CHAPTER THIRTEEN: ASSUMPTIONS AND PRESSUMPTIONS

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:  ASSUMPTIONS AND PRESUMPTIONS

          Pacing inside his cell and worried out of his mind, Jacen wondered for the millionth time where they had taken her.  He hadn't a clue how long she had been gone, but he had regained consciousness hours ago to an empty room.

          It made him sick to his stomach to about what they might be doing to Tenal Ka.  He hated to think of what he would be capable of if something happened to her.

          He had tried several times to communicate with her through the force, but would only get the briefest response back, as if she were fighting to stay conscious.

          When pacing didn't work to help calm him, he had started pounding on the door, screaming for someone to tell him where Tenal Ka was.  Naturally, no one had answered him, and he had eventually given up on that.  He tried a few Jedi calming techniques, but could not calm himself enough to make them work.

          He sat in a corner on one side of the room, staying as far away from the blue, gooey substance that had attacked him as possible.

          When he had woken up, the blue jelly was still stuck to his back but was no longer living.  With great pleasure, he had peeled it off of himself.  Some of his nerves were still tingling from the experience, and his entire body ached when he moved but he was not permanently damaged, at least he hoped not.

          The jelly had to have been some kind of weapon the Yuuzhan Vong would use to temporarily paralyze their enemy with pain.  Though he doubted that most had the chance to regain consciousness.  That could only mean one thing: when they were finished with Tenal Ka they would come for him.

          The sound of the door to the bunker hissing open, caught Jacen's attention.  He wanted to jump to his feet, but he was still too sore from his encounter with the goo to do so.

          The darkness of night fell into the room through the open door.  There were some grunts and snarls, and then a silhouetted figure was thrown into the room.  The door slammed shut before Jacen could even reach Tenal Ka's side.

          When he did reach her, he draped her arm over his shoulders.  "Lean on me," he said gently, and for once, Tenal Ka did not argue.

          He led her over to the section of the room that was illuminated by the moonlight coming through the tiny window slit high up on the wall.  When he saw that she was shivering, he took off his own thin sweater and put it over her head.  It was not much but it was better then nothing.  That was when he noticed her right arm below the elbow was missing.

          "They took off my prosthetic arm," she said, when she saw where he was looking.  "They said it was an abomination," in a weak voice she added, "they know I'm sick, Jacen,"

          "What?  How could they know that?"

          "They did tests on me," she said slowly.

          "What kind of tests?"  Jacen said in a deadly voice.

          "They connected me to some creature that read off my vital signs to them,"

          "Like a yammosk?" Said Jacen, thinking of the living creature that the Yuuzhan Vong used as a war coordinator to control their coralskippers during their first strike in this galaxy.

          "No, this creature was different.  It reads your brain activity, nervous system, and other areas of the body," she explained.  "I think they are using it to try and discover a weakness in the Jedi, but they found my disease instead,"

          "We have to get out of here," said Jacen.  He could not let the Vong come back and take her again.  They no longer had a ship to take them anywhere, but at the moment that was the least of their worries.

          "Do you have a plan?"

          "Well, it's not a brilliant plan," he admitted, "but it will work nonetheless,"

          Jaina would never admit to any mechanical task being beyond her ability, but the 'project' of making the First Mate space worthy again was enough to make even her take a defeatist approach to the repairs.

          The tiny engine room was a complete disaster area that looked no better then when she had started the time consuming repairs two days ago.  She was making some progress, though.  Communications systems were starting to come back online.  There was still quite a bit of static when she turned on the comm, but it was a start.  Ganner's job was to get the comm system fully functional again.  A weak distress signal would probably not get through Scelvic's atmosphere to any nearby ships, but when she got the shuttle up and running again, they could send a message requesting immediate assistance once they were in orbit.

          Of course, that wouldn't happen if Jaina didn't get the remaining engines working again.

          "Need a hand?"  Said Ganner, poking his head into the engine room.

          "No," Jaina replied, "I have everything under control,"

          Ganner regarded the mess of loose cables, spare parts, and scorched machinery, but said nothing.

          "Did you get the comm system working?"  Jaina said, as she removed a piece of burnt metal plating off the wall.

          "Yeah, it's working again," he told her, "there's still some static but I don't think it's going to get any better."

          Jaina fiddled with the wires that had been behind the piece of metal plating, seeing if she could re-connect them with one of the salvageable engines.  "Good.  At least we'll be able to get out a distress message,"

          "You should take a break," Ganner said, stepping into the engine room.

          "I can't.  I have too many repairs I still have to make."

          "What, you can't take an hour or so break?  The shuttle's not going anywhere,"

          "That's exactly my point," Jaina said.  She stopped her fiddling with the cables and turned around to face him – nearly bumping into his chest in the process.  This enclosed area was too small for the both of them to be in there together.

          "You're exhausted," Ganner stated.

          She shrugged.  "We're all a little tired – "

          "That's not what I meant," Ganner said, cutting her off.  "You spend all day and most of the night in here fixing whatever it is your trying to fix, but has it made the repairs go any faster?  No.  You don't have to do all this work on your own, you know.  Lusa and I aren't completely mechanically illiterate,"

          Since he stood a good head or more taller than her, Jaina had to look up at him when she spoke.  "I never said you were.  It's just that most of this stuff I can do on my own,"

          "Why are you so afraid to let us help you?"  Ganner accused.  "What are you hiding from?"

          "I'm not hiding from anything," she said, getting defensive, "and why would you care anyways?"

          "Because I care about you," he responded in a sincere voice.

          Jaina wasn't buying that load of bantha fodder for a second.  "I'm supposed to believe that?"

          "Well, yeah,"

          "Do I really look that stupid to you, Ganner?"  She said, her voice rising in volume.  "I know the only reason you've been hanging around me these past few months is because you think you can get me into bed with you,"

          "I had no idea your opinion of me was so high," Ganner said, slightly hurt.

          "Did you ever give me a reason to think otherwise?"

          "You're right," Ganner admitted, "why would you think otherwise when you've been too busy moping around and too absorbed in your own problems to notice anyone but yourself."

          Jaina blinked.  "Are you calling me selfish?"

          "No, I'm calling you stupid," he clarified for her.  "Stupid because you keep pushing away anyone who cares about you.  And because you think the only reason I'm standing here, talking to you, is because you think I want to have sex with you.  If that were the case, isn't it strange that I haven't made a pass at you yet?  I had no idea you were so full of yourself, Jaina,"

          She didn't have to listen to him insult her or accuse her of distancing herself from everyone.  He didn't have the right.  He didn't even know her.  She pushed past him and left the engine room, but Ganner followed her.

          "Sure, runaway, just like Zekk did," Ganner said, from right behind her.

          "You don't know anything about what happened between me and Zekk," she said in a dangerous voice.

          "I know that he hurt you deeply," Ganner said in a quiet voice, "and that it's not the first time that's happened,"

          "Let me guess," Jaina said, "you've been talking to Jacen?"

          Ganner nodded his head.

          "My twin brother has a big mouth,"

          "He's worried about you," Ganner said in Jacen's defense.

          "I don't need him to worry about me.  I'm fine,"

          "Why is it so hard for you to admit that Zekk's leaving hurt you?"

          "Stay out of my personal life," she snapped at him.  "Don't presume to think that you know what I'm going through because you don't know me at all.  And I don't want you to know me," she added.  "You've never cared about anyone but Ganner Rhysode and what suits his needs.  So, excuse me if I don't want to spill my life story to some arrogant, self-centered Jedi,"

          "If that's what you really think of me, then I guess neither of us knows each other as well as we thought we did," Ganner said in a fed up voice.  "Yeah, I haven't exactly been the model Jedi but I'm not the scoundrel you make me out to be.  I do care about you.  I'll admit, at first I started hanging around you because you were available, but that quickly changed when I talked to your brother.  It looked like you could use someone in your life that didn't walk on eggshells around you and who would treat you like a normal human being.  So, if you still think you have me all figured it, that's fine, go on believing I'm some self-absorbed person, who cares about no one but himself, I really don't give a damn,"

          Ganner brushed past Jaina, clearly angry with her, and headed in the general direction of the cockpit.

          She didn't think it was possible, but her harsh words had actually hurt him.

          His initial sincerity had caught her off guard, and his prying into her personal life had made her furious.  Now, though, after everything that had been said between them, she felt like she was the one who should be ashamed.  She had judged Ganner wrongly, and now, the one person who had tried to treat her like a regular human being, while everyone else acted like she was a thermal detonator waiting to go off, probably hated her guts now.  Ganner was right.  She was stupid.