A/N: In case you haven't noticed, I changed my name from Hayden's~Girl to Buffybot. I just decided it was time for a new name. Anyways, enjoy the chapter, and I will try and post as often as possible now that ff.net seems to be working again.
CHAPTER NINE: A SPARK OF HOPE
There was nothing Anakin hated more then waiting – except when it involved waiting for information on what was wrong with Tahiri. It was beyond nerve wracking not knowing what was going on.
After her collapse, he had rushed her to the med center, leaving her life in the hands of so-called capable physicians. Shortly thereafter, his family and friends who had felt his inner fear and had been overwhelmed by it joined him.
Anakin had a chance to calm himself before they arrived, and was able to explain Tahiri's condition in the 'fresher and what he had felt just before. Anakin's account of what happened, led his Uncle to believe there might be more going on then a simple flu virus and had called in the Jedi healer, Cilghal, to examine her.
Cilghal promised to bring word of any news on Tahiri's condition once they had the results from her examinations of the young Jedi. It had been hours since they had last heard from the Mon Calamari healer. She had gone into to Tahiri's room to conduct her own examination of the girl, searching for anything the doctor's might have missed. Kam and Tionne were with her the whole time. No one else was allowed in while Cilghal was in with her.
Anakin paced around the waiting room from time to time, and when that was not enough, he stood outside Tahiri's room watching. He realized his actions were making everyone else more agitated, so he forced himself to sit down for a span of time longer than five minutes. If he didn't get any news soon he was going to break out his lightsaber and ask someone to spar with him.
His sister picked up on his anxiety and grabbed a hold of his hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Tahiri's tough. Whatever's wrong with her, she'll beat it,"
Anakin was thankful at least one of them was thinking positively, because he was having difficulty ridding himself of the sensation that there was something seriously wrong with her. He had initially thought it might have something to do with whatever she had told Jacen, but a swift prodding of his brother's emotions told him Jacen was as clueless as the rest of them. That was a good thing, for Jacen's sake. If he had known anything that could have helped prevent this, he did not want to think about what he was capable of doing to his own brother.
Cilghal appeared in the waiting room then. It was difficult to read a Mon Calamari's expression. They always had a calm appearance about themselves. One could be bubbling with anger on the surface and another species would never know it. A quick inspection on Anakin's part revealed she was actually quite troubled on the inside. He wanted to investigate further, but his own sense of right and wrong kicked in, keeping him from performing such an intrusion of her privacy.
Anakin was on his feet to meet her when she reached them. "How is she?"
"She is still delirious from the fever, but we've been treating it with antibiotics and it is continuing to go down,"
"So the worst is over, then?" Jaina said in a hopeful voice.
Anakin saw the hesitation in the Jedi healer's eyes and it made his heart tighten in his chest. "What's wrong with her?"
"I am not entirely sure," she admitted.
"What do you mean you're 'not sure'?" He said, not bothering to mask the anger in his tone. "You've been in there with her for hours, and you're telling me you still don't know?"
His Uncle placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and Anakin fell silent.
"What have you found, Cilghal?" Luke asked calmly.
"All the scans performed by the New Republic doctors show there is nothing wrong with her, except the rather mysterious fact that the pain receptors in her body have been numbed somehow,"
"You are saying she is incapable of feeling any pain?" Tenal Ka said in a troubled voice.
"That is correct,"
Anakin shook his head. "But she was complaining about the pain in her head right before she passed out,"
The Mon Calamari sighed. "I do not know why that is, but the human mind is a very complex thing. It is possible that whatever is affecting her body is affecting her mind as well,"
"You said her pain receptors have been numbed?" Anakin said. "Isn't that impossible for someone to do that to themselves? Which means it would have to be done deliberately. I didn't know a technology like that existed,"
"It doesn't," Cilghal told him. "At least not amongst any known species in this galaxy,"
Anakin felt his anger rising to the breaking point as his mind registered what the Jedi healer was getting at. "The Vong? They did this to her?"
"But that doesn't make any sense," Jacen spoke up. "The Yuuzhan Vong embrace pain. Why wouldn't they want Tahiri not to feel any?"
"Nothing the Yuuzhan Vong do makes any sense," said Anakin, running his fingers through his dark hair. "How do we fix what's been done to her?"
Cilghal clasped her webbed hands in front of her. "We know a great deal more about Yuuzhan Vong technology then we did even a month or two ago, but what's been done to Tahiri is nothing anyone has seen before. I will continue to study her, but I'm afraid there is nothing I nor New Republic medicine can do to reverse the effects,"
"Then she'll just have to live the rest of her life feeling no physical pain?" He hated to even think it, but maybe what the Vong had done to her would not be such a bad thing after all.
"I'm afraid it is not that simple, Anakin," Cilghal began in grave voice. "Tahiri's body is rejecting the implants placed inside it designed to suppress pain. That is why she has been feeling sick recently. The implants are taking a toll on her body, and if they are not removed soon, she will die,"
Tahiri will die.
The words kept repeating over and over in his mind. Just the thought of losing her again was too much for him to handle. He wanted a second opinion, even though he knew deep down that Cilghal was right. He had seen – as well as experienced what the Vong technology was doing to Tahiri. He needed to be with her, but he had to take care of something else first. Without a word to the others, he took off towards the nearest turbolift.
"Anakin, where are you going?" Jaina called after him.
"To get some answers,"
Checking to make sure his lightsaber was secured at his side, he boarded the lift.
The twelfth floor of the Imperial Palace was currently off limits to everyone except Luke Skywalker and Tahiri. New Republic guards were stationed at every junction and corridor as a security measure.
Anakin paid no attention to the restrictions.
He was sure the Tsirran could handle any situation that arose, and that the guards posted would be useless. The only reason Chief Fe'y'la would have assigned guards was to keep an eye on the Tsirran.
Anakin walked confidently passed each set of stationed New Republic guards. A simple gesture with his hand, kept them from following him and from remembering he was ever there. He continued like that until he reached the room where he felt a distinct void in the force coming from inside it. He barged inside without knocking.
Three Tsirran were gathered in the living area, sitting in a tight circle on the floor. They looked up in mild surprise at the intrusion, and rose to their feet at the sight of Anakin's ignited saber.
Before any of them could speak, he approached the one closest to him. "What did you do to her?"
"If you are referring to the one named Tahiri," said the Tsirran with Anakin's lightsaber inches away from his throat, "we have done nothing. What is it you accuse us of?"
Anakin was more than a little startled that the Tsirran had known why he had come there. Of course, he really shouldn't have been surprised. As soon as word had leaked out about Tahiri's collapse, reporters would have had a field day with it. Anything to do with Jedi or Yuuzhan Vong was considered headline material.
"She's incapable of feeling any pain. The Jedi Healer, Cilghal, says what's been done to her is slowly killing her and no race in this galaxy possesses the capable to do that. So that leaves me with two possibilities,"
Anakin became aware of the remaining Tsirran positioning themselves behind him. The Tsirran he was speaking to, waved them off before Anakin could do something rash.
The Tsirran stared down at Anakin, who was at least a foot shorter than him. "Naturally, you think the Yuuzhan Vong or the Tsirran are to blame,"
"Actually, I just thought of the Yuuzhan Vong, but something my brother said got me thinking," he said, moving his saber in a position to strike at the warrior if he gave him an excuse to. "The Yuuzhan Vong live for pain. It would be an insult to make their own kind as well as an infidel incapable of feeling it. The Tsirran, on the other hand, are quite the opposite of their blood-thirsty cousins,"
The Tsirran somehow managed to make itself look even taller as it spoke. "You have my word that we have done nothing to the Jedi Tahiri,"
He was holding something back, though. Anakin was sure of it. "But you know something about what's wrong with her?"
"What you have described suggests the Yuuzhan Vong are using the ancient battle technique, ba'kl scul. It translates as 'mindless warrior'," he explained to Anakin. "They used ba'kl scul in their war against species in their own galaxy. The dishonoured amongst the Yuuzhan Vong and any other beings they captured were altered,"
Anakin suppressed a shiver. "Altered, how?"
"A relatively unknown caste – what you would call 'scientists' – would perform these changes. They operated in secret, creating perfect warriors that would die fighting for the Yuuzhan Vong,"
Anakin backed down from his fighting stance and shut off his weapon. "Basically, you're saying they created a bunch of mindless drones who would follow orders without question, even if that order meant death,"
The Tsirran shook his head. "It is much more complicated then that, Anakin Solo. The Yuuzhan Vong would erase all emotions except anger and hate. They believed those were the two strongest emotions that would drive any warrior to succeed. The elimination of physical pain was used to shame the Yuuzhan Vong who had insulted their caste, and to keep lesser species from crumbling at the first sign of pain,"
Anakin did not bother asking how the Tsirran knew his name. There was no time for pointless questions with Tahiri's life at stake. "Was there ever any cases of bodies rejecting the change?"
"Nothing is without a price, Anakin Solo. There were always accidents, but the majority of times implanted specimens were a success. But none of these changes has ever been performed on a human before. At least not to my knowledge,"
"And Tahiri's a force sensitive human," Anakin added. "That's why they brought her back," he said, speaking more to himself then the Tsirran. "They wanted to see what the effect would be on a Jedi, but she ended up escaping and they thought they had lost their subject. But why did it take so long for the effects to show?"
"The Yuuzhan Vong may have underestimated the power of a human-Jedi mind,"
"How do we help her?"
"We cannot. A reverse changing has never been done,"
He would not accept that. There had to be a way. "What about this caste of scientists? If they put these implants in her, then they can take them out, right?"
"It is not as simple as it sounds. The effects of altering go deeper then just the physical body. They go into the mind and erase all sense of what the individual perceives to be right and wrong, leaving them with nothing but the power of hate to drive them. A reversal may not be possible,"
"But not impossible?" Ideas were already beginning to form in Anakin's mind faster then he could process them. "We'll kidnap a scientist and force them to help Tahiri,"
It had sounded a lot better in his head, but he did not see that they had any other choice.
"That would not be possible. By the time you are able to bring one back, it would be too late. If the changes in Tahiri are as severe as you claim, she may only have hours or a few days left at most,"
"Then we'll have to bring her with us," he said simply. "Where can we find these scientists?"
"The only ones I know of can be found on Belkdan. They made home on the first planet the Yuuzhan Vong took in this galaxy. It is their main base. The majority of Yuuzhan Vong coralskippers, weapons and communication devices are grown there. The scientists operate in the guarded compounds nearby,"
"Then Belkdan is where we're going," said Anakin.
"You must accept the fact that the scientists may be unable to help her,"
"I'll cross that bridge when I get to it," Anakin said, heading for the door. "Right now, this is the only chance she's got and I'm not going to pass it up, no matter how impossible the odds,"
"You may be strong, Jedi Solo, but you cannot go alone,"
"I don't intend to,"
He did not want to involve anyone else in his quest, but it did not look like he had much of a choice. At least with help, it wouldn't matter if he failed, as long as someone else managed to find a way to save Tahiri.