Hours of Midnight
Disclaimer--I do not own Star Wars or any of the characters except for my own.
Author's Note--Yeah, the title (located after the second author's note) is rather corny, but you can't just jump from darkfall to midnight without something happening in between. And my spell checker doesn't exsist, so if there are misspells (and there will be) just ignore them.
And a great big huge thanks to all those people who have taken the time to review!
And mayhaps I went a little overboard with the first and fourth chapters, but there is a lot worse than this out there. :)
Sorry.
A/N/2--Sensless blather! Yeah!
Where is Maris's body you ask? Hahaha! Wait and see!
And there will be no more Koontz quotes on grounds that I lost the paper that they were all on. If I can find it again, I'll repost with them included.
And no, Obi-Wan is not in this story.
Yes, I know it's rather gross and doesn't follow known character patterns.
And by God there WILL be run-ons and fragments. Pity my english teacher. She tried.
I like reviews.
And Mountain Dew.
This story scares me.
Which is damn bad if I wrote it, I like humor better. It's a great defensive weapon.
And do you think I should change the rating of this fic? Maybe an R?
I'm done. ~Grin.~
For now.
Chapter Five--Midnight's Coming
LIGHTS! Mace bellowed into his head-set, snatching at the Force in the same instant Qui-Gon snapped forward, speed inhuman, to the aid of the fallen blond.
The beastly chittering reached a new high when the emerald glowing lightsaber whipped downward, missing a struggling Dram by a hair and shearing through the overlapping armored scales of the insectile monster.
Screaming now, the scorpion-like...thing....scrambled back, its mandibles clicking in the darkness as it dragged its shattered body through the shadows cast by the lightsabers.
Qui-Gon tried to follow its crippled form, but not even the Force would let him know where the creature was hiding right then--and following it blindly would just get him killed. He shot a quick glance at Mace, who was rolling Dram over, checking the extent of his injuries before helping him stand.
"Yix?" the dark skinned Knight asked, jerking his head in the general direction. Qui-Gon shook his head helplessly. They couldn't take them both, but.......
Peire. Jinn said again into his head-set, barely keeping from gritting his teeth as the chittering of the wounded beast was joined by a second, then a third. Now would be good.
The wretched chorus had been joined by a forth, fifth and soon Qui-Gon lost count of the screeching and scrabbling as he kept guard while the trio retreated--Mace snatching up Dram's fallen weapon before they abandoned the infested pit--to the cargo bay entry way before it was cut off.
"Yix......" Dram hissed through bared teeth, one hand clutching at his shoulder.
Qui-Gon shook his head, no chance of going back for the body, if there was anything left, not now. The scuttling ping of the insectile feet was fast approaching their way as they fled to the main hall.
Nothing on the Force suggested that there was anything back in the cargo bay alive--
--a spidery shape launched itself from the shadows behind them, shrieking mindlessly. Qui-Gon pivoted and slashed on pure instict, the green blade slicing through, sizzling on contact with the jelly-like innards of the thing. (gross? hehe. There is a reason for the squishyness.) It hit the floor with a wet, squishing noise, almost as if it had dissolved on death.
No time to ponder that, the main hall was in sight and to top it all off, Dram had passed out. Mace hauled the blond along swiftly, snarling something about a certain Illian who needed to diet or start thinking about the people who had to drag him through man-eating-critter-infested ghost ships before he did something stupid like turn his back on something like the things following them.
Or something to that affect.
The hellish choir seemed closer, a host from the darkness desending upon their circle of feeble light.
They reached the main hall, and it seemed to be a hundred miles to the becon of light at the end that denoted the Wake Angel.
"I say we give them Dram's socks." Mace growled and picked up speed as the passage became less obstructive without all the corners. The blond twitched but did not awaken.
"Give them a fighting chance." Qui-Gon retorted and spun, swinging his weapon in a half-circle in the hall they were putting behind them, illuminating the front legs of yet another monstrosity who thought to sneak through. It screeched and leapt at him at the same time as a second beast from the wall came at Mace. The Knight unceramoniously dropped his friend and brought his lightsaber up all in a blink. The creature died in a instant while the floor hugging beast that came at Qui-Gon broke off and scuttled back into the darkness, joining the dozens of shiney black eyes that emerged form the cargo bay.
"I love you too Mace." came Dram's sarcastic remark. Awakened from the rude jolt he recieved, he stood somewhat painfully and backed away closer to the Wake Angel.
Mace was too busy retreating with Qui-Gon to answer, and shoulder to shoulder, the three Knights backed up, their flashing blades keeping whatever foolish monster that attacked at bay.
Dram felt a tugging on his hair just as a sizzling bolt from a heavy blaster ripped through the air right beside his head. The blond Jedi howled something in Illian and fell backwards, landing on his shoulder and setting up a shouting rant that the chittering in the darkness halted for a blessid moment as if amazed that a mere human knew such hellish words.
Qui-Gon risked a look back and a glimmer of hope wormed its way into his mind at the sight of a disheveled Jayce striding towards them, a shoulder mounted blaster gun leading the way.
"Move!" she barked and began to fire again, picking off any shapes that thought to attack once Dram had stopped screaming and had passed out again.
Qui-Gon hauled the blond backwards while Mace smacked back any monster that Jayce missed, until they had managed to fall even with the blaster weilding spacer.
Opening the airlock. Peire's even toned voice filtered in through their comms.
"Fall back." Jayce ordered and fired point blank into the face of a beast who had leapt at the retreating group.
"Come on!" Qui-Gon snapped, trying to pull her back with them.
"I hate spiders." the spacer returned and switched to the blasters secondary mode (for those who have played Perfect Dark, think the SuperDragon.)
The airlock slid open with a startling velocity (don't those doors in Star Wars bother anyone else? Damn things are FAST) and Mace all but slung Jani through before diving behind him as Jayce pulled back a latch on her weapon and fired a flash grenade into the seething darkness hording towards them.
Qui-Gon and the auburn haired spacer were flung backwards when the shock wave slammed back into them, right into Dram.
"SHUT THE DOORS!" Mace bellowed and with a Force aided speed, the airlock doors clicked shut, leaving only the pounding of the unknown on the other side.
Jerit and the other crew, along with Peire, helped them to their feet hastily, afraid that whatever was pounding on the other side of the doors would be getting through at any moment.
"Yix! Where's Yix....?" the captain demanded. Qui-Gon shook his head. "We couldn't go back....I'm truly sorry."
Dram stood painfully. "Detatch us from that thing." he snapped to Haris and leaned heavily against the closest wall. "There's nothing we could do."
"You got yourselves out." Jerit snarled in accusation, prompting Dram to come up off the wall and start towards the spacer. "You listen here you little son of a--"
"Dram." Qui-Gon barked sharply and with a glowering look of reprimand, he faced the angry captain. "We really need to detatch the Wake Angel until we find out what's on that ship...."
"My dead crewman." Jerit growled. The pounding on the airlock faded as suddenly as it had started. All looked at aprehensivily.
"Yeah," Mace said. "That was a good thing."
Qui-Gon looked at him darkly, bad enough for Dram to be stomping on the toes of everyone else.
"Maybe they went away." Jayce suggested hopefully, but level another blaster at the door.
Silence so long that it seemed forever thinned and broke with the sudden scream of "HELP! LET ME IN!!"
"The hell--?" Haris breathed and rushed to the tiny window that showed the darkness of the Twilight Kiss. He turned back, confusion and hope warring on his face.
"It's Yix!" he shouted and reached for the controls to open the door. Dram grabbed his hand tightly before they could reach it.
"That door doesn't open."
"That's my crewmate!" Haris argued. The pounding of footsteps replaced those of the beatings on the door as the thought dead crewmen came towards the airlock, screaming for them to open it.
"It doesn't open." the Illian Jedi growled thickly and shoved the others hand away.
"I'm the captain of this ship and I say--" Jerit began.
"There is nothing alive on that ship but Death itself." Peire put-in calmly. Dram still wanted to choke him anyway.
"He's coming!" came Yix's terrified scream and suddenly fists began beating on the airlock. "Somebody help!"
"Get out of the way Jedi." Jerit ordered, shoving Dram away from the controls. The hot-tempered Knight shoved back.
"You're not opening that door."
"OUT OF THE WAY!" Jerit shouted and slammed the blond on his wounded shoulder, shoving the yelling Knight away and smashing on the controls even as Qui-Gon rushed to stop him--
--And the doors opened.
A/N: Man, I hate cliffhangers, don't you? hehe.
Disclaimer--I do not own Star Wars or any of the characters except for my own.
Author's Note--Yeah, the title (located after the second author's note) is rather corny, but you can't just jump from darkfall to midnight without something happening in between. And my spell checker doesn't exsist, so if there are misspells (and there will be) just ignore them.
And a great big huge thanks to all those people who have taken the time to review!
And mayhaps I went a little overboard with the first and fourth chapters, but there is a lot worse than this out there. :)
Sorry.
A/N/2--Sensless blather! Yeah!
Where is Maris's body you ask? Hahaha! Wait and see!
And there will be no more Koontz quotes on grounds that I lost the paper that they were all on. If I can find it again, I'll repost with them included.
And no, Obi-Wan is not in this story.
Yes, I know it's rather gross and doesn't follow known character patterns.
And by God there WILL be run-ons and fragments. Pity my english teacher. She tried.
I like reviews.
And Mountain Dew.
This story scares me.
Which is damn bad if I wrote it, I like humor better. It's a great defensive weapon.
And do you think I should change the rating of this fic? Maybe an R?
I'm done. ~Grin.~
For now.
Chapter Five--Midnight's Coming
LIGHTS! Mace bellowed into his head-set, snatching at the Force in the same instant Qui-Gon snapped forward, speed inhuman, to the aid of the fallen blond.
The beastly chittering reached a new high when the emerald glowing lightsaber whipped downward, missing a struggling Dram by a hair and shearing through the overlapping armored scales of the insectile monster.
Screaming now, the scorpion-like...thing....scrambled back, its mandibles clicking in the darkness as it dragged its shattered body through the shadows cast by the lightsabers.
Qui-Gon tried to follow its crippled form, but not even the Force would let him know where the creature was hiding right then--and following it blindly would just get him killed. He shot a quick glance at Mace, who was rolling Dram over, checking the extent of his injuries before helping him stand.
"Yix?" the dark skinned Knight asked, jerking his head in the general direction. Qui-Gon shook his head helplessly. They couldn't take them both, but.......
Peire. Jinn said again into his head-set, barely keeping from gritting his teeth as the chittering of the wounded beast was joined by a second, then a third. Now would be good.
The wretched chorus had been joined by a forth, fifth and soon Qui-Gon lost count of the screeching and scrabbling as he kept guard while the trio retreated--Mace snatching up Dram's fallen weapon before they abandoned the infested pit--to the cargo bay entry way before it was cut off.
"Yix......" Dram hissed through bared teeth, one hand clutching at his shoulder.
Qui-Gon shook his head, no chance of going back for the body, if there was anything left, not now. The scuttling ping of the insectile feet was fast approaching their way as they fled to the main hall.
Nothing on the Force suggested that there was anything back in the cargo bay alive--
--a spidery shape launched itself from the shadows behind them, shrieking mindlessly. Qui-Gon pivoted and slashed on pure instict, the green blade slicing through, sizzling on contact with the jelly-like innards of the thing. (gross? hehe. There is a reason for the squishyness.) It hit the floor with a wet, squishing noise, almost as if it had dissolved on death.
No time to ponder that, the main hall was in sight and to top it all off, Dram had passed out. Mace hauled the blond along swiftly, snarling something about a certain Illian who needed to diet or start thinking about the people who had to drag him through man-eating-critter-infested ghost ships before he did something stupid like turn his back on something like the things following them.
Or something to that affect.
The hellish choir seemed closer, a host from the darkness desending upon their circle of feeble light.
They reached the main hall, and it seemed to be a hundred miles to the becon of light at the end that denoted the Wake Angel.
"I say we give them Dram's socks." Mace growled and picked up speed as the passage became less obstructive without all the corners. The blond twitched but did not awaken.
"Give them a fighting chance." Qui-Gon retorted and spun, swinging his weapon in a half-circle in the hall they were putting behind them, illuminating the front legs of yet another monstrosity who thought to sneak through. It screeched and leapt at him at the same time as a second beast from the wall came at Mace. The Knight unceramoniously dropped his friend and brought his lightsaber up all in a blink. The creature died in a instant while the floor hugging beast that came at Qui-Gon broke off and scuttled back into the darkness, joining the dozens of shiney black eyes that emerged form the cargo bay.
"I love you too Mace." came Dram's sarcastic remark. Awakened from the rude jolt he recieved, he stood somewhat painfully and backed away closer to the Wake Angel.
Mace was too busy retreating with Qui-Gon to answer, and shoulder to shoulder, the three Knights backed up, their flashing blades keeping whatever foolish monster that attacked at bay.
Dram felt a tugging on his hair just as a sizzling bolt from a heavy blaster ripped through the air right beside his head. The blond Jedi howled something in Illian and fell backwards, landing on his shoulder and setting up a shouting rant that the chittering in the darkness halted for a blessid moment as if amazed that a mere human knew such hellish words.
Qui-Gon risked a look back and a glimmer of hope wormed its way into his mind at the sight of a disheveled Jayce striding towards them, a shoulder mounted blaster gun leading the way.
"Move!" she barked and began to fire again, picking off any shapes that thought to attack once Dram had stopped screaming and had passed out again.
Qui-Gon hauled the blond backwards while Mace smacked back any monster that Jayce missed, until they had managed to fall even with the blaster weilding spacer.
Opening the airlock. Peire's even toned voice filtered in through their comms.
"Fall back." Jayce ordered and fired point blank into the face of a beast who had leapt at the retreating group.
"Come on!" Qui-Gon snapped, trying to pull her back with them.
"I hate spiders." the spacer returned and switched to the blasters secondary mode (for those who have played Perfect Dark, think the SuperDragon.)
The airlock slid open with a startling velocity (don't those doors in Star Wars bother anyone else? Damn things are FAST) and Mace all but slung Jani through before diving behind him as Jayce pulled back a latch on her weapon and fired a flash grenade into the seething darkness hording towards them.
Qui-Gon and the auburn haired spacer were flung backwards when the shock wave slammed back into them, right into Dram.
"SHUT THE DOORS!" Mace bellowed and with a Force aided speed, the airlock doors clicked shut, leaving only the pounding of the unknown on the other side.
Jerit and the other crew, along with Peire, helped them to their feet hastily, afraid that whatever was pounding on the other side of the doors would be getting through at any moment.
"Yix! Where's Yix....?" the captain demanded. Qui-Gon shook his head. "We couldn't go back....I'm truly sorry."
Dram stood painfully. "Detatch us from that thing." he snapped to Haris and leaned heavily against the closest wall. "There's nothing we could do."
"You got yourselves out." Jerit snarled in accusation, prompting Dram to come up off the wall and start towards the spacer. "You listen here you little son of a--"
"Dram." Qui-Gon barked sharply and with a glowering look of reprimand, he faced the angry captain. "We really need to detatch the Wake Angel until we find out what's on that ship...."
"My dead crewman." Jerit growled. The pounding on the airlock faded as suddenly as it had started. All looked at aprehensivily.
"Yeah," Mace said. "That was a good thing."
Qui-Gon looked at him darkly, bad enough for Dram to be stomping on the toes of everyone else.
"Maybe they went away." Jayce suggested hopefully, but level another blaster at the door.
Silence so long that it seemed forever thinned and broke with the sudden scream of "HELP! LET ME IN!!"
"The hell--?" Haris breathed and rushed to the tiny window that showed the darkness of the Twilight Kiss. He turned back, confusion and hope warring on his face.
"It's Yix!" he shouted and reached for the controls to open the door. Dram grabbed his hand tightly before they could reach it.
"That door doesn't open."
"That's my crewmate!" Haris argued. The pounding of footsteps replaced those of the beatings on the door as the thought dead crewmen came towards the airlock, screaming for them to open it.
"It doesn't open." the Illian Jedi growled thickly and shoved the others hand away.
"I'm the captain of this ship and I say--" Jerit began.
"There is nothing alive on that ship but Death itself." Peire put-in calmly. Dram still wanted to choke him anyway.
"He's coming!" came Yix's terrified scream and suddenly fists began beating on the airlock. "Somebody help!"
"Get out of the way Jedi." Jerit ordered, shoving Dram away from the controls. The hot-tempered Knight shoved back.
"You're not opening that door."
"OUT OF THE WAY!" Jerit shouted and slammed the blond on his wounded shoulder, shoving the yelling Knight away and smashing on the controls even as Qui-Gon rushed to stop him--
--And the doors opened.
A/N: Man, I hate cliffhangers, don't you? hehe.