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Author	Topic: The Incubus Cries (J/J/Z, Malinza, Alema, Horns, others) Chapter Four 7/1/09
rebel_cheese Registered: Jul '06	Date Posted: 6/10 6:51am Subject: The Incubus Cries (J/J/Z, Malinza, Alema, Horns, others) Chapter Four 7/1/09 - Date Edited: 7/1 7:37am (6 edits total) Edited By: rebel_cheese
	This is something of a desperate story, as I'm trying to get my creative juices flowing again. I would still like to be somewhat farther ahead but where I'm at is acceptable, I think. It's a little different from my usual writing but I hope it is enjoyed anyway. The Incubus Cries Setting: Coruscant, Borleias, Ord Mantell, Adumar, Unknown Regions Timeframe: 35 ABY (five years after the end of the Yuuzhan Vong war) Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama, Mystery, Suspense, Romance Characters: Jaina/Zekk/Jagged/Malinza Thanas "love square", Alema Rar, Wynssa, Vong, Lowbacca, Jacen, Tahiri, Vong, Ben, Mirax, Jysella, Vong, C-3PO, R2-D2, Nelani Dinn, and have I mentioned Vong? OCs as well. Disclaimer: Own nothing, yadda yadda yadda. Summary: It is five years after the retaking of Coruscant, a retaking that achieved great success, but came at a great personal cost to the twins, Jacen and Jaina. In a seemingly never-ending cycle of tragedy, they have lost all their family except each other . . . and the young, orphaned Ben Skywalker. Now, with Jacen wandering alone in the galaxy, Jaina flies the Millennium Falcon herself, and is drawn into a galactic conspiracy aiming at undoing what the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances has accomplished . . . Dramatis Personae: Alema Rar: Jedi Knight (female Twi'lek) Ben Skywalker: child (male human) Boba Fett: bounty hunter (male human) C-3PO: protocol droid Cal Omas: Chief of State, Galactic Federation of Free Alliances (male human) Cilghal: Jedi Master (female Mon Calamari) Corran Horn: Jedi Master (male human) Jacen Solo: Jedi Knight (male human) Jagged Fel: Captain, GFFA Peacekeeping Forces (male human) Jaina Solo: Jedi Knight (female human) Jysella Horn: Jedi Apprentice (female human) Kenth Hamner: Jedi Master (male human) Kyle Katarn: Jedi Master (male human) Kyp Durron: Jedi Master (male human) Lando Calrissian: entrepreneur (male human) Lowbacca: Jedi Knight (male Wookiee) Malinza Thanas: Lieutenant, GFFA Peacekeeping Forces (female human) Mirax Horn: Colonel, GFFA Peacekeeping forces (female human) Nelani Dinn: civilian (female human) Octa Ramis: Jedi Master (female human) Tahiri Veila: Jedi Knight (female human) Valin Horn: Jedi Knight (male human) Wynssa Fel: Lieutenant, GFFA Peacekeeping Forces (female human) Dramatis Personae incomplete because of spoiler reasons. Will be expanded as the story continues. PM LIST Kailene gonz10 -----signature----- Padawan of princess_of_naboo E-married to the amazing padawanlost Member of Charon_Force The Incubus Cries: http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/30141520/p1/?18
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rebel_cheese Registered: Jul '06	Date Posted: 6/10 6:58am Subject: The Incubus Cries (J/J/Z, Malinza, Alema, others, drama/suspense story) Start 6/10/09 - Date Edited: 6/11 11:55am (1 edits total) Edited By: rebel_cheese
	The first scene is an intentional homage to the movie Serenity. Why? Because it's a great movie, that's why. XD Near Miss The Millennium Falcon. Truly a storied ship. It had traveled to virtually everywhere known in the galaxy, and sometimes even beyond that. It had never failed whoever had flown it. Every captain of the Millennium Falcon who ever lost or died had been outside the ship. With all of the wear, tear, and abuse forced upon it, it had always held together. It had survived the run on the Death Star, in a giant worm, the entire Yuuzhan Vong war, and everything inbetween. It was invincible. And then Jaina Solo's fantasy was shattered by a rather sharp piece of scrap metal flying in front of the cockpit window. "What was that?" she asked. "Did you see that, Jaina? That was huge!" Malinza Thanas cried, as she pushed various buttons and pulled a lever. "I think that was part of our re-entry protection." "You mean to say we lost some of our re-entry protection, which, I'll add, prevents us from burning up, for no apparent reason?" "I'd say so." "Damn." "I agree with that, Captain." "I'm 'Jaina', remember?" "Shouldn't, you know, tell the passengers we're going to have some slight turbulence, Jaina?" "Ah. Yeah, I'll get on it." Malinza had never responded to authority well, even when the authority was asking for informality. The only reason she was even here instead of supporting some anti-GFFA resistance movement was because Jaina had to beg. At least Malinza hadn't forced Jaina to go down on her hands and knees. Then again, Malinza felt a kind of kinship with a certain someone Jaina had brought with her. Jaina turned on the com. "This is the captain. We have some minor trouble with the entry sequence. Nothing serious. We'll experience some slight turbulence, and . . . uh, we might explode." Click. "Brilliant, Jaina. Five stars." "Shut it. I'm going to-" The com buzzed, and Jaina picked it up. "What?" "What's this I'm hearing about exploding?" "Concentrate on your own landing, Captain Cardboard." "I hate it when you call me that." "I know." "Look, are you guys going to land or crash? I need to use the fresher." "Too much information, Jagged." "I know." I have the distinct feeling I've just been zinged, Jaina thought. Besides her, she caught Malinza struggling to stifle laughter. "Look, Malinza's been flying this thing for two years now. I have faith in her. A non-Force sensitive should be the pilot anyway." "Yes, but-" "You concentrate on your own landing, manmeat." "I hate it when you call me that too." "I know." Jaina then hung up the com before Jagged could respond. She sighed. "I better see if everyone else is in a panic or not," she said simply and turned to leave the cockpit. "Have fun. I bet you have Threepio in an uproar," Malinza said. "Just get us on the ground." "Oh, that part will happen. Whether it's in one piece or in billions of flash-fried pieces I still don't know yet." Jaina sighed and decided not to respond to that. Arguing with Malinza usually lasted for hours, she could always find a comeback. In any case, she did need to check up on everyone else here. Only Jagged was outside, flying the clawcraft he and his sister maintained. Everyone else was in here. And, almost as Malinza predicted, here came C-3PO. "Mistress Jaina, did you say we're going to explode?" "I said we might explode, Threepio. And don't call me that." "So the odds of exploding is fifty percent?" "Don't tell me the odds." "Your father always used to say that . . ." Jaina hesitated for a second. Her eyes softened as she remembered him. Yeah, he always used to say that. He said that every time to this damned protocol droid when he tried to tell him the odds of survival. And he always found a way to beat those odds. Until the end. "Is something wrong, Mistress Jaina?" Threepio asked, in obvious confusion. "No. Nothing. Other than we might explode," Jaina said as the old ship rumbled. "And stop calling me that. I'm no mistress." "I'm just trying to be polite, Mistress Jaina." I can see why Dad always seemed to be suppressing the urge to throw him out the airlock, Jaina thought. "Look, just do whatever it is you do. We're going to need you to speak to some of the refugees, they don't all speak Basic," Jaina said, and she walked past. "I guess I'll just stay here, then," the droid said in a lonely manner. Yeah, yeah, worry about our survival like usual, Goldenrod. She spotted Corran Horn then, and she walked towards him. She offered him a smile. 'How's the rest of the family doing?" Corran looked up from his sitting position wryly. "Oh, about as well as you'd expect when the captain says we might explode." "Wonderful. Out of curiousity, why did you bring your family along for this? Borleias has never exactly been a civilian planet. I know Jysella has studies at the Academy she should be doing, at least." "You know how girls are at this age, they don't like being without their parents. Valin and I decided we could show her some things ourselves." He offered her a reassuring smile. "It's only for six months, Jaina. We're here just to make sure the refugees settle comfortably and keep the peace. A lot of them are Ithorian in particular." Ithor, Jaina thought, thinking about the planet whose atmosphere had literally burned away. Ithor was the Alderaan of the Yuuzhan Vong war, or, at least, the most famous one. The ship shook, and Jaina caught herself on the wall. She looked back in the cockpit's direction, and sighed. "I thought we would've been in the atmosphere by now," she said. Corran shrugged. "I don't know the answer to that, Jaina. Ask Malinza. She's the one you're entrusting the ship with." Jaina cocked an eyebrow. "She's a good pilot, Corran. She flies with more finesse, which isn't a perfect match with the Falcon, but she's good. In any case, if she ever has trouble, I can always help her out-" The ship shook, and Jaina heard the distinct sounds of tools smashing everywhere. A feminine yelp and a masculine "Oops" emanated from some unseen corner of the ship. "Sounds like Malinza needs your help," Corran said sardonically. Jaina sighed and said "We'll make it. We're probably almost through the atmosphere at this point. I'm going to see what happened." "You do that. I'll kick back and enjoy the ride." The light-hearted sarcasm from Corran reminded Jaina almost of her father. She wondered if that was what Corran was trying to do, to emulate the classic atmosphere of the Millennium Falcon. It's been five years, Jaina, she told herself. You need to move on. You have a job to do here, even if it is just being a shuttle for the Horns. She rounded the corner and saw Wynssa Fel grabbing her head, screaming various obscenities at a flushed Valin Horn while an amused Zekk watched. Wynssa had been rescued from the Chiss Ascendency, the only survivor of a campaign to exterminate the Fel family after it was decided that Jagged was a defector. It had been a tricky operation, Jaina remembered, three years ago. She had piloted the Falcon full-time back then, rescuing Wynssa from her crashed clawcraft on an asteroid in the middle of the vacuum of space. Valin Horn scratched the top of his head and looked sheepish. "I'm really sorry, Wyn, but I wasn't expecting that last shake there and I couldn't keep the hydrospanner from-" "You want to know what being hit in the head from a hydrospanner feels like?" Wyn chucked said tool at his head. Unable to use telekinesis to block it in mid-air, Valin took the traditional non-Force sensitive way of avoiding incoming objects and ducked. The hydrospanner crashed into the wall and fell down, remarkably not broken. "Wyn, enough. Valin, stop dropping things on her. That's final." Looking at the silently chortling Zekk, Jaina said wryly "Zekk, you hold the tools for Wyn." Zekk instantly became emotionless, except for his eyes, pleading for mercy. Jaina wasn't feeling merciful. "Help her out," she urged. "She keeps this thing running almost as good as my dad did. Give her some competent help." "Oh, and I'm incompetent?" Valin asked as he crossed his arms. "You are when it comes to holding tools, Valin," Jaina said. "Go sit down next to your dad. I'm sure you need to memorize the mission briefing more." Valin made a "hmmph" noise and walked away, presumably to join his father. Valin had been taking an interest in Malinza Thanas in the ride, even though she had several put-downs ready for every come-on Valin was able to come up with. Such was the result of teen love. Though, Jaina noted, Valin and Malinza didn't exactly count as teenagers anymore. Malinza had turned twenty a short time ago and Valin was approaching nineteen. It reminded her she was already twenty-five. Did she really want to wait much longer to marry someone, have children, and start trying to become a Jedi Master? Her life had essentially been on hold since the end of the war and her formal discharge from the military. She was pure Jedi now, still operating with the Galactic Federation of Free Alliance's best interests in mind but definitely not a soldier. She knew the Jedi were more akin to monks or peacekeepers, the Jedi were never going to instigate any conflict. It wasn't the Jedi way. According to Kenth Hamner, the Grand Master, this was the Jedi way, coming to assist in improving the livelihoods of refugees. It was indeed noble, but Jaina wondered whether Hamner was too close to Cal Omas, the Chief of State. Hamner hadn't relinquished his military title, which was now General. He could still command an army as well as all of the Jedi. It made Hamner one of the most powerful men in the galaxy. Jaina could only wonder if the power would get to Hamner one of these days. She shut Hamner from her mind. So far, he seemed to be incorruptable. And, as she felt from the way Malinza was piloting, they were approaching the ground. There wasn't going to be a crash-landing after all. The ship shook one final time, and the slight hum of the engines came to a halt as the great, legendary Millennium Falcon came to a full stop. They were on Borleias. *** Mirax Horn, Corran's wife, was looking over the digital map of the area. "They requested we landed out of the way, on this plain here away from the camp. They don't have a big spaceport, and it's clogged. There some kind of disease rampaging around. The Ithorians are not doing so well, and neither are the Duros crammed in with them," she said. Valin made a weird face. "Why don't they let everyone spread out?" "It's called "containment", Valin," Corran said. "Infectious diseases are not something you want spreading over a globe. It's all too easy for some malignant virus to run rampant and spread galaxy-wide. That's why we got ourselves vaccinated before we left." "Oh. Right," Valin said, as he realized he had asked a really stupid question. Jaina decided to let the Horn family continue to mettle out the details. In any case, they were waiting for the representative to arrive, that would take them from this area to the settlement. The cramped, disease, poverty-stricken settlement where somehow the Horns were going to keep order. Jaina felt sorry for the Horns. This was garbage, thankless work. Jaina hoped the young daughter of the Horns, nine-year-old Jysella, wasn't going to be exposed to too much. She needed some experience but it remained to be seen whether a nine-year-old could handle what was purportedly present at this settlement. She turned to Wynssa. "Wyn, you stay here and make sure the ship's in good order. Oh, and watch Ben. Don't let him wander out of the ship for any reason." Wynssa frowned. "You never let me go anywhere off this ship." "You're good at what you do," Jaina said reassuringly. "Besides . . . I don't want to leave this ship unguarded. Not in a place like this. Not when we have Ben onboard. You understand that, don't you?" Wynssa looked away, her eyes brimming with sadness. "Yes, of course." It was a heady responsibility, keeping track of a Skywalker as well as maintaining a galaxy-wide famous ship with strong connections to the Skywalker name. Also fairly thankless as well, because the ship always developed a problem somewhere, and Ben always made mischief. Jaina sighed, as she thought of the young boy, whose red-gold hair was so reminiscent of his mother's. She wished she could be a better parental figure for the boy. But she was always flying places and she didn't trust anybody anymore. She never wanted to be far away from Ben. Not until he was older. Jaina put her hands on the girl's shoulders. "You do something incredible for me. You're doing a good job, Wyn. You just keep Ben safe. have him help you with the "safe" tools, all right? He loves this ship." "I got it." Wynssa rubbed a hand through her clean blonde hair. "You don't need to act like my mom," she said softly. "I just want to make it clear that I care," Jaina said. Something I wonder if my brother still does, wherever he is, Jaina thought. Jacen had vanished for five years. It remained unknown what he was doing. Was he simply wandering around? Or was he on some voyage of self-discovery, like he claimed? And if that was what he was doing, why didn't he ask Jaina to come with? One day he had been there and the next he was gone. Rumors flew that the young scientist Danni Quee or the Jedi Knight Tahiri Veila were following him, but neither rumor had been confirmed. Officially, the two of them were still on Zonama Sekot somewhere. Still, being so long without her brother was extremely lonesome, even though Jaina was surrounded by friends. It just didn't feel the same. All of her old friends were not here, replaced by new ones she had made during the Yuuzhan Vong War. Other than Zekk, anyway. Lowbacca was off on Kashyyyk, Anakin and Sannah were dead, Tenel Ka was ruling Hapes. Somehow, along the way, all of them had gone their separate ways. Some of them went to oblivion, others to some distant corner of the galaxy. It seemed Jaina was the only one still trying to do the galaxy's work out of the old group of friends. I sound so old, Jaina thought sardonically. She saw Malinza come out of the Falcon, carefully cradling a E-15a rifle. It was modified from the old Imperial E-11 design, meant as a more versatile weapon. Notably, it often had a grenade launcher attached. She was dressed in black and camouflage fatigues, and wore a beret on her head. Malinza looks so strange in a military getup, especially in the Peacekeepers' uniform, Jaina thought. As if hearing Jaina's thoughts, Malinza looked at Jaina and asked "What?" "Nothing, Linz. Just . . . come on. Everyone else is gathered by the hill." "You take a picture of this I'll kill you. You spread it across the Holonet it'll be worse than that." "I get it, Linz." The pair began to walk away from Wynssa, before Jaina realized she was forgetting something. "It'll be all right, Wyn! We'll be heading back to Coruscant and safe port after this. Next time it's Linz's turn to babysit Ben." "What?" Malinza asked, agape. "You're his sister, if an adopted one," Jaina said with amusement. "Ugh." "I know. Deal." "Ugh." "Stop being a cavewoman and get going." "Ugh. I'm being a grunt soldier. Ugh." Sometimes, I think Mom and Dad should've adopted her, not Uncle Luke. The crowd was standing on the edge of the hill, and Corran had a baffled expression on his face. "Where is the representative? Something's not right," Corran said simply. A low rumbling sound came from the right, and then Jaina turned to see a distant, but gigantic explosion, leaping high into the air. "What the hell?" Zekk asked, and he immediately got his lightsaber ready. "Riot?" Mirax asked. "It's so pretty . . ." Jysella said, eminently having no idea of what was going on. "I don't think so, Mirax . . ." Corran said. He turned to his wife. "Take Jysella, stay in the Falcon. Everyone else, we're going to the explosion site. We're going to find out what the hell happened." "It's over an hour away," Zekk pointed out. "We can never have enough exercise. Now let's go." Almost as an afterthought, he added "Let's keep an eye out for ambushes too, for that matter." Great. Just what we need. Gigantic explosion in distance, no one seemingly alive on this planet, and odd landing orders. Something is very wrong. In fact, I think this is a trap, Jaina thought. As they began walking away from the Falcon, Corran said, as if reading Jaina's thoughts "This is some sort of trap. Be on your guard. We're going to investigate and see if there's any innocents, any normal people, still alive before we go. That's our duty." Yeah, our duty. Too bad that our duty almost gotten us all killed in the war, Corran. *** The destruction was obvious as they entered the settlement. There was a crater in the center of the town, probably where the explosion was. All over the place, there was death. Corpses lay everywhere, some burned, others torn apart. "What kind of wounds are these?" Zekk asked as he inspected the body of a young woman. "These aren't lightsabers." "Not amphistaffs either," Jagged said. "The way amphistaffs bite are almost like snakes. These . . . are not like that. These are burns." "Wait, you're saying something these people were shot?" Valin asked. "Yeah, these are blaster marks," Jagged said. "But that's not all of them. Some of these people are positively blown apart, but there's no grenade ashes. I don't know how that is possible." Unless it is a kind of grenade the military's begun testing that leaves no ashes, Jaina thought. Jaina looked to Corran. "You have any theories? And is the Falcon all right?" "I'm still talking to Mirax, so yeah, everything's fine there. If this is an ambush to get the Falcon it hasn't begun yet. As for theories, I got nothing," Corran replied. Malinza checked out a landspeeder, and looked at the engine. "I think this landspeeder is still operable," she said. "Want me to test it?" "Not a good idea, Malinza," Corran said. "Whatever did this might still be around here. We shouldn't attract its attention." "We're kinda of attracting attention already, being in the middle of the road," Zekk said. Corran looked at Zekk directly. "I don't detect anything in the Force here. That would mean something five years ago. But now, with the Vong opened back up to the Force, this means this whole area is dead. And if there is something hanging around, I want everyone to be clearly seen. We stick together. I don't want something picking us off." "Actually, I sense something in the Force," Valin said softly. "You do?" Zekk asked. "Yeah. It's . . . crying," Valin said softly. *** The possibility of a child still being alive in this annihilated place sent the party everywhere, searching for a concrete sign of the signature. Valin could sense it, it was somewhere in what was left of this apartment complex. Most of the building had come down, burned to ash or worse, but there were still a few livable areas left. He was with his father. Despite his annoyance at having his father watch over him, Valin knew he felt safer with his father at his side than being alone. The other member of the group was Malinza Thanas, heavily armed. She hadn't been initially assigned to them, but she had shown up a few minutes after they left, claiming Jaina had changed her mind about them going off alone. A com call to Jaina had confirmed it, and so what was supposed to be a pair had become a trio. Valin liked Malinza. She was one of the few who could make being dressed in a military uniform hot. She looked especially cool with her goggles on such as now. It was too bad she wasn't interested in him. But maybe he'd find some way to show her. Make her impressed. He shook off those thoughts. Being a show-off was the last thing everyone needed right now. This did not change that what had happened here was a colossal tragedy. All of these people, mostly Ithorian humans or Duros, were all dead. Wiped out by some unforeseen force. Whether soldier or civilian, they were all dead. And there was no sign of any enemy force. Valin climbed through what had been a viewport. It surprised how much of this place was completely disintergrated. There were some signs of battle damage, certainly, but this wasn't typical warfare. This was like stuff had simply crumbled to dust. "This wasn't a riot," Malinza said, verbally putting one theory to rest. "This was something else." She put her rifle in aiming position and led the way down the corridor. "I don't like this at all. I think we should just leave-" "No, we're really close, I can sense it," Valin said. He passed Malinza and opened a door, only to see darkness . . . and Vonglife reasserting itself. Not wanting to be on the receiving end of whatever peculiar surprises Vonglife flora were known for, he shut the door. They were really close . . . It occurred to Valin that whatever he was sensing was Force-sensitive. Why else would the girl's . . . that's right, the girl's cries were so palpable? Corran evidently heard them too, but he had a better idea of where to look. "Door 507, left-hand side," he said. "On it." Valin rushed to the door, and gently pushed it open. Whoever the girl was, she'd be fine. She would collapse in his arms and cry and scream, but she'd be okay. She'd be relieved to know she was safe. That was what mattered. He scanned the room, and saw her in the darkest corner, where only the left side of her face was illuminated by a barely-there glow from a crack in the wall. The girl squeaked and tried to crawl backwards, but quickly realized the person standing before her was there to help. "Why?" she asked, as she hugged herself. "What do you mean, 'why'?" Valin asked, puzzled. "We're here to help you. We're gonna get you out of this place." "Why?" she said, more sadly now, not out of fear. Almost like she was resigned to something. "Why? Because you don't deserve to be here," Valin said. "No. I mean why . . . why did you kill yourself?" Before Valin had any time to process what that meant, the wall to his left came down, and suddenly he felt something burning tear at his shoulder. Valin Horn, son of Corran Horn, and a new Jedi Knight, had been shot. And he had never sensed the intruders coming. -----signature----- Padawan of princess_of_naboo E-married to the amazing padawanlost Member of Charon_Force The Incubus Cries: http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/30141520/p1/?18
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rebel_cheese Registered: Jul '06	Date Posted: 6/11 10:04am Subject: The Incubus Cries (J/J/Z, Malinza, Alema, others, drama/suspense story) Chapter One 6/10/09
	Bumping. I won't keep shoving it up, this will probably the only time. I do appreciate concrit hugely. -----signature----- Padawan of princess_of_naboo E-married to the amazing padawanlost Member of Charon_Force The Incubus Cries: http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/30141520/p1/?18
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Kailene Registered: Feb '09	Date Posted: 6/11 11:49am Subject: The Incubus Cries (J/J/Z, Malinza, Alema, others, drama/suspense story) Chapter One 6/10/09
	Great start . Jaina/Jag/Zekk/Malinza "love triangle", huh, sounds intriging. Especially when it appears that Valin has a thing for Malinza. Jaina turned on the com. "This is the captain. We have some minor trouble with the entry sequence. Nothing serious. We'll experience some slight turbulence, and . . . uh, we might explode." [i]Click. "Brilliant, Jaina. Five stars." [/i] Jaina always did like to just cut to the power cables, I think though, she needs to learn to be a little subtle. "Shut it. I'm going to-" The com buzzed, and Jaina picked it up. "What?" [i]"What's this I'm hearing about exploding" "Concentrate on your own landing, Captain Cardboard." "I hate it when you call me that." "I know." "Look, are you guys going to land or crash? I need to use the fresher." "Too much information, Jagged." "I know." I have the distinct feeling I've just been zinged, Jaina thought. Besides her, she caught Malinza struggling to stifle laughter. "Look, Malinza's been flying this thing for two years now. I have faith in her. A non-Force sensitive should be the pilot anyway." "Yes, but-" "You concentrate on your own landing, manmeat." "I hate it when you call me that too." "I know." Jaina then hung up the com before Jagged could respond. She sighed. "I better see if everyone else is in a panic or not," she said simply and turned to leave the cockpit.[/i] I was chuckling the entire time I was reading this part. Love it. Please add me to PM list if you start one. -----signature----- "Doesn't expecting the unexpected make the unexpected the expected?"
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rebel_cheese Registered: Jul '06	Date Posted: 6/12 5:50pm Subject: The Incubus Cries (J/J/Z, Malinza, Alema, others, drama/suspense story) Chapter One 6/10/09
	Kailene: Great start . Jaina/Jag/Zekk/Malinza "love triangle", huh, sounds intriging. Especially when it appears that Valin has a thing for Malinza. Thanks. I'm shooting for some extra spice into the traditional Jaina/Jag/Zekk triangle and since I never really see Malinza used as an alternative I thought "why not". As for Valin having a thing for Malinza . . . he has a thing for a lot of girls, to be honest. Malinza just strikes his fancy right now. Jaina always did like to just cut to the power cables, I think though, she needs to learn to be a little subtle. You think? I was chuckling the entire time I was reading this part. Love it. I wanted to throw in some Allston-esque humor before things got serious. And things get serious in a hurry. But I just wanted to make you guys smile before I gut your emotions like a fish. Please add me to PM list if you start one. Yeah, sure. I wasn't sure if I was going to do a PM list but why not? Added. -----signature----- Padawan of princess_of_naboo E-married to the amazing padawanlost Member of Charon_Force The Incubus Cries: http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/30141520/p1/?18
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Jaya_Jag_Ben Registered: Jun '09	Date Posted: 6/12 6:00pm Subject: The Incubus Cries (J/J/Z, Malinza, Alema, others, drama/suspense story) Chapter One 6/10/09
	Oh...My...Gosh I LOVE this!! A j/j/z/m square!! Holy That'll be fun. Loved the J/J banter. That was Sweet. More soon.
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rebel_cheese Registered: Jul '06	Date Posted: 6/16 5:34pm Subject: The Incubus Cries (J/J/Z, Malinza, Alema, others, drama/suspense story) Chapter One 6/10/09 - Date Edited: 6/16 5:35pm (1 edits total) Edited By: rebel_cheese
	Jaya_Jag_Ben posted: Oh...My...Gosh I LOVE this!! A j/j/z/m square!! Holy That'll be fun. Loved the J/J banter. That was Sweet. More soon. Glad you find it amusing, keep in mind, though, that it isn't going to be funny for much longer. The next chapter drives it home pretty closely. Squares are fun. They're spicier than triangles. Banter is fun too. I was going for an Aaron Allston flavor with that, this is actually a fairly dreary story other than the banter so I'm making sure to inject some nice jokes and one-liners in there. Glad you liked reading it. More tomorrow, actually. The 2nd chapter's ready to go. -----signature----- Padawan of princess_of_naboo E-married to the amazing padawanlost Member of Charon_Force The Incubus Cries: http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/30141520/p1/?18
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rebel_cheese Registered: Jul '06	Date Posted: 6/17 6:28am Subject: The Incubus Cries (J/J/Z, Malinza, Alema, others, drama/suspense story) Chapter One 6/10/09
	A Pale Horse Corran immediately charged into the room, his lightsaber alight. He felt the pain of his son, and charged straight at the nearest trooper. It unnerved him to see this, as they were masked, giving them the impression of being faceless. Corran weaved between the troopers, hacking away, removing limbs and otherwise-eliminating the soldiers. There was no time to make an identification. They weren't Imperial, they weren't Vong, and they weren't from the GA. But that didn't matter. What did was that they had attacked his son with the intent to kill. Corran sighed as he moved towards his son, and the nearby girl who simply stared at the sight in shock. Valin removed his hand from his shoulder, and managed to blurt "I didn't sense them at all." It took Corran a moment to realize he hadn't sensed the soldiers at all either. It was like they were dead to the Force, just like the Vong had been. But how was that possible? It had been close to incredulous that the Vong had been invisible to the Force for so long. But for humans? For soldiers? When he looked at them, they barely looked different from the average Galactic Alliance soldier. And that thought scared him more than nearly everything he had faced in the Yuuzhan Vong war. Blasters being fired by trained soldiers invisible to the Force would make life for Jedi Knights a lot more difficult. Suddenly, he heard a burst of shots being fired. Corran turned to see one of the soldier he had downed collapse to the ground again. This time he had been shot up with blaster: Malinza Thanas' blaster to be exact. He looked at Malinza, and said "Thanks." "No problem. Who are these guys?" Malinza asked as she removed her goggles to get a better look at their fallen foes. "I don't know." "That's not the answer I wanted to hear, Corran." "It's Master Horn." "Yeah, yeah." Corran peered at his son, who was trying to patch himself up with bacta. "You need any help?" "No," his son managed, his voice strained. "I've never been shot before. It hurts." "You're lucky. A shot in the right area would have fired your nervous system and killed you right there." "Thanks for the lovely imagery, Dad." "You're welcome." Finally, it was time to get back to business. Corran peered at the girl, the Force-sensitive girl who had been cowering in fear just a moment before. "Who are you? And what were those people?" "Phantoms!" the girl cried. "Phantoms don't exist, miss." "But that's what they are! You can't feel them! There's nothing inside them!" Corran looked behind him. "Malinza, go make sure they aren't droids." "Already did. They're definitely flesh-and-blood. But something's off about them." "Keep checking." Corran turned back to the girl, who seemed to be gazing at him in complete horror. "Look, it's all right. Calm down. There's nothing to be afraid of." "No . . ." she whispered. "What is it?" "Keep her away from me!" the girl wailed and she covered her head with her hands. What does she mean by . . . Corran turned around and peered at Malinza. And he realized he couldn't feel Malinza in the Force at all. Corran slowly reached for his lightsaber, hoping it didn't attract this Not-Malinza's attention. He didn't understand how it happened, he could still feel Valin behind him, he could feel the girl, but he couldn't feel anything from this Malinza. She was not a Force-sensitive but Jedi could still feel something from non-Force-sensitives. This was different. Far, far different. Fake-Malinza looked at Corran oddly. "What is it?" Her eyes peered at Corran's hand. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Not-Malinza shouted, aiming her gun at Corran. "I'm not one of them! I saved your life, remember?" "I don't feel you at all," Corran said softly. Fake-Malinza made a gasping sound and backed up against the wall, a horrified look on her face. "That's not possible . . . you're insane. Did those soldiers spray some gas in here or something? I'm me! Valin, tell your father, I'm me!" "No," Valin said, as he struggled to his feet. "I don't feel you at all either," he said. "You've lost it too?" Fake-Malinza asked, and she switched between aiming her blaster rifle at either Corran or Valin. It was a good act, but Corran detected a fallacy in this otherwise perfect copy besides the lack of any presence in the Force. "You got the eyes mixed up. Malinza's grey eye is on the left side," Corran said simply. The twisted look that appeared on Fake-Malinza's face nearly made him regret exposing her right here and then. "Oh, I'm sorry. My mistake." She blinked and then she truly was the spitting image of Malinza Thanas. Including having her grey eye and green eye in the right eye sockets. "I'm new at this, you see. I didn't have time to make sure I did a correct scan of her." "What did you do with her?" Corran asked, igniting his lightsaber. "Me? I did nothing. Malinza Thanas is safe . . . but with Jaina Solo." Corran kept one eye on this copy, but turned the other one towards Valin. "Run," he whispered. "Get her out of here." "You wouldn't be whispering instructions to your son, would you?" Fake-Malinza laughed harshly. "You Jedi are worthless because you're so Force-sensitive. There's no way we could make use out of you. Thus, the only thing left to do is destroy you." Suddenly, Corran and Valin found themselves surrounded with soldiers. "What are you?" Corran asked, as he flipped the switch on his lightsaber to extend its range. "Me?" Fake-Malinza paced back and forth, casually carrying her E-15a rifle, her face deep in amused thought. "Me? Well . . . I guess you could call me a phantom, just like the girl said." "And who were we talking to on the com?" Corran asked. "A voice impersonator for dear Jaina Solo. She's good, isn't she?" "What's your purpose?" "Hmm, quizzical, aren't you? I would tell you everything if you were guaranteed to die, but you know what? Since the two of you might actually survive, I won't tell you everything. After all, I don't need the plans ruined." Fake-Malinza eased her way through the soldiers. Then, in the harshest tone Corran had ever heard out of Malinza's voice, she rasped "Kill 'em." And then the soldiers became a firing squad. *** "Damn it, it's like nothing's here," Malinza said as she sat down on a random piece of rubble. "Everybody's gone." "I know," Jaina said sadly. She looked at her com. Corran hasn't talked to me in a while, I'm starting to get worried. It was his idea to investigate the luxury apartment complex because that's where the Force signature seemed to be, but there had been interference playing havoc with her communications ever since. Damn it, Corran, you have to play the macho man and go off with just your son, Jaina thought. Corran and Valin were both quite talented, but both had the Horn family "issue" of having no telekinesis. Valin was slightly better than Corran in such things but it was like saying a snail moved faster than a plant rooted in the ground. One thing was slow, and the other was just not suited for movement at all. She didn't like this place. She wanted to leave. Borleias felt dead. No, that wasn't quite it, she realized after a while. It was more like she was on some alien land where she didn't belong. Like she shouldn't even be on this plain of existence. Somehow, the Galactic Alliance had lost Borleias without even knowing it. "Jagged," Jaina said. "Get everyone together. We're heading back." "What about you?" Jagged asked. "I'm going to-" Jaina gasped. The pain. She could feel it. All of it. Rampaging through her like a knife, slicing her to bits and pieces and making her feel like she was completely and utterly coming apart- She hugged herself. "Corran," she whispered. Jagged's eyes lit up. "What do you mean? What happened?" "Corran . . . Corran is dead," Jaina whispered. Jagged simply stared, then looked away. "Want me to go out and look? I'm sure I could-" "No. We are definitely staying together now. We go find Valin, then we take that airspeeder Malinza says she can get working and rush back to the Falcon. The Chief of State and the Grand Master need to know about this." Jagged nodded. "Got it, Jaina." His concern made Jaina happy. Jagged, at one time, had truly been "Captain Cardboard", but he had loosened up now. Sometimes showed signs of having emotions. Seeing Jagged open himself up nearly always made Jaina smile. Except now, when she was still reeling from the excruciating death she had just felt. "Everyone," she managed to announce. "Corran Horn is dead. We're going after Valin, then we're rigging the landspeeder and staying out of here. We're not alone-" Just when she said that, though, Malinza shouted "I've got contacts! There's movement all over the block!" And then all hell broke loose, and Jaina found herself pinned down under a withering hail of blaster fire. And the scariest part was that Jaina couldn't sense any of them. It was just like facing the Yuuzhan Vong all over again . . . *** It had taken a few minutes before Jysella had realized something else was horribly wrong, not just her dad's extreme pain and vanishing. There was a gap in her heart now, a widening, pulsing gap that tried to devour her. She had run towards her mother, and screamed out her worries and sadness, and was rewarded with her mother's comforting arms. Her mother was crying too upon hearing her daughter's words. But then Jysella realized something wasn't right. She realized that the love she normally felt emanating through her mother's Force signature wasn't there. In fact, nothing from her mother was coming through the Force. It was like hugging a flesh-and-blood doll, like it was soulless, like it wasn't real. Jysella backed out of the fake's arms as quickly as she had dived into them. She backed against the wall. Like it already knew Jysella had realized the truth, the Fake-Mom stood up and cornered Jysella. "What's the matter?" she whispered softly. "L-Leave me alone. Who are you?" Jysella asked. She had the feeling that whatever had happened to her father was about to happen to her, too. "Who am I?" the Fake-Mom asked. "Good question. Why don't you tell me?" *** "Can't someone tell me who the hell is shooting at us?" Jaina shouted over the blistering sounds of blasterfire. "I can't get a good look at them! They remind me of black ops, though!" Jagged said. "Black ops?" Malinza asked, puzzled. "Yes. Black operation forces. You send them in when you want to do some really dirty work you don't want put out in the open." Massacring a town and attacking Jedi Knights definitely sound black-opish, Jaina thought. But who would deploy black operations? The Chiss? Is this a secret Galactic Alliance thing going on here? Imperial? Something else?[/i[ A blaster zinged off a slab of duracrete near her and that reminded her to stay down. [i]You know what, ask these questions later. Survival first. "How many of these guys are there?" Malinza shouted. "Too many! Fall back to the intersection! Get that landspeeder working! Zekk and I will cover you guys!" Jagged's eyes lit up but a glare from Jaina silenced his protest before it began. "Keep her safe, Jagged," Jaina said. Jagged nodded. "Right," he said, and he ran off after Malinza. The intersection being spoken of was right behind them, two blocks away. A long sprint. "Zekk, give me some help here!" Jaina cried as she began deflecting the blaster shots. She could use the Force to track the shots' trajectories, and even pick where to deflect the shots, but the fact she could not sense these people meant she had no idea where they were aiming until the shots were fired. In the last five years, Jaina had gotten soft, and she knew it. She didn't train hard enough against droids, who also has no Force presence. Still, she was more than capable enough of deflecting these shots. It just made combat a more tense affair than she was used to. I have to keep these guys back. Somehow, some way. They were quite heavily armored, and were deadshots. The saving grace was that they weren't coordinated enough to shoot too many shots so Jaina couldn't deflect them all. If there were more than a small squad against her and Zekk, the attempt to fall back would have been suicidal. She managed to deflect a shot into one of the Force-less soldier's heads and shouted at Zekk again. "Help me out!" "I'm on it!" Zekk immediately shoved a large slab of duracrete into two of the soldiers, and sent them flying backwards several feet, probably breaking several bones in the process. That gave Jaina enough of an opening to look at a nearby, half-collapsed building. She pictured the supports crumbling completely, and concentrated on the sight. The prompt roars told her of success, and she opened her eyes to see the building collapse on itself, creating a massive smokescreen. The soldiers would never be able to spot the Jedi in this smoke. "Zekk, come on! Let's go, let's go!" Jaina shouted, and she turned around and began running. She had to make a lot of ground on these people before they could emerge from the smoke . . . Zekk nodded, and he took off as well, following her. It annoyed Jaina slightly, that he was trying to protect her, but she knew now wasn't the time to argue about chivalry. The principal concern was escape. They had to escape. *** Wynssa Fel was tired. This made the sight she was witnessing even more unwelcome than it already would have been. After all, she had just spent the last hour messing around with various wires onboard the ship. Oh, and chasing Ben around too. The usual stuff she did while the others went off adventuring and negotiating or whatever they did. A monotonic, frustrating experience. A rut. Which made the sight of Mirax choking her own daughter more startling than it already would have been. "Whoa, Mirax, what're you doing?" Mirax turned around, and Wynssa was agape at the tears in Mirax's eyes. "This is not my daughter! It's a demon!" Mirax wailed. "What?" "Somebody snuck on board and replaced my daughter with this thing! She tried to kill me, Wyn! Please, this is hard enough already, crushing something with Jysella's face!" Most of that flew over Wynssa's head. "Wait . . . you're saying your daughter got replaced?" "Yes!" "But what?" "I don't know! Just . . . this isn't my daughter!" Wynssa didn't know what to believe. The desperate cries from Mirax or the pleading, teary eyes of Jysella. Wynssa knew she didn't have much time to decide. Jysella's windpipe was being crushed. Oh, Force. Wynssa pulled out her blaster and set it to stun. Mirax's eyes widened. "Wyn, what are you-" "Shut up!" Wynssa fired the blaster, and the blue waves slammed into Mirax. The woman collapsed into a heap on the ground, her hands still wrapped around Jysella's neck, but they had gone limp. And Jysella just stood there, staring at her mother's fallen form in a mixture of shock, terror, and sadness. Wynssa walked over. The effects of the stun blast wouldn't wear off for a few minutes. And if Mirax was right and this wasn't Jysella Horn, Wynssa knew she was a quick shot. If this was a fake Jysella, she would have the child down on the ground in seconds. Jysella was traumatized. Wynssa could see that immediately. It was a look she had seen in children's eyes far too much. Jysella was in such a shocked stupor she couldn't even move, much less remove her mother's slack hands from her neck. Wynssa removed Mirax's hands from Jysella's neck, and put her hands on Jysella's shoulders. Wynssa gazed into Jysella's eyes, and asked "What happened?" "Wyn . . ." she said, her voice a whisper. "It's all right. Tell me what happened. Now." Her eyes shimmered. "She's not my Mom, Wyn." Oh great. Did someone set loose an insane gas in the Falcon when I wasn't looking? Jysella's voice broke and tears streamed down her eyes. "She's not my Mom!" Jysella collapsed into Wynssa's arms, sobbing. Her tiny hands reached up and gripped Wynssa's vest tightly, so tightly they nearly tore holes. And she wailed. Wailed for innocence forever lost by this experience. "There, there. It's okay, it's okay," Wynssa said. She hugged Jysella, and let the girl cry. There was no way that this was a performance. This had to be Jysella. Had to be. But then again, Mirax had been pretty damn convincing, too. I don't know what to think. But why would a mother choke her child? That's why I blasted Mirax, right? Because she was strangling Jysella . . . Jysella managed to make intelligible words after what seemed to be an eternity of crying. "She's not my Mom! I-I-I couldn't feel her! I felt nothing!" What? Wynssa knew that this meant something, and searched her mind. Jedi can feel anyone's presence in the Force. The only time they couldn't do that was when . . . when . . . The Vong five years ago. But that didn't make a lot of sense either. Weren't the Vong brought back into the Force? Every single one of them, whether a ferocious warrior or a timid Shamed One, had been reintroduced into the Force at the end of the war by something Wynssa still didn't understand. What mattered was that the Yuuzhan Vong were just like everything else in the Force. And it wasn't like Jysella could be stripped of the Force, could she? Wynssa decided to make sure. "Can you feel me?" "Yes! I can feel Ben too! But I can't feel Mom!" Does that mean I just stunned a Vong? Or does it . . . I don't know. There's still the possibility that Jysella here is lying. In any case, I need to find Ben. Make sure. Wynssa pulled out her blaster again and fried another stun blast at Mirax's form. Hopefully that would keep her down. Wynssa didn't have any restraints on her nor had any time to look for one. "Jysella, we're going to find Ben. He'll make sure of this." "I'm not lying!" "I need to make sure, Jysella," Wynssa said with finalty, and with some tugs she managed to drag Jysella away from Mirax's form. Something is wrong. Horribly wrong. And I need to find out what, before this whole ship comes apart. *** "You sure you're gonna get this running, Malinza?" Jagged asked as he saw Jaina and Zekk getting ever closer to their position . . . and enemy reinforcements were right behind them. "I kinda have to or we're all gonna die," Malinza said. I pray that was deadpan, Jagged thought. The engine fired then, and Jagged breathed a sigh of relief. At least something had gone right for a change. Whatever they had stumbled upon, it just screamed "conspiracy", at least to Jagged. Borleias was not a safe world anymore. And it was so close to Coruscant . . . Jagged shuddered. To think a few years ago he had helped man a emergency redoubt here right after Coruscant fell . . . "You got it going?" Jaina shouted. "What do you think?" Malinza yelled. "Get in!" Jagged was more than willing to take Malinza up on her offer. He ran over and jumped onto the passenger side of the landspeeder, leaving the rear seats to Zekk and Jaina. The sooner they were gone and heading back to the Falcon, the happier he would be. Jaina was almost breathless when she finally made it. "We're not leaving without Valin, got it? We're not leaving him here. Not with these people." "If you say so," Malinza said. Even Malinza knew when not to fight with Jaina. It was the right thing to do. Mirax would be in enough pain already once she found out. Losing Valin too would be too much for her and Jysella. Zekk bounced a few more blaster shots back, and jumped into the back seat next to Jaina. Jagged felt a few pangs of jealousy when he saw that, and suppressed them immediately. He needed to be a professional soldier right now. He could bash Zekk's skull in later. Malinza stepped on the gas, but before they could move as much as five feet the landspeeder came to a halt, and Jagged saw the sight of a bloodied Valin Horn. Malinza's eyes widened. "Oh Force! Valin!" It took a moment for Jagged to see that Valin wasn't alone. There was a young girl with him as well. Thirteen, maybe fourteen. And judging by the way he was positioning his body, he was treating himself like a human shield for the girl's sake. It was the kind of unselfish, sacrifical act the Horns were known for. That was probably how Corran died, too. "Get them in, we can't stay here!" Zekk shouted and Jagged half-climbed out of the vehicle, grabbed Valin by the sleeve of his Jedi robe, and hauled him and the girl awkwardly into the landspeeder. Malinza hit the gas hard and the velocity pressed them back into their seats as they sped away. Valin and the girl were able to crawl into the backseat. Jagged could only stare at Valin, who was so injured it was a miracle he was still alive. He must have been shot over and over again, all for trying to save this girl. The blood all over the girl made Jagged wonder if Valin's effort had been in vain, but then he realized the girl was actually uninjured. That meant the blood on her was Valin's. "Valin!" Jaina cried, and she immediately reached into her robe and grabbed bacta. It would barely be enough to lessen his pain but it was better than nothing, and they all knew it. "What happened? Can you talk?" "They're not in the Force . . ." Valin murmured softly. That was something they had all figured out by now. Jain and Zekk hadn't been able to sense the soldiers either. "We know that. We're running from a platoon's worth of them," Jaina said. There was a short, sharp bump that nearly flipped the landspeeder over, and Jagged shouted "Malinza, watch the road!" "I'm doing the best I can! There's junk all over the place! Once we get into the countryside it's a straight shot to the Falcon!" Jagged turned back to Valin, and the girl. "Who are these guys? Valin, please try to answer," Jaina said. "They're shapeshifters," the girl said softly. "They're what?" Jaina asked. "They can take the form of someone, anyone you know. They could be anyone, anything. And you can't get away from them," the girl said, completely despairing. Does that mean than anyone here besides me could be one of these people? Jagged tried to remember if anyone had left besides Valin and Corran. He couldn't think of any. Could Valin or the girl be enemies in disguise? "You can tell . . . because they're not in the Force, Jaina," Valin managed to force out. "They can pretend to be us perfectly, but they're not in the Force. They're not in the Force. Just like the Yuuzhan Vong . . ." *** Finding Ben and dragging him from his play area over to where she had stunned Mirax had been no easy feat. Ben didn't understand as much as he could have. But after some very basic urging and threats of infinite time-outs, Wynssa was able to drag Ben back to Mirax along with Jysella. This didn't make any sense. Mirax said Jysella was fake. Jysella said Mirax was fake. How was that possible? What could turn mother and daughter against each other? Wynssa was more inclined to believe Jysella than Mirax. The sight of an adult attempting to strangle a child naturally made her want to side with the child, of course. But there was something else, something she couldn't quite explain. I'm going to get to the bottom of this. Before this gets any worse. I really wish there was an insane virus. It would make things so much simpler. Jysella said "Dad's dead. He's gone." "I'm sorry," Wynssa managed to say. "I ran into her arms. It took me several seconds for me to realize that wasn't her. That it wasn't Mom." "It's all right, Jysella. Ben will decide this." Ben looked at Wynssa sadly. "I don't want to, Wyn." "It's the only way this will be settled, Ben." "I don't want to use the Force." "You don't have any choice in the matter, Ben." "The Force hurts." "I know it does. You just need to use it for a few seconds to see if Jysella is right." Ben didn't answer that. Wynssa remembered that Jaina had explained Ben's situation once. He had felt a lot of pain as an infant. His mother hadn't the strength to survive childbirth. His father died from Supreme Overlord Shimrra's poison. His aunt and uncle died in a shootout beforehand after a sudden crash-landing. People close to him died early in his life and he felt every bit of it. His instincts were telling him to stay far away from the Force. Wynssa could only guess how different Ben's life would be if Mara Jade Skywalker had managed to survive giving birth. If she had somehow found a miracle and fought off the disease. Would he be happier, then? Would he already be a Jedi apprentice, perhaps training with Jysella right now? Wynssa didn't understand these things, because she wasn't Force-sensitive. At least, she thought she wasn't. Corellian luck had been prominent in her life, but it had affected her brother's life too. And he wasn't off waving a lightsaber around, was he? Maybe it was her Corellian roots telling her Mirax wasn't to be trusted. Either that or Jysella was planting suggestions in her brain. Wynssa decided the second possibility was too unpleasant to consider so she decided it was the mythical, legendary Corellian luck guiding her on this one. "All right, Ben. Just open yourself up for a few seconds. That's all we need," Wynssa said. They were about to walk into the room when Ben said "I feel nothing." Vindicated, Jysella said "I told you!" But when Wynssa turned the corner, she saw there was a different reason for Ben's answer. Mirax wasn't there. She had vanished, seemingly without a trace. And Ben's words took on a chilling new tone. He had felt nothing. That meant that the fake Mirax could be anywhere onboard this ship. Anywhere. And there was no way to tell when the fake Mirax would strike. Suddenly, Mirax's voice emanated from behind. "You know, that was smart, using the Skywalker boy." Wynssa spun around, and saw the spitting image of Mirax Horn, except the fake Mirax had an expression far too smug to be the real Mirax. "It was also smart locking down the Falcon. That way I couldn't get it to lift off." Wynssa smiled. "Actually, I didn't lock it down. It's just extremely complicated to lift off." Fake-Mirax smiled in return. "Really. Take us off, then." "Only Malinza and Jaina know how to fly this bucket of bolts. I just know how to fix it." "Mmm." Fake-Mirax nodded. And then her whole body warped right in front of Wynssa. The wrinkles vanished from her forehead. Her dark hair lightened into a soft brown. Bangs fell, and her dark eyes changed colors, one to grey, one to green. She grew roughly an inch, and the soft remnants of freckles appeared on her cheeks. Fake-Malinza Thanas smiled. "I suppose that is remedied now?" Wynssa Fel could only stare. Aw, shavit. Fake-Malinza's smile grew even wider, a shark's grin. "There's nothing you can do to stop this, Wynssa. Soon enough, you'll be one of us. And those Jedi brats with you, they will be exterminated. You should just surrender now, and be done with it." "Kriff you." "Huh. Such language in front of children. And you consider me the bad guy." Fake-Malinza shrugged, and looked down towards Ben. "Act confident all you wish. The war's already lost for you people. The Jedi will be a thing of the past, just like Luke Skywalker." "It's not lost. All I need to do is prevent you from getting off this rock." Fake-Malinza's eyes widened, but Wynssa had already rushed her. Wynssa grabbed Fake-Malinza by the shoulders and slammed her against the wall, and the fight began. -----signature----- Padawan of princess_of_naboo E-married to the amazing padawanlost Member of Charon_Force The Incubus Cries: http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/30141520/p1/?18
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Jaya_Jag_Ben Registered: Jun '09	Date Posted: 6/17 7:22am Subject: The Incubus Cries (J/J/Z, Malinza, Alema, others, drama/suspense story) Chapter Two 6/17/09
	What the!!! Rebel_Cheese! You've got me on the edge of my seat! What's up with the Fakes-of-which-we-cannot-feel-in-the-force-like-the-Vong? Takes a deep breath. MORE!!!
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gonz10 Registered: Aug '08	Date Posted: 6/17 9:50am Subject: The Incubus Cries (J/J/Z, Malinza, Alema, others, drama/suspense story) Chapter Two 6/17/09
	Shape shifters that can't be sensed in the force? Intense and creepy. What happened to the real Mirax? Add me to the PM list please.
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rebel_cheese Registered: Jul '06	Date Posted: 6/24 6:40am Subject: The Incubus Cries (J/J/Z, Malinza, Alema, others, drama/suspense story) Chapter Two 6/17/09
	Jaya_Jag_Ben: What the!!! Rebel_Cheese! You've got me on the edge of my seat! What's up with the Fakes-of-which-we-cannot-feel-in-the-force-like-the-Vong? Takes a deep breath. MORE!!! There is something indeed up with the fakes. It is not like canon where this is a delusion. This is by no means a delusion by anyone involved. These people have been stripped of the Force like the Vong. What they are exactly . . . is up to you to decide, especially after the monkey wrench being thrown into things in the next chapter. There is more, and it'll be up soon. Glad you've enjoyed things so far. gonz10: Shape shifters that can't be sensed in the force? Intense and creepy. What happened to the real Mirax? Add me to the PM list please. It's supposed to be tense and creepy. And the fic will stay that way. There will also be many moments of awesomeness on the way as well. As for what happened to the real Mirax, we'll find out soon. There WILL be a revealing of what happened to Mirax soon, but we won't find out exactly what that was for a while. Sure, you'll get a PM when the next update happens . . . which will be in a couple of minutes. Hope you enjoy the rest of the fic! -----signature----- Padawan of princess_of_naboo E-married to the amazing padawanlost Member of Charon_Force The Incubus Cries: http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/30141520/p1/?18
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rebel_cheese Registered: Jul '06	Date Posted: 6/24 6:47am Subject: The Incubus Cries (J/J/Z, Malinza, Alema, others, drama/suspense story) Chapter Two 6/17/09
	The Long Run Fake-Malinza was strong. That was the first impression Wynssa Fel had. She had taken being slammed into the Millennium Falcon's wall like falling into a mattress. Then she bounced right back and retaliated by repeating what Wynssa had done. And Wynssa didn't bounce back like she had fallen on a mattress. Wynssa moaned and felt her legs starting to buckle. Whoever this person was, she meant business. She felt a sharp blow to her stomach, and then felt like needles were penetrating into the top of her head. Her opponent had seized her by the hair, and proceeded to slam Wynssa against the wall again. "As cheesy as this is going to sound, resistance is futile. You don't have a chance in beating me, Wynssa." "Uh huh. Right." Wynssa punched Fake-Malinza in the stomach then rammed her against the wall, and walloped the fake with a roundhouse punch the next instant. It was desperate, dramatic fighting, the kind the Chiss despised, but Wynssa was panicking and she knew it. It was hard not to panic considering Fake-Malinza kept getting up like she hadn't even been scratched. Fake-Malinza got up, and to Wynssa's horror the fake was holding a hydrospanner. The same hydrospanner that had been thrown against the wall during re-entry. "For a Chiss soldier, you're not much of a challenge," Fake-Malinza said, a twisted smirk criss-crossing her face. "But then again, you were kicked out, weren't you? Family politics? Or was it incompetence?" "My family was betrayed," Wynssa said. "Crying already, huh? Guess there's some harsh memories," Fake-Malinza said. "Shut up! The Four Families-" "Spare me the sob story. I'm going to kill you, then scan you. Then all I need to do is kill the kids and lie low. They probably won't even try to sense me, a trusted member of the crew." "Scan me? What the hell is that?" Fake-Malinza chuckled at that. "You'll never find out." She put the hydrospanner sharp-side first, so it would drill into Wynssa's body the moment it connected. "You're finished, Fel. You're unarmed. You don't stand a-" To the complete, collective surprise of both Fake-Malinza and Wynssa, Artoo rolled into the room, and looked from Fake-Malinza, to Wynssa, to Fake-Malinza again. Fake-Malinza looked at Artoo quizzically. "What the hell are you?" Artoo let out a squeal and charged straight at Fake-Malinza, and opened up a compartment in the middle of the droid. It was a stun baton, a standard self-defense system for the archaic but beloved R2 model. And Artoo used it, zapping Fake-Malinza in the knee. Fake-Malinza leapt off the ground and aimed the hydrospanner at Artoo. "You think you're a wise guy, don't you droid?" Fake-Malinza shrieked. Artoo simply chirped at that. Wynssa, sensing an opportunity, saw her dropped blaster out of the corner of her left eye. Before Fake-Malinza could react Wynssa took off for the blaster. Fake Malinza was about to give pursuit when Artoo zapped her again, and Fake-Malinza turned on Artoo, snarling something unintelligible. Before any damage could be done to the astromech droid, Wynssa grabbed the blaster pistol, set it to "kill", and fired it into Fake-Malinza's backside. The fake cried out and slammed into the ground right in front of Artoo, and laid on the ground, limp. Artoo nudged the body a few times, as if checking that the fake was really dead. Wynssa sighed with relief and smiled. Now she knew why Jaina loved that droid so much. Out from a corner behind Artoo, Ben and Jysella appeared. Jysella asked "Is she dead?" "Yeah," Wynssa said, and she walked up to the body. Fake-Malinza's eyes looked glassy and faint. The shot had burned a hole in her body and fried her nervous system like well-placed blaster shots were supposed to. Any unarmored human couldn't be expected to live through that. "Where's Mom?" Jysella asked. "I don't know. I'm going to try to find her. You and Ben search the ship with Threepio, wherever he is. I'll take Artoo and look around outside after disposing of this . . . this thing." "Why Artoo?" Jysella asked. "Because he saved my life, probably," Wynssa said with a smile directed at the astromech. Artoo made a chirping noise in a tone of "Ah, it was nothing." "All right. You two stay here no matter what. Got it? If I come in and you can't sense me in the Force for whatever reason, shout for me. I won't be far away and I'll come inside." The look on Jysella's face suggested that she'd much rather have Wynssa stay inside. Ben simply looked impassive, like this had barely affected him at all. That worried Wynssa a bit. A normal six-year-old would be showing quite a bit of fear and anguish right now. But Ben had always been distant, like he was afraid of forming relationships. Wynssa decided she'd worry about it later. She had to find Mirax. That was the most important thing to do right now. Though, she suspected, the moment the others came back she would have Jysella scan them using the Force. The last thing she needed was another fight . . . *** Valin was not holding up well at all. The injuries he had taken were taking their toll and fast, no matter how much effort Jaina and Zekk were putting into healing him. They needed Tekli, or Cilghal. What they were doing, it wasn't good enough. Jaina knew that. They needed to get Valin onto the Falcon so he could put a healing trance on himself. That would allow him to stay alive until they made it to Coruscant. How am I going to put this to Mirax? To Jysella? Jaina thought sadly. They has lost Corran to something Valin couldn't quite explain. The girl he had rescued had been mostly silent, but Jaina detected a powerful presence in the Force, she was definitely Force-sensitive. It was raw, and barely touched. If she was trained . . . Jaina admonished herself then. Here she was thinking about what she could do to help this girl hone her abilities when they were running for their lives and a Jedi Knight was dying right next to them! She knew she needed to be more responsible. She had to be more responsible. If I was more responsible, I wouldn't have let Corran and Valin go off by themselves, Jaina thought sadly. She looked at Valin, who looked so dazed it seemed the pain didn't effect him anymore. She hoped he was already falling into a healing trance, because the last thing she needed was for him to die, too. They had made it out of the city, and were charging through the Vongformed countryside. Borleias, a dead world. Evil things taking place here. Right next to Coruscant. This could potentially be a great threat to Coruscant. To the galaxy. Something evil, something horrendous, was happening here, and if it wasn't stopped as soon as possible . . . Jaina couldn't bear to think of the consequences. Mom, Dad, and Uncle Luke did not all die on Coruscant so we'd lose it so quickly, she thought bitterly. Aunt Mara and Anakin didn't die in the war so the galaxy would fall to enemies. She wasn't dead yet, and that was what mattered most of all. They had to make it to the Millennium Falcon. Had to. If they didn't, the government would have no warning of what was coming. And that would essentially doom Coruscant right there and then. Or at least create one hell of a bloody battle. If a bloody battle was to be fought, Jaina would much rather have it be here than at Coruscant. Or Yuuzhan'tar, as she still sometimes thought of the planet as. But first, they needed to get off this planet. And get off it now. *** Wynssa Fel rubbed her dirty blonde hair as she made her third trip around the surrounding area. She was afraid to go too far from the Falcon. Threepio wasn't exactly a fearsome deterrent, Jysella was useless with telekinesis, and Ben didn't touch the Force period. Not to mention Jysella and Ben were frightened little kids. She had promised she'd look for Mirax, though. But there was no sign of her. It was like she had vanished without a trace. Was that the real Mirax Horn that I killed? Wynssa thought, frightened. Jysella said that wasn't here . . . and how could Mirax turn into a perfect copy of Malinza? Maybe a Sith possessed her or something? Jedi dealt with Sith stuff all the time back in the day. She had read quite a lot about Jedi and Sith from back in the day. Chiss histories, while they didn't give a truly cohesive history of either order, did have plenty of details to offer. Even dating back as far as a millennium ago, when Darth Bane enacted the Rule Of Two. The Sith were supposedly destroyed, died with the deaths of Darth Sidious and Darth Vader. But who said that the Sith couldn't possess people or something so they could remake their order? Who said that was not a possibility? Jedi and Sith business scared Wynssa nearly as much as her current situation did, and the thought of evil Sith spirits flying about sent a chill down her spine. "Wyn? Wyn, are you there?"{/i] That was Jaina's voice. Ever suspicious though, Wyn said "Who is this?" [i]"This is Jaina Solo, moron!" Judging by Jaina's tone, she probably had had an encounter with these things like Wynssa had. "Say something about me that Jaina would know." "You call Jag "mocetan teal" a lot." "It's a common Chiss insult." "Oh fine. You say he pilots his clawcraft the same way a Csillan ice duck flies." "That's also a common Chiss insult." "Force help me, Wyn, I have just been through hell and I want get inside and off this rock before we all die! Clear?" "You convinced me you're Jaina. Sure, I'll have everything set up for takeoff," Wynssa said. A pause. Then Jaina said "Did you have a case of mistaken identity going on there too?" "Yeah. Someone pretended to be Mirax, and then she shape-shifted into Malinza on the fly to try to overpower me. I killed her," Wynssa said. Artoo chirped angrily. "With Artoo's help," Wynssa added as an afterthought. "Is everyone all right?" Wynssa paused. She didn't want to say this over the com, but she knew she had to. Maybe Jaina would detour to look for Mirax if she let them know . . . "Everyone's fine except for Mirax. I can't find her anywhere. It's like she vanished without a trace," Wynssa said. A very long silence. Then Jaina said, in the softest, most fragile tone Wynssa had ever heard out of the Jedi Knight's voice, "Please get the Falcon set to take off, Wyn. Stay strong over there. Over and out." Click. Wynssa stared at the audiocom, and sighed softly. Jaina's voice had already begun to break at the end of that conversation. It wasn't like Jaina to get this emotional, but then again, she had been responsible for both Horn parents. And now were they both gone? Just like that? Did they have to be? Suddenly, one of the last sounds Wynssa wanted to hear entered her eardrums. The sound of primal growling. Oh come kriffing on- She turned, and saw beings she couldn't quite describe approach her. The only thing that mattered to her was the long-limbed, powerful bodies, and the visible fangs. "Artoo," she said warningly, "You might want to turn around." Artoo made a questioning chirp, and then when Artoo swiveled its head in the monsters' direction, the astromech droid let out a high-pitched keen. And then the monsters charged, and Wynssa aimed her battle rifle. I'll be damned if I let you guys in at Jysella and Ben. And she opened fire. *** "We're almost there, Valin! Just hang on!" Zekk urged as they drove through the shattered countryside. It had taken them an hour to walk to the settlement, it had taken less than fifteen minutes to get back. "Can you go any faster?" Jagged asked. Malinza's voice was perturbed. "Yeah, sure, if you want me to crash into something! There's too much rubble everywhere!" "I'm just saying going faster would be nice!" "Going faster would be nice too if you want us to crash!" "Shut up, both of you," Jaina said sharply. Zekk stared at Jaina in shock. Usually she let such banter slide. The fact she wasn't meant something horrible had happened, something that made her serious, something saddening. Zekk could guess. From the sounds of it we lost Mirax too, he thought. What was going on to cause this? This didn't make much sense to him at all. He supposed Jagged would know, he always knew more than he let on. Same with his sister, Wynssa. Jaina said "We're almost there. All we need to-" She paused then, and it took only a moment of leaning out the side of the landspeeder to see why. Zekk found out why Jaina had paused the next second, and he put his head in his hands for a split second. This is so not fair. Hideous humanoid monsters were rampaging about outside the Falcon, with the Falcon's automatic turrets rampaging about and a lone blaster from the entry ramp keeping them at bay. Jaina shouted "Malinza, they're speed bumps! Get us in front of the ramp and we're out of here!" "Speed bumps it is, Jaina," Malinza said coolly and she floored it. The monsters barely had time to turn around and lumber in their direction before Malinza slammed into several of them full speed.The jolting nearly knocked Zekk from the vehicle and he barely held on. Jaina was thrown out of the vehicle but she recovered in mid-air and landed on her feet. Zekk turned around and saw Jaina already running as fast as she could, her lightsaber out. Zekk knew what he had to do then. He jumped out of the vehicle, and ignited his own lightsaber in mid-air. He made a downward slash as he landed, and cleaved one of the mutant-like creatures. The monster barely knew what had struck, and collapsed to the ground. "Jaina, I'll back you up, let's go!" "Zekk, I could've made it by myself!" "Well, I didn't want you to fight by yourself!" "Idiot!" Jaina rushed by, and Zekk followed. Some things never changed in their relationship, and relentless bickering was one of those things. At this point, Zekk was happy that Jaina was alive to argue. There wasn't many of them left by the time Zekk and Jaina caught up to everyone else. Malinza and Jagged were both exhausted, they could not use the Force to augment their abilities and thus were reaching the end of their limit. This had been an incredibly stressful time for everyone, and only the Jedi could keep going under that stress for any length. Wynssa was still holding the door, shooting at those things. "About time you guys got here!" "We weren't exactly kicking back and enjoying Corellian whiskey," Jaina said. "Malinza, you come with me into the cockpit! We're getting out of here! Jagged, get Valin inside! Zekk, cover us!" Jaina definitely loves me. That's why she gives me the hard jobs I may not come back from. Knowing there was no point to arguing this, Zekk rushed to the landspeeder, where Jagged was already helping Valin onto his feet. The girl Valin had brought with had realized her escape and was already running into the Falcon. Zekk stared at the force of monsters, demons, or whatever they were, and sighed. Damn it, this is gonna be tough. He spun his lightsaber in his hand and began to strike. *** Malinza began flipping switches and pressing buttons left and right. "You really want us to leave without Mirax?" she asked. Jaina was also flipping switches and such, hoping the launch sequence would happen faster. She couldn't expect Zekk to hold out for very long, not against a numerous force like that. "I don't see much of a choice. This is going to make Valin and Jysella hate me forever, but there's too many of those things out there, we can't fight them all. They're swift and Zekk can only keep them back for so long." Malinza stared at the controls glumly. "Yeah." "C'mon, get this thing ready to lift off. I'll help." She got on the com. "Zekk, get your butt back on board, we're leaving." A few seconds later, she heard the ramp go up. Zekk was very good at what he did, and Jaina was thankful for that. For a second, she had begun to wonder whether he was overextending himself. She thanked the Force that wasn't the case. It was already bad enough both Horn parents were gone. To lose Zekk too on top of that . . . "Get us up, Linz!" Jaina shouted. "We're going up, we're going up!" Malinza yelled back, and the Falcon jerked as it began hovering in the air, and the engines roared as Malinza forced the old Corellian transport to launch through the atmosphere at the highest possible speed. There, Jaina thought. We're out of there. But it wasn't long before she began thinking of a certain problem she was going to have to deal with. Valin and Jysella, she thought. How am I going to explain this to them? On why I had to abandon any hope of finding Mirax? I hope they forgive me someday. I really hope so. At this point, that was all she could hope for. *** He sighed. "They escaped." She smiled. "Don't worry about it at all." "Why not?" "Because they will sow the seeds for the GA's destruction. They are already carrying the seeds onboard, they just don't know it yet." "You're evil." "No, I am just out to create a transformation in the galaxy. Something far beyond what the Empire and the Vong tried to do. That's all." "I hope you accomplish this." "We will accomplish this, love," she corrected. "Those will can bear what the new galaxy represents . . . will be perfected. Those who can't . . . will be those craven things who nearly ruined the whole backup plan." "I despise those creatures." "So do I. They're failures in every respect other than the art of the hunt. Now come with me. We need to plan the next stage now that we are utilizing Plan B." "Got it." Most people make Plan A the ultimate plan, she thought. But that isn't the case here. I made Plan B with the assumption that Plan A would fail, which it did. Which is why I made Plan B the most destructive and transformative scenario. It plays right into my plans. She chuckled softly. All you need to do is cut against the grain. And suddenly, consistent heroes become a bunch of perpetual scapegoats. -----signature----- Padawan of princess_of_naboo E-married to the amazing padawanlost Member of Charon_Force The Incubus Cries: http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/30141520/p1/?18
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Jaya_Jag_Ben Registered: Jun '09	Date Posted: 6/24 8:04am Subject: The Incubus Cries (J/J/Z, Malinza, Alema, others, drama/suspense story) Chapter Three 6/24/09
	HOLY SISTER FRANCIS!!!!! WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE FORCE IS GOING ON!!!!!!! ZEKK: Force slap him for crying out loud!! WYN: JAINA: Yep. Stress'll do that. ARTOO!!!!!: that was a surprise! These fakes are giving me a headache. Are they part droid or something. They seem to be an awful lot like the Ssi-Ruu people machines. Shivers I'm scared out of my mind but I LOVE it. More soon. Please . JJB
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rebel_cheese Registered: Jul '06	Date Posted: 6/26 7:37pm Subject: The Incubus Cries (J/J/Z, Malinza, Alema, others, drama/suspense story) Chapter Three 6/24/09 - Date Edited: 6/26 7:38pm (1 edits total) Edited By: rebel_cheese
	Jaya_Jag_Ben posted: HOLY SISTER FRANCIS!!!!! WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE FORCE IS GOING ON!!!!!!! ZEKK: Force slap him for crying out loud!! WYN: JAINA: Yep. Stress'll do that. ARTOO!!!!!: that was a surprise! These fakes are giving me a headache. Are they part droid or something. They seem to be an awful lot like the Ssi-Ruu people machines. Shivers I'm scared out of my mind but I LOVE it. More soon. Please . JJB A lot of stuff is going on. It'll be out before long, though. This fic is being planned as a one-shot, no duologies or trilogies here. That's Zekk for you. Wynssa has been taking lessons from Jaina and Malinza in the art of the wit. Coupled with her Corellian luck and Chiss combat training she's a force to be reckoned with. Jaina . . . is definitely under stress. She'll be under stress for virtually the entire fic. I wanted to give Artoo some time to shine. There's nothing wrong with that. XD Part droid? Maybe. I'm not telling. I never thought of them as resembling the Ssi-ruuvi people droids but now that you mention it that's not a bad comparison. There will be another update on Wednesday and another one on the following Wednesday. Then the fic will go on a week-long hiatus so I can adjust to a new schedule. There won't be any evil cliffhangers to torment you during the two-week break between Chapters 5 and 6, I assure you. -----signature----- Padawan of princess_of_naboo E-married to the amazing padawanlost Member of Charon_Force The Incubus Cries: http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/30141520/p1/?18
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Raphire Registered: Dec '08	Date Posted: 6/28 3:25pm Subject: The Incubus Cries (J/J/Z, Malinza, Alema, Horns, others) Chapter Three 6/24/09
	Sorry I don't currantly have time to read this but I'm marking this stroy so I can later because it is officially AMAZING and really would prefer not to lose it. -----signature----- Smile and the world smiles with you. Laugh and the world finds you a straitjacket. I swallowed a bug. Two heads are better then one especially with guillotines! When surrendering I am to hand over the sword HILT first.
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Kailene Registered: Feb '09	Date Posted: 6/29 10:03am Subject: The Incubus Cries (J/J/Z, Malinza, Alema, Horns, others) Chapter Three 6/24/09
	Great great chapter!! Can't wait for wednesday, sooo sooo glad that you won't leave us hanging with a cliffie while changing schedules. What are you talking about.. they are already carrying the seeds aboard, they just don't know it yet you can't just leave us with that.!! Loving the banter between everyone, I think any more stress and Jaina's gonna snap. -----signature----- "Doesn't expecting the unexpected make the unexpected the expected?"
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