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nonelikemesince"I say we escape," Tahiri was saying as she paced restlessly back and forth in the "guest" chamber where they were all cooling their heels. "All we need is another ship."
Corran snorted. "As long as you're wishing for the unlikely, why not at least wish for vac suits first? That way we would at least stand a chance of reaching the imaginary ship we're going to steal."
When he pointed out that they were probably being monitored, too, Anakin dug his fingernails into the palms of his hands and grumbled in annoyance, "Then I hope they hear me when I point out how ridiculous this is. We came here to warn them, and this is how they repay us?" He could sense the Yuuzhan Vong fleet approaching -- not through the Force, but through the lambent crystal in his lightsaber; it was like a disruptive burst of static over a comm line, a signal that wouldn't suffice to send a clear message but indicated something nonetheless.
"Anakin, look at it from their point of view." Corran had been doing this the whole time, trying to talk him down, and Anakin had since decided that he'd be subject to less of it if he at least made an effort to listen. "We came here in a Yuuzhan Vong vessel and acted as if we were going to attack their station. Now we claim a huge fleet is on the way to conquer their planet, and further we accuse them of having at least one faction collaborating with the Yuuzhan Vong. It would be hard for me to swallow."
He huffed. "Well, they have their proof by now."
Corran conceded that with a shrug. "There is that. You can't tell how close the Yuuzhan Vong are?"
"No, it's not like that." He would have elaborated more on how this 'Vongsense' of his worked (except he wouldn't call it that, because Tahiri got snippy every time they didn't use the proper name) if not for the entire station shuddering right about then.
". . . but if I had to guess, I'd say they were really, really close."
"Right. We have to get out of here," Corran said, and Tahiri gave him an annoyed look.
"Haven't we just been saying that?"
"The difference is, now I'm saying it." Corran took his lightsaber in hand and headed for the door -- unlocked, and unguarded. Well, that was interesting.
Interesting, and suspicious, though a quick probe in the Force told Anakin that no, the Givin hadn't taken off and left them here alone.
Because two of them, armed with blasters, were approaching from the end of the corridor and calling, "Jedi, you will come with us."
"We can take them," Anakin muttered through his teeth to Corran.
"But we aren't going to just yet," Corran answered, equally low, and then acknowledged the Givin with a smile. "Lead on."
It was weird how silent the Givin were as they rushed around frenetically, so intent on their tasks that they didn't even seem to notice the three Jedi. When they arrived at Dodecian Illiet's office, they could see (courtesy of the viewscreen) several Yuuzhan Vong capital ships bombarding the station with plasma fire.
"It would appear you were correct. Congratulations," Illiet said in a strained voice.
Corran beat both Tahiri and Anakin to the snippy reply: "It would've been nice to hear that a few hours ago."
If Illiet was irritated by that, it didn't show. "No doubt. You three will want vacuum suits. When the Yuuzhan Vong board, we will empty the station of air." The Givin, unlike them and unlike the Yuuzhan Vong, could survive in hard vacuum. As a strategy went, it was simple but solid.
Still, Corran asked, "Aren't you fighting back?"
"We are, but this station has limited firepower. Our shields will not hold much longer, and our fleet is assembling to protect Yag'Dhul. We can expect no help from them. The Yuuzhan Vong force is indeed quite formidable. I expect we have very little chance of victory."
"Don't be so hopelessly optimistic." Maybe Corran had been spending too much time around Anakin and Tahiri, given that reply.
"Perhaps I misphrased, somehow," Illiet replied. "I did not mean to imply optimism on my part."
"I was being sarcastic," Corran said. "Never mind. Where are the vac suits?"
The station had once been a staging ground for Rogue Squadron back when Corran had been a Rogue, but he hadn't been sure whether the Givin had even bothered to keep the vac suits around afterward; apparently they had.
"In the old storage lockers at what you may remember as designated ring one-C of the docking area," Illiet answered, and indicated another Givin nearby. "My subordinate will take you to them in case your memory fails. I regret your position in all of this. I regret further that an attempt was made to bargain with your lives."
. . . huh. "They didn't bite?" asked Corran.
"On the contrary, I reached a settlement with them," Illiet said. "They promised to spare our station if you were turned over to them."
"Then why -- "
Anakin decided that it was too bad he likely wouldn't get a chance to apologize for some of his more uncharitable thoughts toward Illiet, who urged, "I did not believe their promise. Go. There is a small ship at docking port twelve, berth thirteen, if it has not already been destroyed. I grant you use of it. The rest of our vessels were used to evacuate unnecessary personnel before the attack commenced."
Corran said it, but they were all thinking it: "Thank you."
"Thank you for your efforts on our behalf." Illiet had turned his attention back to the tactical readouts, and was still bent over them as he added, "You should hurry."
They weren't about to argue.
***
The explosions rocking the station got more and more violent the closer they got to the storage lockers, and the power started to flicker, and they all knew the station wasn't going to make it.
"I'll be sorry to see this place go," Anakin heard Corran say under his breath, in the same sort of tone his father used whenever he seemed to wish he were younger.
Anakin, who just wanted to be old enough for people to take him seriously, didn't understand the appeal. He wanted to get out of there; he sensed something going on with Aunt Mara, which only added to the urgency, and the time this turbolift was taking to get to the next level seemed interminable, and he was so jumpy that he wouldn't mind at all if they had to fight a bunch of Yuuzhan Vong right now just as a distraction, and --
Wait. That was what he was sensing through the lambent crystal, still staticky in his senses but in six distinct bursts. "You'd better activate your lightsabers," he said quietly, thumbing his own on.
Corran charged out of the lift first with Tahiri right behind him, then Anakin -- who only counted five Yuuzhan Vong warriors. Then why did he sense another --
He wasn't quite fast enough to dodge the punch from their supposed Givin escort, and it knocked him sprawling into Corran, who managed to roll, but it still left him lying on the deck defenseless while Anakin was forced to parry an amphistaff blow coming down at his own head. Not for long, though, since suddenly Tahiri was right there to guard him, and to telekinetically topple a stack of containers onto the Yuuzhan Vong warriors, who were barely affected by the hardest Force-shove Anakin could muster.
Too bad about the eight new warriors emerging from the corridors, and meanwhile their Givin imposter friend was laughing and letting his ooglith masquer peel away.
"A good effort, for infidels," he said mockingly in Basic, holding his hand out for an amphistaff from one of the newly-arrived warriors. He looked right at Anakin. "Not the Solo the warmaster wishes most, though after Yavin Four your worth has risen immeasurably."
Anakin raised an eyebrow. "I don't know you."
"No," answered the Yuuzhan Vong. "But your mother and I have met. I am Nom Anor, and you may consider yourself my captive."
They jawed back and forth for a while, Corran challenging Nom Anor to a duel that he turned down, until, to Anakin's confusion, Tahiri started yelling at the other warriors in their own language. They seemed taken aback for a moment, then started yelling angrily at Nom Anor.
"The warriors with him don't speak Basic, and they don't have tizowyrms," she explained hurriedly, and looked at Corran. "They didn't realize that Nom Anor was turning down a challenge. I told them you were the slayer of Shedao Shai."
"Good going, Tahiri," Corran said, appreciative. "Now what?"
"The head warrior of this bunch, Shok Choka --" Tahiri indicated him with a cant of her head -- "wants to take up the challenge."
"Tell him I accept."
"No, tell him I accept," Anakin cut in. "Tell him I slew many warriors on Yavin Four. Tell him I fought with Vua Rapuung. Tell him I demand my right to combat, or I will carry their names as cowards to the gods."
The warriors were ignoring Nom Anor now, more intent on Tahiri's translation. Shok Choka stepping forward into the circle formed by the others, to face Anakin, was an answer that didn't need translating.
He was definitely an intimidating opponent. Anakin had no doubt that he'd be able to handle Shok Choka and then some, but that wasn't what he had in mind. He was a much better lightsaber duelist than his performance here might indicate, given the number of times Shok Choka knocked his attacks wide so his lightsaber scored lines through the bulkhead, but he was also confident that Corran or Tahiri would figure out what he was doing.
He wasn't wrong on that point -- he'd just decapitated Shok Choka when Corran finished the job he'd started, and that bought them just enough time to dive through the newly-cut hole in the bulkhead before the other warriors recovered from their surprise.
"We need to find berth thirteen," Anakin yelled at Corran, feeling more winded than he ought to after a fight.
"This way," Corran replied, and they followed his lead.
"How far do we have to go?" Tahiri asked a few strides later. "My ears are popping."
Anakin's were, too. That wasn't good, and neither was the fact that despite the desperate situation he was starting to think it was hilarious when Corran said, "Sithspawn. The Givin have opened the station to space. We'll never make it to berth thirteen."
They ducked into a side corridor instead, and into a room full of storage lockers -- but only one clunky, obsolete vac suit from about 20 years ago.
"Okay, that's it," Corran finally said when their continued search turned up an airpack but no more vac suits, and both Anakin and Tahiri were getting lightheaded and giggly from the low oxygen levels. He pointed to one of the open lockers and ordered, "You two. Get in there."
Part of him understood, but part of him just thought it was funny. "Why --"
Corran cut him off. "Just do as I say. This one time, please, without questions, just do what I tell you to."
Right. Take it seriously. He had to take it seriously, so he half-stumbled into the locker and pulled Tahiri in after him; he was only vaguely aware of Corran cramming the airpack in with them.
"Minimum feed to keep you alive. Remember the locker is probably leaky," Corran told them, looking like he was barely able to stand any longer himself. "I'll be back. There's another set of lockers down the hall." With that he slammed the door shut on them, and they heard him stagger off.
"What if he doesn't have enough strength to get the suit on?" Tahiri wondered, once Anakin had fumbled around in the darkness to find the valve on the airpack and get the flow of oxygen going. "What if it's leaky?"
"Don't think about it." Probably hypocritical of him to say so, since all he could do was think about it, and wonder if Corran was right about his success so far being more luck than ability, not to mention worry about Corran. It was getting cold, and he knew it would only get colder the longer the station was open to vacuum, but all he could do was try to reassure her.
"Corran's been out of more scrapes than the two of us put together." Which was saying something, really. "He'll be back."
[OOC: NFI/NFB/TBC/OOC-okay, etc. etc. and so forth, still Edge of Victory 2: Rebirth by Greg Keyes, I still don't know why they titled this duology "Edge of Victory" when it was so far from the conclusion of the series, I still WTF a lot at some of his prose.]
Corran snorted. "As long as you're wishing for the unlikely, why not at least wish for vac suits first? That way we would at least stand a chance of reaching the imaginary ship we're going to steal."
When he pointed out that they were probably being monitored, too, Anakin dug his fingernails into the palms of his hands and grumbled in annoyance, "Then I hope they hear me when I point out how ridiculous this is. We came here to warn them, and this is how they repay us?" He could sense the Yuuzhan Vong fleet approaching -- not through the Force, but through the lambent crystal in his lightsaber; it was like a disruptive burst of static over a comm line, a signal that wouldn't suffice to send a clear message but indicated something nonetheless.
"Anakin, look at it from their point of view." Corran had been doing this the whole time, trying to talk him down, and Anakin had since decided that he'd be subject to less of it if he at least made an effort to listen. "We came here in a Yuuzhan Vong vessel and acted as if we were going to attack their station. Now we claim a huge fleet is on the way to conquer their planet, and further we accuse them of having at least one faction collaborating with the Yuuzhan Vong. It would be hard for me to swallow."
He huffed. "Well, they have their proof by now."
Corran conceded that with a shrug. "There is that. You can't tell how close the Yuuzhan Vong are?"
"No, it's not like that." He would have elaborated more on how this 'Vongsense' of his worked (except he wouldn't call it that, because Tahiri got snippy every time they didn't use the proper name) if not for the entire station shuddering right about then.
". . . but if I had to guess, I'd say they were really, really close."
"Right. We have to get out of here," Corran said, and Tahiri gave him an annoyed look.
"Haven't we just been saying that?"
"The difference is, now I'm saying it." Corran took his lightsaber in hand and headed for the door -- unlocked, and unguarded. Well, that was interesting.
Interesting, and suspicious, though a quick probe in the Force told Anakin that no, the Givin hadn't taken off and left them here alone.
Because two of them, armed with blasters, were approaching from the end of the corridor and calling, "Jedi, you will come with us."
"We can take them," Anakin muttered through his teeth to Corran.
"But we aren't going to just yet," Corran answered, equally low, and then acknowledged the Givin with a smile. "Lead on."
It was weird how silent the Givin were as they rushed around frenetically, so intent on their tasks that they didn't even seem to notice the three Jedi. When they arrived at Dodecian Illiet's office, they could see (courtesy of the viewscreen) several Yuuzhan Vong capital ships bombarding the station with plasma fire.
"It would appear you were correct. Congratulations," Illiet said in a strained voice.
Corran beat both Tahiri and Anakin to the snippy reply: "It would've been nice to hear that a few hours ago."
If Illiet was irritated by that, it didn't show. "No doubt. You three will want vacuum suits. When the Yuuzhan Vong board, we will empty the station of air." The Givin, unlike them and unlike the Yuuzhan Vong, could survive in hard vacuum. As a strategy went, it was simple but solid.
Still, Corran asked, "Aren't you fighting back?"
"We are, but this station has limited firepower. Our shields will not hold much longer, and our fleet is assembling to protect Yag'Dhul. We can expect no help from them. The Yuuzhan Vong force is indeed quite formidable. I expect we have very little chance of victory."
"Don't be so hopelessly optimistic." Maybe Corran had been spending too much time around Anakin and Tahiri, given that reply.
"Perhaps I misphrased, somehow," Illiet replied. "I did not mean to imply optimism on my part."
"I was being sarcastic," Corran said. "Never mind. Where are the vac suits?"
The station had once been a staging ground for Rogue Squadron back when Corran had been a Rogue, but he hadn't been sure whether the Givin had even bothered to keep the vac suits around afterward; apparently they had.
"In the old storage lockers at what you may remember as designated ring one-C of the docking area," Illiet answered, and indicated another Givin nearby. "My subordinate will take you to them in case your memory fails. I regret your position in all of this. I regret further that an attempt was made to bargain with your lives."
. . . huh. "They didn't bite?" asked Corran.
"On the contrary, I reached a settlement with them," Illiet said. "They promised to spare our station if you were turned over to them."
"Then why -- "
Anakin decided that it was too bad he likely wouldn't get a chance to apologize for some of his more uncharitable thoughts toward Illiet, who urged, "I did not believe their promise. Go. There is a small ship at docking port twelve, berth thirteen, if it has not already been destroyed. I grant you use of it. The rest of our vessels were used to evacuate unnecessary personnel before the attack commenced."
Corran said it, but they were all thinking it: "Thank you."
"Thank you for your efforts on our behalf." Illiet had turned his attention back to the tactical readouts, and was still bent over them as he added, "You should hurry."
They weren't about to argue.
***
The explosions rocking the station got more and more violent the closer they got to the storage lockers, and the power started to flicker, and they all knew the station wasn't going to make it.
"I'll be sorry to see this place go," Anakin heard Corran say under his breath, in the same sort of tone his father used whenever he seemed to wish he were younger.
Anakin, who just wanted to be old enough for people to take him seriously, didn't understand the appeal. He wanted to get out of there; he sensed something going on with Aunt Mara, which only added to the urgency, and the time this turbolift was taking to get to the next level seemed interminable, and he was so jumpy that he wouldn't mind at all if they had to fight a bunch of Yuuzhan Vong right now just as a distraction, and --
Wait. That was what he was sensing through the lambent crystal, still staticky in his senses but in six distinct bursts. "You'd better activate your lightsabers," he said quietly, thumbing his own on.
Corran charged out of the lift first with Tahiri right behind him, then Anakin -- who only counted five Yuuzhan Vong warriors. Then why did he sense another --
He wasn't quite fast enough to dodge the punch from their supposed Givin escort, and it knocked him sprawling into Corran, who managed to roll, but it still left him lying on the deck defenseless while Anakin was forced to parry an amphistaff blow coming down at his own head. Not for long, though, since suddenly Tahiri was right there to guard him, and to telekinetically topple a stack of containers onto the Yuuzhan Vong warriors, who were barely affected by the hardest Force-shove Anakin could muster.
Too bad about the eight new warriors emerging from the corridors, and meanwhile their Givin imposter friend was laughing and letting his ooglith masquer peel away.
"A good effort, for infidels," he said mockingly in Basic, holding his hand out for an amphistaff from one of the newly-arrived warriors. He looked right at Anakin. "Not the Solo the warmaster wishes most, though after Yavin Four your worth has risen immeasurably."
Anakin raised an eyebrow. "I don't know you."
"No," answered the Yuuzhan Vong. "But your mother and I have met. I am Nom Anor, and you may consider yourself my captive."
They jawed back and forth for a while, Corran challenging Nom Anor to a duel that he turned down, until, to Anakin's confusion, Tahiri started yelling at the other warriors in their own language. They seemed taken aback for a moment, then started yelling angrily at Nom Anor.
"The warriors with him don't speak Basic, and they don't have tizowyrms," she explained hurriedly, and looked at Corran. "They didn't realize that Nom Anor was turning down a challenge. I told them you were the slayer of Shedao Shai."
"Good going, Tahiri," Corran said, appreciative. "Now what?"
"The head warrior of this bunch, Shok Choka --" Tahiri indicated him with a cant of her head -- "wants to take up the challenge."
"Tell him I accept."
"No, tell him I accept," Anakin cut in. "Tell him I slew many warriors on Yavin Four. Tell him I fought with Vua Rapuung. Tell him I demand my right to combat, or I will carry their names as cowards to the gods."
The warriors were ignoring Nom Anor now, more intent on Tahiri's translation. Shok Choka stepping forward into the circle formed by the others, to face Anakin, was an answer that didn't need translating.
He was definitely an intimidating opponent. Anakin had no doubt that he'd be able to handle Shok Choka and then some, but that wasn't what he had in mind. He was a much better lightsaber duelist than his performance here might indicate, given the number of times Shok Choka knocked his attacks wide so his lightsaber scored lines through the bulkhead, but he was also confident that Corran or Tahiri would figure out what he was doing.
He wasn't wrong on that point -- he'd just decapitated Shok Choka when Corran finished the job he'd started, and that bought them just enough time to dive through the newly-cut hole in the bulkhead before the other warriors recovered from their surprise.
"We need to find berth thirteen," Anakin yelled at Corran, feeling more winded than he ought to after a fight.
"This way," Corran replied, and they followed his lead.
"How far do we have to go?" Tahiri asked a few strides later. "My ears are popping."
Anakin's were, too. That wasn't good, and neither was the fact that despite the desperate situation he was starting to think it was hilarious when Corran said, "Sithspawn. The Givin have opened the station to space. We'll never make it to berth thirteen."
They ducked into a side corridor instead, and into a room full of storage lockers -- but only one clunky, obsolete vac suit from about 20 years ago.
"Okay, that's it," Corran finally said when their continued search turned up an airpack but no more vac suits, and both Anakin and Tahiri were getting lightheaded and giggly from the low oxygen levels. He pointed to one of the open lockers and ordered, "You two. Get in there."
Part of him understood, but part of him just thought it was funny. "Why --"
Corran cut him off. "Just do as I say. This one time, please, without questions, just do what I tell you to."
Right. Take it seriously. He had to take it seriously, so he half-stumbled into the locker and pulled Tahiri in after him; he was only vaguely aware of Corran cramming the airpack in with them.
"Minimum feed to keep you alive. Remember the locker is probably leaky," Corran told them, looking like he was barely able to stand any longer himself. "I'll be back. There's another set of lockers down the hall." With that he slammed the door shut on them, and they heard him stagger off.
"What if he doesn't have enough strength to get the suit on?" Tahiri wondered, once Anakin had fumbled around in the darkness to find the valve on the airpack and get the flow of oxygen going. "What if it's leaky?"
"Don't think about it." Probably hypocritical of him to say so, since all he could do was think about it, and wonder if Corran was right about his success so far being more luck than ability, not to mention worry about Corran. It was getting cold, and he knew it would only get colder the longer the station was open to vacuum, but all he could do was try to reassure her.
"Corran's been out of more scrapes than the two of us put together." Which was saying something, really. "He'll be back."
[OOC: NFI/NFB/TBC/OOC-okay, etc. etc. and so forth, still Edge of Victory 2: Rebirth by Greg Keyes, I still don't know why they titled this duology "Edge of Victory" when it was so far from the conclusion of the series, I still WTF a lot at some of his prose.]
