Chapter 8

Hailik General Hospital, Hailik (Capitol City of Tyreea), Tyreea, Expansion Region

Barriss Offee's boot heals tapped on the floors as she hurried through the hallways. Her short, half-cape billowed out behind her.

She came to a stop before the front desk of the hospital and leaned on the counter. "Hey, Coe," she said "Anyone else get brought in?"

The man looked up from his computer. "Three, Commander Offee. All with the same symptoms as the others."

Barriss chewed on her lip. "You're sure you've never seen anything like this before?"

Coe nodded. "This isn't a disease we commonly treat."

"I wonder where it came from," Barriss muttered.

Coe shrugged. "Maybe the fighting stirred up some kind of toxin we hadn't noticed before."

"Maybe," Barriss agreed. "Now if you'll excuse me, I should go find my master."

Luminara Unduli was up in the Intensive Care Unit looking over those sick with the strange illness. Barriss looked through the glass doors to the individual rooms as she hurried along the hallway. In one room the woman-Sarrin Jenarian-who'd been questioned by Master Luminara and Master Kenobi sat comforting her husband, a breath mask strapped over her face. Her two children sat on the bed breath masks slightly too large on their little faces.

In the next room, a little blonde girl sat with her ill grandmother. The little girl was holding the old woman's hand and crying softly, tears running down her mask. A teenage girl was also in the room, she came over and put a hand on the girl's shoulder.

Barriss would have liked to comfort them, but she couldn't. Her master would need her. She'd reached the room where her master's presence was. She reached to her belt and pulled out the breath mask she'd been given by the hospital staff. She pulled it on and entered the room.

Master Luminara, Master Kenobi, Commander Cody and Commander Gree were already in the room wearing masks and looking at the patient in the bed. Barriss curtsied to the Jedi Masters then gasped as she realized who the person in the bed was.

"Is that a clone?" she asked leaning forward.

Master Luminara nodded. "A member of the 212th. There are several more, but this is the worst one."

Barriss stared down at the sick clone. "I thought that only the civilians were getting sick." she said.

"That's what we thought, too," Master Kenobi answered. "But it appears we were wrong."

"What are we going to do?" she asked.

"We will stay here with the 41st," Master Luminara said. "Master Kenobi has to return to Coruscant. He's already spent enough time here."

"Are you leaving now, Master Kenobi?" Barriss asked. She wanted to ask if that was wise now that some of his men were sick, but the Masters had probably already thought of that.

"Yes," Master Kenobi said. "Cody and I have to get to a gunship to go up to the Negotiator in the next few minutes."

"I'll walk with you, if you like," Barriss offered.

Master Kenobi smiled through the breath mask. "That's good of you, Barriss. I would much enjoy it."

Removing their breath masks, Barriss, Master Kenobi and Commander Cody left the hospital. The air of Tyreea was muggy and warm. Barriss made a face, half wishing she wore clothes like Ahsoka did.

"This disease worries me," Master Kenobi said. "I can't figure what it's from and the Tyreeans know nothing about it."

Barriss glanced over her shoulder, Cody had fallen back and was talking to someone over his helmet comm. "It worries me too," she admitted. "But it has to be coming from somewhere. If we could figure out from where we could start containing it."

Master Kenobi nodded in agreement.

They were passing the University. A crowd of people were gathering water from the fountain in the courtyard. Master Kenobi watched them. "The other day," he said, "before the 501st returned to Coruscant, Anakin and I were walking in that courtyard and Anakin thought he felt danger. I couldn't feel anything and we could never pin down what Anakin felt."

Barriss frowned at the courtyard. "That's strange."

Master Kenobi nodded. "It is. With the exception of maybe Master Yoda, Anakin is the most sensitive Jedi I've ever met, normally he can pinpoint the cause of the things he feels. At least, the ones he mentions."

They kept walking, but Barriss' mind stayed in the courtyard trying to reason out what Anakin Skywalker might have been feeling.

After Master Kenobi and Cody were on their gunship, Barriss headed back to the hospital. She'd meant to take a different way back but her feet took her back to the University courtyard and the strange mystery of Anakin Skywalker's Phantom Danger Sense.

She shrugged and entered the courtyard. I can stay for a few minutes, Master Luminara won't miss me.

The instant she stepped into the courtyard she was hit by an elusive but persistent danger sense. She blinked. I thought Master Kenobi couldn't feel anything when he was here. How could he miss this?

She looked around the courtyard for danger but didn't see anything.

Something has to be here. She thought. I know I'm not feeling things.

She closed her eyes and called the Force around her. Following its channels she walked slowly across the courtyard. People jostled her but she didn't open her eyes.

Then her foot struck something hard. She opened her eyes to see that the Force had led her to the fountain. She frowned, wondering if she should walk around it, but the Force seemed to pointing to the fountain. Trying to think, she dipped her hands into the water to get a drink.

The instant her fingers touched the clear liquid a shock like lightning shot through her body. She jumped back and wiped her hands on her skirt, looking around to see if anyone else was experiencing this, but the civilians were just drinking peacefully. She reached out and touched the water again and got the same results.

The pieces fell in place. Suddenly, everything made since.

"The water," She breathed. "It's in the water."

Well, here's chapter 8. I really have no excuse as to why its been so long since you got your last update. I've been busy, but unlike the rest of my stuff I'm ahead of where I'm posting in this story. From now on, I'll try to keep updates on this steady until you catch up with me and the people on wattpad.

For those of you who are wondering why Barriss can pinpoint the danger sense when Anakin couldn't and Obi-Wan couldn't even feel it; that will start to make sense as you learn more about the nature of the virus. I'm also planning to delve a little into the reasons that Barriss goes from proper padawan to raging terrorist between season 2 and season 5 later in this story.

Next Chap: Anakin, Ahsoka and the 501st end up in an unexpected place and Sheeri and Zoron finish their experiments. (This one will be out much sooner, I promise)

Emjen