Private My Shadow Runs With Me

[Velok Brokentusk]

"Sensible on all counts."

The beacon was in Basic and its coordinate transmission was easily compatible with the Niathal shuttle's technology; both were galactic mainstream, if a couple of generations old. Velok set the course the beacon recommended. The nav systems shifted the nose that way, into an unremarkable stretch of starscape.

This jump was much quicker. It spat them out above a green-and-brown moon, not exactly bursting with comscan contacts but well inhabited for the Unknown Regions. A few habitat areas, Velok judged - explaining all this to Lily Rhodes - with maybe a few tens of thousands of people in total. He left it to her to steer down into the atmosphere if she saw fit.

A call came through, a humanoid male in Basic: "Unknown shuttle, this is Drakeport security, state your identification and purpose, over."

 

[Lily Rhodes]

Lily's eyes went wide. She hadn't even thought about a name for the ship and she'd not seen one anywhere, that meant it was up to her, and she had seconds to decide.

"Feth." She hissed. Before flicking on the comms to reply. "Copy that Drakeport, This is the..." she paused searching her mind for something before continuing "Pilgrim's Rest, just looking for refuel and resupply, over"

Excitement at naming her ship made her grab Velok's forearm and give it a tight squeeze as she beamed. "Understood Pilgrim's Rest, sending you coordinates for your landing pad, safe travels."

Grinning from ear to ear, she brought the ship down into the atmosphere. Coordinates took them to the local spaceport, as much as she itched to fly further through the planets atmosphere she resisted. Fuel and supplies first, she could play after.

Velok Brokentusk

 

[Velok Brokentusk]

This time, when Velok left the airlock and stretched, his body recognized that the land, the sky, were places he didn't need to leave. He'd known deep down that Gadma Station was only temporary. And sure, lingering in this particular port town — maybe ten thousand people, some landing pads and boat docks — would bring it evil. But a planet like this, the gentle chill in the air...he could stay. He could find his peace.

The landing pad's terminal offered basic services and directories. He did some brief business on there, learned a little about the town of Drakeport and its surroundings.

"Tell you what. This is a nice safe town. How about you go take a look, sell what you want to sell, set things up how you like, get a taste of the independent ship owner life. I very much need to stretch my legs in the hills. Meet up here tomorrow morning?"

 

[Lily Rhodes]

Lily looked momentarily crestfallen that Velok did not want to remain with her, but she understood his reasoning. Also it gave her a chance to follow her own routine, and perhaps create a new one. Careful to leave most of her credits tucked away on the ship, locked it behind her and bid her farewells, giving the whiphid a quick hug, "Stay safe, you big lump." before disappearing into the small crowds. A skill she had always excelled at.

Ten thousand people was a breeze in comparison to number she was normally used to, moving with ease between the different flows. She followed her normal pattern, get the lay of the land, both well trodden and less so, should she need to make escapes for whatever reason. She trod five different routes from Drakeport's town centre back to the ship, committing them to memory, all with plenty of twists and turns to shake anyone that might tail a young woman wondering alone.

Satisfied she had her safety nets in place, she returned to the centre and the hubbub of a waterside trading post. Local delicacies consisted of hearty fish pies, sushi and fresh oyster bars. The latter she passed up on, something about the slimy appearance of the oysters made her stomach churn. She tasted everything she could, before settling on her favourite little restaurant on a raised plateau that granted her the perfect people watching location overlooking the centre of the trade hub and the best deep fried squid she'd ever tasted.

Lily lost herself, sipping on something light and zesty, tracing the ebb and flow of people, learning which stalls were popular, which traders were most willing to haggle taking stock across the morning to understand who was selling the best stock. As the sun reached its peak, she paid up her small tab and fell into the flow of people. she found someone to buy the co-pilot chair, though they were unable to provide a replacement large enough to accommodate Velok, a long with the rest of their small haul. She found oversized cushion that might at least make sitting on the floor that bit more comfortable for Velok.

Lily spent time talking to a twi'lek mechanic at the landing bay who was content to talk shop and share some of his knowledge with a young ship owner, just setting out. He was even kind enough to gift her with a small pot of hull paint so she could make the ships namesake official, a task she'd set herself for the following day. By the time she found her way to her cot on the ship it was late and her mind was awash with possibilities. She'd more coin than she'd ever had in one go, careful to set some aside for Velok, she'd not stolen anything, she had a full belly and a safe place to sleep without the worry of being accosted in the dead of night.

All she had to do, she though as she drifted off, was make sure she could keep flying. Opportunities would follow.

Velok Brokentusk

 

[Velok Brokentusk]

The harbor town offered its share of delights. For the most part, though, Velok kept his distance, the better to stave off the curse, stretch his very cramped legs, and think through the nascent friendship he was developing with Lily Rhodes . A friendship with him, of course, could only come to grief. But it was nice nonetheless.

Around the former OPA outpost of Drakeport (named for someone called Atlas Drake ), the land rose up in chilly ridges that reminded him of Toola in summer, or the warmer edges of the Temorzhai. Not naturally Whiphid country, but not far off either. The moon was designated Darronid. It orbited a super-sized terrestrial planet with crushing gravity, which in turn orbited a gas giant so vast it was nearly a star. He supposed that made Darronid the moon of a moon, technically. What little nav data he had for the area indicated complexity.

All thoughts of computer systems vanished as he scented prey. Ration packs and the edges of civilization could only take him so far. A Whiphid needed meat in quantity, and it had been much too long.

He used a utility knife to trim and sharpen a slim treetrunk into a spear, then loped into the highest hills. Without the need to pull in his Force presence, he expanded, used his hunters' senses to the fullest. There was a large animal in the vicinity, with a scent and feel and tracks he didn't recognize. He hefted the crude wooden spear and got to it.

Come early morning, his stomach very full, he washed off local horned herbivore blood in the ocean. He traded the curved horns for basic items of gear and some local currency: silvery Nagai coins and leftover ORC Talons. This being near Nagai space, there were knives aplenty. He found a good one at his scale: it had been a humanoid's two-handed fish cleaver, nothing fancy but sturdy enough for his fist.

Gear in hand, he headed back to the shuttle a while after sunrise.

 

[Lily Rhodes]

Lily awoke just before dawn, an ingrained habit when planet side that stemmed from her life on the streets. The early risers got the better pickpocket spots, the freshest servings from the soup kitchens. She lay in bed listening to the rising hum of movement beyond the ships hull and the town was slowly coming to life smiling at the peace of it all. If it was to be short lived, then she might as well appreciate the moments while she could.

Rising to shower, she brewed a fresh pot of caff and opened the top hatch to settle herself with her feet dangling inside to watch the sunrise over the harbour, wondering how Velok had gotten on with his own excursion. There was a touch of fear that perhaps he wouldn't return, but she buried it quickly. He'd been good on his word thus far, she had no reason to not trust him.

Pash, the twi'lek mechanic ,waved at her as he arrived at the docks to start his shift. She returned the greeting her eyes trailing behind him in the hopes she might spot the silhouette of her friend, but it was still early. Downing the rest of her caff, she dropped back inside the ship, lowering the landing ramp and accosting Pash for the use of a mechanical scaffold and some paint brushes. He obliged happily, leaving her to settle in feet dangling over the edge of the raised scaffold as she began to paint "Pilgrim's Rest" in large looping letters along the ships nose.

She was about half way through when Velok appeared, but too absorbed in her work, brow furrowed in concentration to keep her lines clean, a smudge of the pearlescent black paint on her nose.


Velok Brokentusk

 

[Velok Brokentusk]

Velok announced himself by shaking damp sea salt from his fur. "A good name," he said, coming around the nose cone for a better look at Lily's paint job. "A good ship. The Niathal was the backbone of interstellar reconnection up past my homeworld, in what used to be the Levantine Sanctum. When I was a young warthog, sixty or seventy, shuttles just like this would touch down on Toola regularly."

The memory of better days fit well with the morning light off the sea, and the pleasant chilly wind. He set down his bundle.

"I traded a local animal's horns for some basic gear for me — and this, for you."

It was a book, hard copy and a few decades old: Deep Black Sea: The Companion Besh Survival Guide.

 

[Lily Rhodes]

Lily's burrowed face broke instantly into a wide smile. "Good morning." She set the pot of paint aside lowering the scaffold so she could climb off with ease. "The Levantine Sanctum?" her brow furrowed momentarily. "Was that at the end of the Parlemian Trade Route? I'm sure I heard mention of it when I was an Arda, some local fisherman, talking about better days like old men are known to do." She wished she'd paid more attention.

She was so taken aback by Velok's gesture, she felt a small lump in her throat, swallowing hard against it. "T-Thank you." she wiped paint from her fingers before taking it gently. "I...um...I bought you a cushion." it seemed stupid when she said it out loud, she hugged the book to her chest and looked at her feet, mumbling another thanks under her breath.

Distant alarm bells saved her from any further embarrassment, snapping her attention instantly towards the town. The calm ebb and flow of yesterday thrust into a mad rush. Pash was making his way along the landing pads, pausing briefly to speak with ship owners, heading their direction.

"What's going on?" she asked as he reached them, adding "Pash, Velok, Velok, Pash." the twi'lek gave him a curt nod in greeting.

"Toff ship just broke atmo a few clicks north, looks like their heading this way." he looked at Velok "You should get her out of here."

"Hey!" Lily retorted, "I can look after myself!"

Velok Brokentusk

 

[Velok Brokentusk]

Matters of import, like that cushion, were derailed as the Tof ship descended through the clouds. It was a Wayfarer-type bulk cruiser, eighteen hundred meters, an abstract stack of slabs in the general shape of an ancient ship of sail. Velok's blood ran cold with dread. He'd thought he was past this kind of feeling. Gods knew he'd seen his curse bring violence on plenty of places before, but not in a long time. He'd learned to be careful.

"I've lingered too long," he told Lily and Pash through numb lips. "I brought this. My curse did."

Pash clearly didn't understand and just as clearly had no time, let alone interest. The Twi'lek hurried on.

"He's right," said Velok. "Other ships are scattering. Leave fast enough and you'll blend in with the crowd."

 

[Lily Rhodes]

"Velok..." she said softly at the mention of his curse. How could it possibly be? He'd barely been in the town to beavke to draw this. Hell they'd spent more time on Gadma, it was far less populated but it still could have been a target.

She wanted to say all of this and more as her eyes drew upward towards the huge ship descending upon them as Pas scurried away to warn others, though most had now spotted the danger.

Her eyes snapped back to Velok. "You'll? What do you mean "you'll"." She fixed him with a fierce gaze. "I am not leaving without you Velok Brokentusk , we either leave together or we stay together."

 

[Velok Brokentusk]

Velok bared the metal caps of his chopped-off tusks - not a growl, but certainly frustration. He tore his eyes from the huge incoming ship and focused on the first friend he'd had in decades.

"I have brought ruin wherever I laid my head, Lily, every harmless town that gave me shelter or compassion. I was a fool to forget it. And I will bring ruin on you."

 

[Lily Rhodes]

Lily squared herself against his frustration, his bared teeth only riling her own. "Are you serious? I was nothing, I had nothing until yesterday, you have not brought any ruin to me Velok, you have lifted me from it."

The cruisers shadow began to creep over the town, above them it began to spew a dozen smaller ships that streamed towards the town, raiding parties. Their window was rapidly closing.

"I. Will. Not. Leave. You."

Velok Brokentusk

 

[Velok Brokentusk]

Velok let out a shaky breath. On the tip of his tongue: Don't make me tell you how I earned my curse. Because the threat wouldn't deter her, and the truth might drive her away to safety but would be irrevocable.

But there was another way. One she might agree to.

"And I won't leave what I've done. Not this time." He cracked his neck and picked up the cleaver. "There's another course out of this. My curse can bring ruin to them. I just need to spend enough time aboard that ship - it's a flying city in its way, after all. If you won't run...can you fly above it at a safe distance and drop me?"

 

[Lily Rhodes]

"You wanna go into the giant ship attacking this town? Alone?"

Lily shook her head. "You're completely insane." She turned away heading towards the landing ramp. "Get in. We can argue about it on the way up."

A fighter that descended amidst the raiding craft screamed overhead, tailing after fleeing craft, she heard the sound of laser fire, swiftly followed by an explosion.

"Get in the fething ship, Velok!" She called over her shoulder. She should have been terrified , she should have wanted to flee for her life, instead an odd calm settled over her, driven by a determination to help and protect her friend. Whatever the cost.

Velok Brokentusk

 

[Velok Brokentusk]

He ducked as the fighter hissed by overhead. There were other Tof vessels coming, both fighters and landing ships. Ion cannon fire ripped into departing ships, brought them down for salvage and plunder. The old wildness was settling into his heart.

And he found himself, bleakly and to his surprise, smiling.

"I can't live like this another thirty years," he said over the noise. "Thank you for showing me that."

He called on the Force with his full strength. In his twelve decades of life - mere middle age for a Whiphid - he'd been a Sith Knight and an adept of the Toglannoq and assistant to his grandfather, the Dark Lord Velok the Younger.

The Force had no choice but to answer his command. He bent his knees and jumped.

A three-clawed hand half the size of Lily's body closed around a starfighter's wing strut. Metal crumpled and the ship slewed; Velok climbed on top of the cockpit and sank the cleaver through the transparisteel. The pilot was a large, strong humanoid, with a heavy beard and green-tinged skin, a raider. He shrieked as Velok tore open the canopy, ripped him from his seat, and threw him arcing far into the sea.

From there, a second jump to the top of a landing ship. A third was much the same. A fourth jump sent Velok arcing toward the underbelly of the Tof cruiser.

 

[Lily Rhodes]

"Velok!" All Lily could do was shout at him as her leapt away, running back down the landing ramp to watch him, mouth hung open in a mix of awe and horror. And he jump stretched for a second ship, she realised she needed to move. She bolted up the ramp, palming the controls for it to close as she fled past to the cockpit. There was no time for a preflight check, she flicked the engines into life and opened the top hatch before strapping herself in, yanking the controls for the Pilgrim's Rest to heave it off the landing pad.

Flicking the limited weapons system online she fired as her nose came level with another fighter, pushing the Rest through the burning wreckage after Velok, dodging the chaos descending and coming underneath his arc towards the cruiser that now drowned her in shadow. He could use the Rest as another point to push off from, or he could get in. Either way, Lily was following him and he would not be able to stop that.

Velok Brokentusk

 

[Velok Brokentusk]

His next jump put him on the nose of the Pilgrim's Rest. Wind slammed his back, pushed his hands and feet against the hull. Inside the command cabin, Lily's face held a resolve he couldn't help but envy.

Best to end this now, before she and Drakeport joined the long line of those who'd paid the price for his crime. He thought of letting go. Instead he gave her a resigned kind of nod, got his feet under him and jumped again.

The abstract underbelly of the Tof bulk cruiser offered a million handholds and vantage points. It felt like a dark forest of hullmetal slabs. Hanging by his claws, he looked down at the shuttle and around, to make sure it wasn't about to explode. The priority right now, other than ending this quickly, was getting her away.

He drove his mind toward hers along the bond they'd begun to create.

<GO FAR,> he said. <I MAY NEED A PICKUP.>

 

[Lily Rhodes]

Lily looked up at him briefly through the top hatch and knew in that moment, that she would not be able to follow him, not to the ship at least. This was his battle, that much she could understand. The ship lurched as he pushed off, leaping towards the underbelly his voice pressing into her mind.

"You better need a pick up." she replied out loud, with no idea as to whether he had even heard her. Swallowing against the lump in her throat, she peeled away from the underbelly of the Toff cruiser, pointing her nose down towards Drakeport, she collected a fighter on her tail, red light streaking past her viewscreen as he opened fire, the cockpit exploded into a cacophony of alarms.

"Shitshitshitshit." her finger reached to put more power into her rear deflector shields, before throwing the shuttle in evasive manuevers but it match her movements effortlessly. She needed to shake this fighter if she was going to survive long enough to make sure Velok could get a ride out. "Everything is fine, everything is just perfect." she chanted to herself. "You can do this."

The Pilgrim's Rest punched away, her speed out matching the speeders, along her the distance between them to flip the Rest end over end, the canons on the ships nose exploding in response, catching the toff off guard. "HA!" she punched the air in triumph. "Feth you!" She really hoped Velok saw that. With one more heart wrenching look at the battle below and ship above, Lily resigned to Velok request, pushing far enough away that she would not be a concern for the raiders. But close enough that she could see it all.

Velok Brokentusk

 

[Velok Brokentusk]

You had to keep some degree of detachment to keep sane during butchery. As Velok's cleaver worked its way through Tof raiders, hewed muscle, broke weapons, he was somewhere else entirely. He was a young boar, very young, back with his great-grandfather Velok the Elder. He'd learned to kill predators and prey, the Elder had said. He'd learned to fight other Whiphids or outworlders for pride and offense and glory. In a battle where life was at stake, those two very different kinds of violence had to meet. You had to kill, not fight, not duel. Simply kill.

The fastest and most effective way to kill the Tof raiders was one he'd employed only rarely. It felt like running through familiar snow.

Down in the lowest levels of the ship were where he'd started accumulating wounds and disseminating them. Right now the mile-long Tof bulk cruiser was perhaps a mile from Drakeport, over both coastal rocks and shallow sea. It hovered there, confident and dominant. Half the men Velok slaughtered were watching the town through windows, eager to get down there and loot.

The other half were raiders crewing the repulsorlifts.

As that particular mechanical chamber went still, as the sounds of death subsided under the hum of the vast machines, Velok allowed himself to be fully in the moment, fully conscious of what he'd done. Pain wracked him from a dozen places. His cleaver had almost no edge left; it would take serious work with a grinder to get it functional again. His massive hands shook from adrenaline and pain. He called on that pain - his own and that of the injured and dying raiders - and put his palms against the repulsorlifts.

He was no Sith Lord; he couldn't throw lightning. He could, however, generate a lesser form of it on touch. The vast machines whined. Electronics popped and sizzled. The deck lurched under him, but he pressed on, put all he had into it.

The deck dropped from under him as the Tof ship went into freefall.

At this height the ship would take maybe thirty seconds, at most, to hit the rocks and the water. There'd be an earthquake, unavoidable. Drakeport would get shaken. Shaken at worst.

He struggled toward the nearest airlock, hatch, window-

 

[Lily Rhodes]

Lily's stopped dropped as the toff battleship did, panic seizing her chest as she threw her ship back into action, streaming towards the plummeting monstrosity. "Come on you big lump." She shouted as she got closer. "GIVE ME A CLUE!" The niathal shuttle drew along side the cruiser, Lily fought to keep up with its descents, eyes frantically scanning for a sign of Velok Brokentusk as she shot along its length.

"Velok," she choked "Please...where are you?"