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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 4484533" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 600: A New CourseTobias did not lose consciousness. Rather, he existed in a state of constant pain and the inability to use any of his senses to figure out the world around him. But his brain was still working overdrive, and even though he couldn’t see, or really hear, or smell things, or feel anything...or taste much beyond an odd, stale nothingness, he was still very much aware. If one could be aware when they only had their thoughts to them.    With only a vague sense of time, Tobias wasn’t really sure when it was that the nothing began to fade into various, uncomfortable somthings. It wasn’t long, though, that much he was sure of. First, his hearing began to return in the form of a high pitched, constant ringing that made him realize that he had a very bad, throbbing headache. Feeling was back. He was on something hard and not at all comfortable, either in a chair of some kind of on a floor, propped up against the wall. The stale taste remained, but that began to make sense as the smell of the air in the starship...    “Where are we?” his voice came out amazingly clear considering how he was doing.    In blurred vision that was slowly and steadily sharpening, Tobias saw a figure in front of him shift slightly and then heard Corinna’s voice through the ringing, “Just in orbit. Glad to have you back...wasn’t sure where to head to from here and I was putting off plotting a course and ending up going the wrong way.”    When he had been left with only his thoughts, Tobias had decided something. He had assumed that they were in hyperspace and long from Tatooine, but apparently that wasn’t true. Good. That would make things easier...somewhat. Not much, really, but it was one little thing that he was going to latch onto as good. It was better than nothing at all.    Tobias vision was finally better, too. He was, indeed, in a chair. It was not at all a comfortable chair, though. Corinna in an identical, high-backed chair not even a half-meter in front of him. Her’s was currently spun around so she was facing him, which put their knees against each other’s simply because of how close the chairs were. It looked to Tobias that they were in the ship’s cockpit. The thing was cramped, almost like a starfighter’s cockpit but with just a bit more room. The seats were oriented with his behind and very slightly above her’s, and there was just enough room on both sides to turn the chairs and get out without too much trouble. Of course, there were still consoles everywhere, but it was nice to see the star-filled sky beyond the canopy.    “That was very stupid what you did down there,” Corinna eventually said, shrugging as she did so and then waving a hand at him, “But I guess it was pretty brave, too. And you did your little miracle healing thing again. I thought you were going to lose that arm before it healed. You’re cleaning up that blood, by the way.”    “Its not really...not really healing,” though Tobias was recovering quickly, his head still hurt and his voice was a bit lower than usual as he got used to using it again. Feeling her curiosity in the Force, Tobias tried to put that aside so they could do something more important, “I promise I’ll explain it all...but later.”    “Tell me where the Jedi are, I’ll get us into hyperspace, then we’ll have time,” Corinna gave him a cheerful smile and started to spin her chair around to get to the ship’s controls.    “Hang on,” Tobias reached out to grab her chair. She turned a curious look at him again with a bit more scrutiny in her Force-sight this time as she both ‘looked’ at him and tried to sense what he was about to say. There was no way she could have seen it coming, though, “We need to go back down there.”    In what Tobias was beginning to find rare, Corinna turned her entire head to face him as if that would somehow focus her vision on him. She waited a few seconds before commenting, “I guess that healing trick of yours doesn’t solve brain deficiency? Or maybe I’m just hearing things. My ears are still ringing, as it is. So why don’t you try that again with a little less crazy and a little more planet very far away from here.”    But Tobias had given it a great deal of thought already. There would be no winning for Corinna unless she took it upon herself to just plot a course on her own. Tobias hoped she wouldn’t, so he was going to do his best to not sound as stubborn as he was, “That thing killed two Jedi Knights and a Jedi Master.”    “More the reason to run,” Corinna shook her head, “I’m useless against that thing because I can’t see it half the time. And you...you may have some surprises up your sleeve with that little trick but this is a bit beyond you, Jedi boy.”    He was beginning to hate that. Hearing her call him that made Tobias think about Jyren. Marix had called Jyren that, and had for as long as Tobias could remember. Hearing that at all was bad enough, but applied to himself by a compete stranger? It just...it hurt.    But he tried to push past that and focus on what had to be done like the Jedi he was supposed to be. That he had to be.    So Tobias took a deep breath, let it out, and spoke as calmly as he could, “Corinna...it killed three Jedi. We’re leaving it down there. What happens when there aren’t any Jedi for it to hunt? What if it kills others? If it does, that blood is on our hands. It has to be dealt with or more people will die.”    “Your Master said to run,” her voice was careful with that, but it had to be said.    The only sign that it affected him was that his ears flattened against his head very slightly, “Yes. And this is not about revenge, which is what he worried about for me. If anyone else dies by that creature and we leave, it is our fault, Corinna. If I have to go down there alone, I will find some way to and you can go tell the Jedi...but I will not leave it down there to prey on innocent people.”    For a long minute, Corinna held his gaze. Out of habit, Tobias was looking at the cloth over where her eyes would have been, even if he could just feel her sight on him rather than see any actual direct source. But eventually, she said, “I can’t do much against that monster...but I won’t let you go down there alone.”    Tobias almost smiled, but somehow it didn’t seem appropriate considering how the day had been and where it was going. Instead, he nodded and tried to sound like he knew what he was doing, “I have a plan.”    He did, actually. He had come up with a good one, too. One that would work. Because now they knew what they were up against. They knew what it could do. It wasn’t just a blind hunt now. No. Now just letting out bait to be attacked wasn’t the plan. Tobias could set a real trap and be ready this time.    “But you don’t have all the facts,” Corinna reached over to one of the consoles to his right and picked up a small datacard that had been resting on it. She lifted it up and held it there for him to see, “If you want to do this, if you’re sure about this...you need to watch what is on this datacard.”    Tobias immediately knew what it was.     In Corinna’s hand was a tiny piece of technology that held the moment of Master Ral’s death. Something that had not seen. Something Tobias was suddenly terrified of, again. He opened his mouth to say he could handle it, but instead all that came out was, “I...”    The entire thought trailed off into nothingness as Tobias felt a heavy weight setting down on his chest. It was hard to breathe, too. Just thinking about what the creature had done to his Master was worse than seeing it, he knew...gods, he was just imagining the worst, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t be bad! It just...he...couldn’t watch it yet...not yet...    And then, in one sudden moment, the weight lifted.    Very gently, Corinna took Tobias hand in hers, turned his palm upward and placed the datacard there. She held his hand between both of hers, emanating a feeling of comfort and support through the Force in a way that Tobias had rarely ever felt before, and said quietly, “When you’re ready, Tobias...put that in the slot next to you. Take your time. I’ll be right here and I’ll do whatever I can...but you have to watch that before going back. Do you understand?”    Tobias nodded. He couldn’t find any words for the moment, and so instead tried to prepare himself as best he could. She was right. He needed to see it. He would see it. In doing that, Tobias would learn more about the creature and know, even better, what it could do and how it fought. That was too vital to hide from. A Jedi could confront his fears and let go of them. Tobias could do that.    He would.    Because he was a Jedi.    His Master had trained him well.    Tobias would not let Master Ral down.    A few minutes passed before Tobias finally removed his hand from Corinna’s. He took one more deep breath as he looked at the tiny datacard and then reached over to put it into the slot she had pointed out.</blockquote>

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