My timeline is all sorts of screwed up at this point. Whatever.
Shaak was alerted of a strange ship coming out of hyperspace almost immediately. She wasn't sure why, since she dealt purely with the clones, until Nala Se told her the pilot had requested her presence.
She had recovered as quickly as Vokara had promised, but Jace had gotten weaker. He kept breathing, just as stubborn as his father, but he was losing strength. The tests had come back positive for several things, including severe asthma. After an MRI Vokara confessed she wasn't completely sure Jace was strong enough for, she learned that Jace had a severe heart defect, causing the organ to grow strangely and making it very hard to pump blood through the chambers. He needed heart surgery as soon as possible, but Vokara wasn't the kind of specialist he needed.
Vokara had contacted someone she knew of that might be able to help. Hopefully, this was them.
The ship was like nothing she had ever seen before. It was sleek silver, a crest depicting a bird rising on an updraft over a mountain painted on either side of the hull. Two vertical wings on either side of the stern swooped upwards, stylized after bird's wings. It wasn't a big ship, large enough for the cockpit, and maybe two interior rooms, with a small cargo bay underneath. Maximum of four people, pilot included.
A door slid seamlessly out of the side, a set of stairs gliding out from under it, forming as a woman stepped down them. She was clearly a Togruta even before she pushed her hood back. She was around Shaak's age, though younger by about five or six years. Her face was smoother, with smile lines around her eyes and mouth. Her headdress had no akul teeth, instead made of several leaves moulded in gold and silver cascading down either side from a carved garnet set in the middle of her forehead. Three beaded chains, similar to the ones Shaak wore on hers, dangled from it. Three children, a boy and twin girls.
Her cloak, as well as the rest of her clothing, was handmade of leather and homespun cloth. It was more covering than most traditional Togruti clothes, but Kamino was also much colder than Shili. Her dress had no sleeves, a beaded neckline, and fell to mid-calf. She carried a bag over one shoulder, wear obvious in the leather where it rubbed against her shoulder and around the clasp.
"Master Ti, I presume?" Her voice was warm and calm, though not without an accent. It wasn't as pronounced as some, but still there. "My name is Dr. Beryl Tano. I received word from Master Vokara Che that you required my assistance."
"Yes. Might I assume you are the paediatric specialist she told me of?"
"I am. I specialise in neonatal surgery, though I often operate on older children. I don't often have a cardiac patient, though they make up the majority of my infant patients. Heart defects are comparatively rare among Togruta."
"Thank you for getting here so quickly. Vokara did her best, but he's not doing well." Shaak started walking and Beryl followed her.
"How old is my patient?"
"Jace is two weeks old."
"I was told he is a hybrid. Human and Togruta?"
"Yes."
"I see. You likely weren't told, but Jango Fett was a carrier for a congenital heart condition. It didn't affect him and doesn't affect his clones, but it can be expressed in any children. The Kaminoans were cautioned to edit out this gene just in case, but it seems they did not."
"I was not told."
"I see. That is likely one of the root causes. I am hesitant to operate on a baby that small, but I may have no choice."
Shaak wasn't sure if she should breach the topic, but she did anyway. "Are you by chance related to an Eyihn Tano?"
Beryl's brow furrowed briefly before quickly smoothing out again. "She is my daughter."
Shaak looked at her in surprise. "She is?"
"Yes. The elder of my twins."
"So you're Ahsoka's mother as well."
"I am." Her expression tightened. Shaak glanced back up at the strings of beads, noting one small bead toward the top of the leftmost string. It represented a dead or enslaved child.
The neonatal unit wasn't much farther, preventing the conversation from becoming awkward. As soon as they stepped into the room, Shaak noticed several Kaminoan scientists she didn't recognize. But what made her heart rate jump was how much Jace was struggling to breathe.
Before she could move. Beryl had nearly cleared the room, yelling at all of them in a mix of Basic and Togruti. She adjusted something on the monitors and almost immediately Jace was breathing easier.
"What did they do?" The incubator was enclosed, so Shaak had to settle for resting her hand on it. "Is he okay?"
"He is now. I don't speak Kaminoan, but it seems they turned off his oxygen. I can hardly fathom why."
Shaak growled. The very day Vokara leaves, they pull something. "The moment I leave him in their care for five minutes. What do they think they're doing."
Beryl frowned, still working at the computers. "There are orders in the system for his euthanasia. I've deleted those. Searching for scans and test results at the moment."
Shaak clenched her teeth, trying her hardest to keep herself under control. Keep breathing, in and out, don't go murder anyone, stay calm, stay calm, stay calm, stay-
"Shaak. He's okay now. I am going to make sure he stays that way."
Almost instantly she relaxed. Maybe it was the tone, so similar to her last master whenever she calmed Shaak's easily ruffled temper, or maybe it was the reassurance from someone who could fulfil what they said. "How soon can you perform the surgery?"
"Tomorrow, likely. I need time to inspect the OR, go over his MRIs and discuss with Vokara. And my body is still accustomed to Shili time, where it is currently just after midnight. Give me time to sleep and look over everything. Don't worry about housing me. I can stay on my ship as needed, though until, you said his name was Jace?"
"Yes."
"It's a good name. Until Jace is home with you. I will sleep in here, just in case."
"Thank you, for taking care of him." Shaak slumped into a chair, the sharp adrenaline hit and drop making her feel the exhaustion of the last month. "What do you need?"
"Nothing at the moment. I have access to his MRIs and other data. I don't need much."
"Are you sure? No food or anything?"
"I will be fine. I am not confident there is much I can eat and I don't want to take your food."
"It's no problem if you need it. Just let me know.
"Of course. Who am I allowed to speak with about Jace's care?"
"Myself and Commander Colt of Rancor Battalion. We are his parents. Pots is Rancor's medic. He may not help much, but he is trustworthy. Vokara. None of the Kaminoans for now. I don't know who issued the euthanasia order," she growled under her breath and she could have sworn she heard Beryl echo it, "but until then don't tell them anything. I do not consider any of them trustworthy in the first place, but now I wouldn't even let them in the room."
"Understood. I will not let them in. Is there anyone else I should not allow access?"
"I don't want a lot of people in here. I don't know who the Kaminoans might send as proxies. I trust my battalion. If they're Rancor, it's probably safe to let them in. But I don't know how compromised his immune system is, so I would like to keep it limited."
"I can test for autoimmune disorders if you would like. His immune system is going to be weak, being this premature, but I don't think he is otherwise compromised. But I can test if you would like. He's not at any higher risk for them than any other child. Jace would actually be lower risk compared to other children, thanks partly to the clone DNA. I heavily disagree with their ethics, but I cannot disregard the Kaminoan's expertise in the field of genetics."
Shaak sighed. "If you think it necessary, run the tests. I leave him in your care."
[line break]
One night of good sleep later, Shaak was annoyed and also a little amused at the number of missed calls, angry messages, and yelled voicemails left by various Kaminoans who were trying to 'see to Jace's care' and were thrown out by an angry Togruta. They demanded to know what was going on. Shaak deleted most of the messages after reading them and ignored the voicemails.
She did note a message from Beryl about a Kaminoan scientist who was not on the Fett clone project who had data on potential long-term problems with the clone's DNA. Her name was Dr. Tai Pe and she had first requested to meet with Shaak to hand over her data and perhaps assist Beryl.
Shaak did recognize the name. Dr. Pe has been removed from the cloning project within months of it starting and Nala Se had told her so. The reasons she gave were that Tai Pe had become emotionally compromised and could no longer perform her duties.
Maybe it was naive of her, but she decided to give Tai Pe a chance. Tell her I am willing to meet with her when she arrives.
"You okay?" Colt wrapped his arms around her waist, nuzzling into her shoulder between her lekku.
"I'm fine. Did you meet Dr Beryl Tano? She is a pediatric specialist who should be able to give Jace the surgery he needs."
"I dropped in to check on him yesterday. Took a bit of convincing for her to believe I was actually who I said I was. Jace looked so much better. He's perking up."
"Oh really? I was there yesterday around noon, but I've been busy since."
"I stopped by after drills. Could've sworn the little guy was getting ready to open his eyes and reintroduce himself to the world."
"That's incredible. Beryl said she should be able to operate today. She just needed to look over all her equipment, since she's not working in her usual OR."
"Okay. I have cadet inspections and testing all day. If you can, could you stop by? We're having trouble with a squad that can't keep it together."
"I'll see if I have time. Nala Se isn't happy that she has been forbidden access to Jace, so she is keeping me away from him with as many meetings and inspections as she can find reason for. Unfortunately, as per our contract, I have to go unless I can prove it's a waste of time."
Colt kissed the side of her montral. "If you can't get away, I'll delegate my stuff to Blitz and Havoc and stay with Jace today. Just say the word and I'll be there with him."
"Thank you."
Nala Se kept her busy with useless inspections, meeting about information she didn't care about, and general nonsense that was just important enough to fall under her contract. Shaak was taciturn, ignoring any time the subject tried to turn to Jace or anything to do with him. She did make it clear that she was fully within her rights to bring in a foreign doctor for her personal care and for that doctor to check the tools she would be using.
"You are correct, you may bring in a specialist for your own care, but the infant in question is the child of our clone, making him our legal property to terminate if we please."
Shaak's stomach lurched and her lekku paled. For a moment she was too concerned with trying not to puke on the hallway to say anything, but once that moment passed, she rounded on Nala Se, too furious to attempt containing it. "You forget, he is my son too. And if you touch him, you hurt him in any way, you send anyone to hurt him, they will never find your body. You do anything to Colt, they will never find your body."
"Are you threatening me, Master Ti?"
"I am promising you. You hurt my family, you even think about hurting my family, I will find you, and I will kill you, and dump your body in the ocean where no one will ever find it." She turned on her heel and stormed in the direction of Jace's room.
Colt caught her before she could throw the door open, wrapping her in his arms, murmuring reassurances against her montral, rocking her gently until she relaxed against him. "What's got into you, cyare? What's wrong?"
"Jace is technically Kaminoan property."
He sighed, holding her as close as he could without squishing her lekku. "That's upsetting, but I think there's more going on."
"Nala Se admitted to ordering Jace killed. And she might try again. I'm scared."
"Okay." His own breaths were getting shaky, but as always, he took care of her first. "That's not going to happen. The citizenship bill is going to go through and once it does, she can't do anything to him without our permission. He is going to be okay."
"Colt, are you okay?" She reached up to gently brush away the tears gathering at the corner of his eye. "It's okay to cry if you need to."
He sniffled. "I'm fine. Finished up all my drills for today. Jace is in surgery now. Dr Tano was confident she could do what she needed to do."
"Why don't we go home then? Come on. We both need some time alone. I should probably meditate."
"Could I meditate with you?" When she raised a brow, he elaborated. "It just looks so peaceful. I think I need that right now."
"Of course."
[line break]
Colt found himself lying awake, staring at the ceiling. Shaak was asleep next to him, curled on her side with one hand tucked around his arm, so that if he got up it would wake her.
He kept glancing at his comm, waiting for it to ping to say Jace was out of surgery. Checking it again wouldn't do anything but disappoint him, so he was lying awake just waiting for the message.
He always hated waiting. Knowing something horrible was just around the corner and all he could do was sit and wait and hope.
Realistically, he knew Jace's chances were grim. The doctor described exactly what was wrong with Jace's heart and it wasn't pretty. One of the chambers was the proper size for his age, two had barely grown, meaning there wasn't any room to pump blood, and one of them was far too large, making his heart look strange on the MRI and putting too much pressure on the membrane around the heart, causing even more strain on the muscles. There were also two small holes in the walls of his heart.
Beryl had said that she could probably make the organ operational. She hoped that she could also provide ways from the two chambers that likely wouldn't grow naturally to expand in time with the rest of him to help prevent future heart surgeries. But if that didn't work, she would be able to artificially expand his heart as needed later in life.
Assuming he lived long enough to need it.
"Colt?" Shaak lifted her head off her pillow, lines from the wrinkles in the fabric pressed into her lek. "Wha's wrong? Your 'motions 're wakin' me up."
"'M sorry. Go back to sleep."
"Not til you tell me wha's wrong." She leaned her head on his arm and sighed.
"You know, if I wait long enough, you'll just fall asleep."
"Nuh uh." Her eyes were already closed again.
"Yes you are."
"N-" she yawned, "Not sleepy."
"Goodnight."
She pinched herself in the lek and her whole body jerked. "That hurt. I think I regret that. But I'm awake now. What's wrong?"
He sighed. "I'm just worried about Jace. Not that I don't trust the people working on him, but…even if the surgery is successful, he still won't be a normal kid. He's still gonna have asthma. He's still gonna have heart problems. And we don't know if he'll develop other complications down the line."
"I know. I worry about him too. I know he's trying to live. He is fighting as hard as he can but there might be nothing we can do. I…I wish you could feel him in the Force like I can. It's incredible. He's so bright and so strong. I wish he could have a healthy body."
"Everyone is going to do their best to make sure that happens."
"I know. That's not what I meant."
He looked confused.
"I'm trying to show that I understand by saying I feel the same way."
"Oh. I thought you were asking for reassurance."
"I'm sorry. I wasn't. Is that what you were looking for?"
Colt nodded, leaning his head against hers.
"Okay. I'm sorry I wasn't paying better attention." Shaak pulled herself over into his arms, reaching up to gently cradle his head against her lek and shoulder. He sighed, nuzzling the side of her neck as she started running her fingers through his hair. "Our son is going to be just fine. He's strong, like you. He's got a fighter for a father and we both know he has that spirit. Even if it is impossible for him to be alive, it doesn't matter. He will make it."
Colt fell asleep in her arms, completely missing the message.
[line break]
He was going to be okay.
Jace was still tiny. His weight had dipped down even more after birth, but with his new heart, this little fighter just might make it.
Vokara had to do some of the post-op checkups since Beryl had to leave. She certainly didn't mind, this little bugger was fast becoming her favourite patient. He was slowly starting to gain weight, opening his eyes and even occasionally smiling.
She knew that newborn smiles were almost always because of gas, but she took it as a win.
It was the first time she had seen him since his surgery. He was clearly much improved. Vokara didn't know Beryl very well, but she did undeniably good work.
She closed her eyes, reaching out with the Force to examine the surgery site. So far, everything was healing up just as intended. Incision had closed just fine, the newly expanded chambers were able to pump blood now, and his little lungs didn't seem any worse for wear after the anaesthesia.
She was about to withdraw and continue the exam when something twinkled that she'd almost missed.
Force glitter.
That was the metaphor she used to explain it to people who couldn't Force-heal, but it really did look like glitter in her mind's eye. Tiny particulate that clustered around a healed wound with a distinct sheen that changed depending on who did the work.
She recognized this sheen.
It had been everywhere in Anakin Skywalker when she examined him after the botched kidnapping investigation. She may not have recognized it then, but she recognized it now.
Whoever had healed Skywalker of his potentially fatal burns had also extended their talent to repairing Jace's malformed heart.
And there had only been one organic being in that operating room.
hehehehehehehehe