her, trying to keep the details light so that Master Ral wouldn’t get angry...even though Tobias knew better than that. But Master Ral was surprisingly calm about it, keeping his usual serenity and thanking Corinna for assisting.</p><p> </p><p>“Did you find anything, Master?” Tobias asked after all that was behind them.</p><p> </p><p>The Jedi Master tilted his head slightly in an odd gesture that Tobias still wasn’t sure how to read, “The city is oddly clean of any evidence of Barrin or even the two Jedi that were originally here. I did find one man who described a Twi’lek carrying a lightsaber some time ago, but that was it. There are very few reasons for there to be so little evidence that do not point to a purpose behind the lack of information.”</p><p> </p><p>At that point, Corinna explained how close she had come to finding one of the Jedi. Or rather, how she had found one of them, but only pieces after arriving likely just a few moments too late. After she finished explaining, and adding that she had failed to turn up anything more for days, Corinna asked, “Can you feel that odd presence in the Force, Master Jedi?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes...” the Omwati Jedi nodded and closed his eyes a moment, clearly focusing on it as best he could, “It has perplexed me since arriving. You believe it is related to whatever killed the Jedi?”</p><p> </p><p>Tobias decided to stop being useless and try to help, “It would make sense. I mean...it sounds to me that Corinna found the aftermath of some predator. No one just takes body parts like that and this feeling in the Force...its just...it reminds me of that feeling you get when someone’s watching you but you can’t prove it. It feels like we’re being hunted.”</p><p></p><p>That hung in the air uncomfortably for some time before Master Ral turned his full attention to one thing in all of that, “It could have easily been a Yuuzhan Vong warrior. Losing a limb and pieces of clothing, along with other injuries that would leave blood and a mess behind are quite common with Vong weapons and fighting techniques. What makes you think it’s a predator?”</p><p> </p><p>Tobias felt Corinna’s Force-sight focus on him. The eyes of his Master along with that made him feel like he was being tested, even though he was absolutely sure he wasn’t. Why had he said that, though? Why jump to that conclusion? Why couldn’t the feeling in the Force be entirely unrelated? Why did he connect them both and not question it before?</p><p> </p><p>“I uh...” it was a bad start, as usual, but Tobias was getting better at recovering from those, “I don’t know. Well no. If its in the Force, its not Vong, right? It couldn’t be another Jedi. Lightsaber wounds don’t leave a mess like that. Vibroblades don’t either. At least not like what Corinna described. I mean, we have to assume that this distant feeling in the Force is related...right? If its not, fine, but better to be ready for that danger than not. And this feeling reminds me of a predator of some kind.”</p><p> </p><p>“If there was an animal running loose in Bestine, you couldn’t keep it quiet,” Corinna shook her head, “This place isn’t exactly the height of civilization, but its not that wild, either. No one knows a thing. Trust me on that, I’ve looked around in almost every corner of this city over the last few days.”</p><p> </p><p>Tobias shook his head, not ready to accept another explanation, even if he was still grasping and vague ideas and connecting things that probably weren’t actually connected, “We’ve got, what? Two Jedi murdered and one other missing and probably dead. You, yourself, found a strong Force-User killed by something that you didn’t spot. So what if the city isn’t going crazy because whatever it is doesn’t care about everyone else?”</p><p></p><p>The second he said it, Tobias knew he was right. Master Ral didn’t immediately reject the idea, but he pushed Tobias a little more, “You think we’re dealing with a creature that hunts Force Sensitive beings?”</p><p> </p><p>“It fits,” Tobias shrugged, not liking the idea at all but unsure of any other explanation that made sense.</p><p> </p><p>“Not entirely,” Corinna still didn’t seem convinced, “You’re still talking about a predator in a city. A rather large city, too. Even if it doesn’t hunt other beings, people would spot it. Unless its invisible, too, and at that point I think its time to just lay down and let the invisible, Force-Killer eat you then and there because there’s no winning with that.”</p><p> </p><p>Sarcasm aside, she did have a point.</p><p> </p><p>Tobias bit his lip and nodded a couple of times before looking back to his Master, “What do you think, Master?”</p><p> </p><p>The frail-looking Omwati Jedi Master folded his arms and looked between the two of them before finally saying, “I believe the possibility that you are correct is too dangerous to ignore. I do agree that we should assume all of these occurrences are related until proven otherwise. So, with that in mind, I might just have a way to test your theory, Tobias.”</p><p> </p><p>In a rather odd moment, Tobias attempted to turn a curious glance to Corinna. He had forgotten that she had no eyes with which to look back, and instead just found himself looking at the side of her face. But then, a moment later, he felt her focus in the Force shift to him and got the distinct impression that they were sharing exactly what he had attempted to find, even if one of them was using the Force to get the feeling across.</p><p></p><p>Satisfied he hadn’t made a complete fool of himself, Tobias looked back to his Master and asked, “I get the feeling this is the point where one of us gets to be bait.”</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ankh-Morpork Guard, post: 4445924, member: 10079"] [b]Chapter 592: Connections[/b] By the time Tobias and Corinna had reached the street level of Bestine, Tatooine’s second sun had set. Compared to most cities in the galaxy, Bestine was quite dark at night. Sure, there were glowrods set up as lights at various intervals down the main streets, and there were a few others outside doorways and even on the corners of the larger buildings, but that seemed to be about it. The moonlight didn’t add much, either. None of it would have annoyed Tobias if he hadn’t been in a human body, but he was and that meant his senses just weren’t what they could have been. And he wasn’t ready for Corinna to find out he wasn’t technically human. Something told him that would be a rather...odd conversation. More than it would normally have been, with the way she seemed to be. In fact, if there was one word Tobias could describe her with, he was becoming more and more sure it was ‘distracting’. She seemed to be doing it on purpose, too. While she had been surprisingly quiet since they reached the streets, just letting Tobias idly wander to find Master Ral, she was walking behind him just a bit too close for his comfort. And she had to know that, since he could feel that her Force sense was definitely focused in his direction more than the rest of the surroundings. It didn’t take long before Tobias had to stop. It was too unnerving and, on top of that, he had no idea where to go. Of course, there was no way he was going to tell Corinna she was driving him insane. Somehow, he figured that would just make it worse. So instead, he tried to find Master Ral the best way he knew without the help of a comlink...which would have actually been quite helpful... Instead, Tobias attempted the same thing he had done that had found Corinna earlier. Slowly and deliberately, he took in deep breaths, calming his mind and drowning out the various beings occupying the streets even at night. With each of them, he drew in the Force around him, seeing out further and further in that odd non-colour that was probably something close to how Corinna saw the galaxy. As with his last attempt, Tobias first saw countless beings all around, most very dim in the Force, but some slightly brighter here and there. And then Tobias found a bright, shining beacon in the Force that had to be his Master. The fact that he had thought Corinna had been his Master, upon ‘seeing’ Master Ral’s presence, was almost insulting to the Jedi Master. Where Corinna’s presence was amplified from her natural strength in the Force by her constant use of it, Master Ral was so clear once Tobias found him. But when Tobias opened his eyes, he knew why he had found Corinna instead. It looked like Master Ral was clear on the other end of Bestine. Tobias just hadn’t searched long enough, having simply latched onto the nearest presence in the Force rather than actually searching. He would have to do better next time... “You know,” Corinna spoke up suddenly, “For a guy with two eyes, you do that quite well.” Tobias’ concentration broke. Thankfully, he was sure of which way to go to find Master Ral. So, he turned a questioning glance to his Miraluka companion to find her much closer than he’d thought, “What do you mean...?” Of course, that brought the smile back to her face and she nodded off in the direction he had found Master Ral to be, “You feel like a Miraluka when you do that. It was why I came running, actually. I’ve never seen anyoen that wasn’t a Miraluka see like we do.” “Really?” Tobias hadn’t meant to ask it, but his mouth and his brain were not really working together very well for the moment. In all honesty, he had thought it was something all Jedi could do. But as he thought about that, Tobias realized that he hadn’t actually been taught it. Sure, the pieces were all part of his training, but he’d just put it all together in a way that seemed to make sense and always expected everyone else had, too. But he put that aside and quickly put a stop to too much else on that subject, “Master Ral’s on the other end of the city from the looks of it.” Corinna simply nodded to that, and they were walking again. And thankfully, beyond some odd smells that were best not investigated and a few landspeeders that didn’t seem to care about pedestrians, the trip across the city was uneventful. It did take time, though, and Tobias couldn’t help but feel like he should have at least tried some kind of conversation. Of course, that was as far as it went, as he could never really come up with anything to say that wasn’t incredibly foolish or blatantly pointing out the obvious. Because of that, Tobias was thankful when they found Master Ral casually walking down the street right to them. Tobias quickly introduced his Master and Corinna and then very carefully explained how he’d run into her, trying to keep the details light so that Master Ral wouldn’t get angry...even though Tobias knew better than that. But Master Ral was surprisingly calm about it, keeping his usual serenity and thanking Corinna for assisting. “Did you find anything, Master?” Tobias asked after all that was behind them. The Jedi Master tilted his head slightly in an odd gesture that Tobias still wasn’t sure how to read, “The city is oddly clean of any evidence of Barrin or even the two Jedi that were originally here. I did find one man who described a Twi’lek carrying a lightsaber some time ago, but that was it. There are very few reasons for there to be so little evidence that do not point to a purpose behind the lack of information.” At that point, Corinna explained how close she had come to finding one of the Jedi. Or rather, how she had found one of them, but only pieces after arriving likely just a few moments too late. After she finished explaining, and adding that she had failed to turn up anything more for days, Corinna asked, “Can you feel that odd presence in the Force, Master Jedi?” “Yes...” the Omwati Jedi nodded and closed his eyes a moment, clearly focusing on it as best he could, “It has perplexed me since arriving. You believe it is related to whatever killed the Jedi?” Tobias decided to stop being useless and try to help, “It would make sense. I mean...it sounds to me that Corinna found the aftermath of some predator. No one just takes body parts like that and this feeling in the Force...its just...it reminds me of that feeling you get when someone’s watching you but you can’t prove it. It feels like we’re being hunted.” That hung in the air uncomfortably for some time before Master Ral turned his full attention to one thing in all of that, “It could have easily been a Yuuzhan Vong warrior. Losing a limb and pieces of clothing, along with other injuries that would leave blood and a mess behind are quite common with Vong weapons and fighting techniques. What makes you think it’s a predator?” Tobias felt Corinna’s Force-sight focus on him. The eyes of his Master along with that made him feel like he was being tested, even though he was absolutely sure he wasn’t. Why had he said that, though? Why jump to that conclusion? Why couldn’t the feeling in the Force be entirely unrelated? Why did he connect them both and not question it before? “I uh...” it was a bad start, as usual, but Tobias was getting better at recovering from those, “I don’t know. Well no. If its in the Force, its not Vong, right? It couldn’t be another Jedi. Lightsaber wounds don’t leave a mess like that. Vibroblades don’t either. At least not like what Corinna described. I mean, we have to assume that this distant feeling in the Force is related...right? If its not, fine, but better to be ready for that danger than not. And this feeling reminds me of a predator of some kind.” “If there was an animal running loose in Bestine, you couldn’t keep it quiet,” Corinna shook her head, “This place isn’t exactly the height of civilization, but its not that wild, either. No one knows a thing. Trust me on that, I’ve looked around in almost every corner of this city over the last few days.” Tobias shook his head, not ready to accept another explanation, even if he was still grasping and vague ideas and connecting things that probably weren’t actually connected, “We’ve got, what? Two Jedi murdered and one other missing and probably dead. You, yourself, found a strong Force-User killed by something that you didn’t spot. So what if the city isn’t going crazy because whatever it is doesn’t care about everyone else?” The second he said it, Tobias knew he was right. Master Ral didn’t immediately reject the idea, but he pushed Tobias a little more, “You think we’re dealing with a creature that hunts Force Sensitive beings?” “It fits,” Tobias shrugged, not liking the idea at all but unsure of any other explanation that made sense. “Not entirely,” Corinna still didn’t seem convinced, “You’re still talking about a predator in a city. A rather large city, too. Even if it doesn’t hunt other beings, people would spot it. Unless its invisible, too, and at that point I think its time to just lay down and let the invisible, Force-Killer eat you then and there because there’s no winning with that.” Sarcasm aside, she did have a point. Tobias bit his lip and nodded a couple of times before looking back to his Master, “What do you think, Master?” The frail-looking Omwati Jedi Master folded his arms and looked between the two of them before finally saying, “I believe the possibility that you are correct is too dangerous to ignore. I do agree that we should assume all of these occurrences are related until proven otherwise. So, with that in mind, I might just have a way to test your theory, Tobias.” In a rather odd moment, Tobias attempted to turn a curious glance to Corinna. He had forgotten that she had no eyes with which to look back, and instead just found himself looking at the side of her face. But then, a moment later, he felt her focus in the Force shift to him and got the distinct impression that they were sharing exactly what he had attempted to find, even if one of them was using the Force to get the feeling across. Satisfied he hadn’t made a complete fool of himself, Tobias looked back to his Master and asked, “I get the feeling this is the point where one of us gets to be bait.” [/QUOTE]
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