CHAPTER TEN: ACCEPTANCE
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nakin did not have to worry about finding help for the mission he was planning. Once he had explained everything the Tsirran had told him about ba'kl scul to his brother and sister, they were more then willing to volunteer to go to Belkdan. That got him back on speaking terms with Jacen. How long that was going to last, remained to be seen.
He intended to bring the one Tsirran, Ha'rnn, with him, since he seemed to know so much about the 'changing' and where to find the scientists. He still needed to ask Ganner and Tenal Ka, but before he went any farther with his plans, he needed to see Tahiri. This mission was about her after all, and he was going to be endangering her life even more by bringing her along. He never thought the day would come where he would purposely endanger her life, but he did not see any other way around it.
When he entered her room, he expected to find the fever stricken girl he had seen only hours before – and he wasn't far off. She was lying in the med bunk, staring up at the ceiling. Her fever was gone and she wasn't thrashing in pain, but the paleness of her complexion gave away how sick she really was.
"I guess Cilghal told you everything," she said without looking at him.
Anakin didn't like the odd tone of her voice. "Yeah, she did,"
"And you've come to stare at the freak show?"
It took Anakin only a fraction of a second to respond. "You're not a freak,"
"What else would you call me?" She said, turning her head to look at him. "The word 'normal' doesn't exactly come to mind,"
"You are normal," he insisted. "What's been done to you – "
"Normal?" She snorted at the word. She sat up; throwing the covers aside and then began hitting the wall with her fist. The force of the impact was so strong the wall was starting to crack under the pressure. "Is this normal?" She removed her fist from the wall and smashed it into the empty water glass sitting on the table beside the bed. She picked out the shards of glass that had stuck in her already bleeding knuckles and showed them to Anakin. "See, no pain,"
He caught sight of the way she was eyeing her lightsaber on the nightstand. He snatched it in a force grip and called it to his hand.
"Stop it,"
It was more of a plea then anything.
"What's wrong, Anakin?" She asked him innocently. "Does my new talent bother you? You better get used to it because it only gets better from here,"
"We can fix what they did to you,"
"I'm dying, Anakin. My body's rejecting whatever the Vong did to it. And even if I survive, I'm not going to let myself become some mindless drone for the Vong to use against the rest of the galaxy. I'll - "
She cut herself off, unable to put words to what she was thinking.
"That's not going to happen," he tried to reassure her.
"Wake up, Anakin," she snapped, growing irritated with him. "It is happening. I can feel it. It's like there's this voice in my head telling me to stop fighting and let my dark impulses take over,"
He was going to tell her she had to keep fighting, but was overcome by a hot flash of anger. It coursed through his entire body, filling his blood and veins with it – and was over as fast as it had started. He became aware of the fact that he was holding Tahiri's ignited saber in his hands and was a lot closer to her then he had been a minute ago. He couldn't remember getting angry. It did not take him long to realize he hadn't done anything. It had been her.
He shut off the weapon. He had trouble keeping the look of horror off his face. "What did you do to me?"
"It's what happens when I let the wall around my thoughts down. It was the only way to get you to understand how dangerous I'm becoming. It's getting harder to keep these thoughts to myself and not project them to others,"
He had not foreseen this complication. It was going to make taking her to Belkdan that much harder with a ship full of force sensitive people surrounding her at all times.
"You're planning something," she had known Anakin too long not to recognize that far away look on his face.
"I talked to the Tsirran about what's been happening to you," he explained what Ha'rnn told him about ba'kl skul. "He thinks that on Belkdan there's a way to reverse what the Vong did to you."
"There's more," she said, noticing his hesitation.
"You would have to come with us," he said slowly. "It would take too much time to find a scientist and bring him here. By then…"
"I'll be dead or worse," she finished for him.
"We have to leave first thing in the morning. It's going to be dangerous. If something happens to you down there, I – I don't know if I'll be able to protect you,"
"I won't be responsible for a team of Jedi – which I'm sure includes your brother and sister and our other friends – getting themselves killed when we both know the Vong may not even be able to help me. At the first sign of trouble we're leaving. No heroics. Are we clear on that?"
"I'll do what I have to do,"
And he meant it. If he had to battle his way through a sentry of Yuuzhan Vong warriors by himself with nothing but his bare hands – he would do it without hesitation.
The Traveling Spacer was not a place to be entered lightly – as was with every other cantina located in the dingy lower levels of Courscant.
Zekk had his fair share of encounters in places like this, but most times a person was left alone unless they said the wrong thing to the wrong person. He planned to keep to himself tonight, but sometimes even that was not enough.
"You're in my seat,"
Zekk turned on his stool and found himself staring into the burly chest of a fierce looking Barabel.
"I don't see you're name on it,"
"You will remove yourself from it now, human," the Barabel growled.
Anyone with half a brain knew angering a Barabel was a sure ticket to getting your body broken in two, but Zekk's common sense had left him three or four drinks back.
"I'm not moving anywhere, pal," Zekk said to him, "so you better go find yourself another seat,"
The Barabel hissed and struck out with its scaly arm, intending to flatten Zekk against the nearest wall. Barabels, though, were terrible at hiding their emotions, allowing Zekk to sense the blow long before it happened.
He flipped over the bar, landing beside the Rodian bartender. The Rodian began shouting at him, but Zekk was too busy avoiding the Barbel's next set of blows to be concerned with understanding what it was saying.
He took out his blaster and fumbled to change the setting to stun. The raging Barabel smacked his firing arm wide, sending the blaster sprawling to the floor. The Barabel grabbed Zekk by his collar and hauled him onto the bar counter. Jaws clacking loudly, it lowered itself to rip Zekk's head off.
SMASH!
The sound of a wooden chair cracking against the Barabel's skull sent the creature staggering backwards as it lashed out with its arm, sending its unseen attacker crashing into a nearby booth.
The distraction was enough to let Zekk scramble off the bar and onto the floor. In the process, he unintentionally stepped on the Barabel's tail – an extremely sensitive spot in the creature's anatomy – earning him a wicked slap on the face for it. He stumbled backwards, managing to grab a hold of a bar stool to keep himself on his feet.
A blue stun beam enveloped the Barabel's body but it was relentless, continuing its pursuit of Zekk. Zekk continued to stagger backwards until he was backed up against a wall with nowhere to go. The burly beast made a lunge for the Jedi, and Zekk force leaped over its head, but he wasn't quite fast enough and the Barabel grabbed a hold of one of his legs. Zekk didn't even have time to think of a way to break free, as the Barbel flung him on the floor.
A second beam of stun fire caused the beast to sway on its feet, and Zekk sensing what was going to happen, rolled out of the way as a third blast of stun fire dropped the creature in a heap on the floor where Zekk had been lying only moments before.
He heaved a sigh of relief and looked away from the Barabel's fallen body, up into the face of his rescuer – Jaina Solo.
She said nothing as she tossed his blaster back to him before walking out of the Traveling Spacer.
Zekk collected himself and hurried after her.
It was a silent walk back to the hospitable upper levels of Courscant. Jaina purposely kept ten paces in front of him at all times.
"You shouldn't have followed me down there," he said when he finally managed to catch up to her. He didn't get why she had taken on the Barabel to rescue him and then had walked off without a word. But that was Jaina Solo. The most confusing and complicated person he had ever met.
"That's the thanks I get for saving your life?" She said furiously, spinning around. "I should have let the Barabel have you,"
The prospect of facing the Barabel on his own seemed a lot more promising at that moment then dealing with her temper.
"Are you going to tell me why you were following me, or not?" He said when they reached his apartment.
"I wasn't following you. I tracked you down only because I told Anakin I would ask you something for him,"
"And that would be?" Zekk said, strolling inside and sitting down on a worn out chair in the living area.
Jaina quickly explained Tahiri's situation and her brother's plan to go to Belkdan.
He lowered his head and let out a low whistle. "I had no idea,"
That's because you've cut yourself off from the rest of the galaxy, she thought, but out loud said, "he's going to need all the help he can get,"
"You don't need to convince me," he said, rubbing the painful side of his face where he had been whacked with the Barabel's tail. When he removed his hand he saw there was blood on it. "Of course I'll help him,"
"We leave first thing in the morning," she told him. Looking at his battered face, she said, "where's the medkit?"
"Same place as always,"
She walked over to the 'fresher and began rummaging through the drawers inside. She found it, but stopped to look at her own face in the mirror before going back out. A nasty-looking bruise the size of her fist was already starting to form on her left cheek. She reached out to touch it and winced slightly. By morning, it was going to look ten times worse.
She grabbed the medkit and re-entered the kitchen. She stood over him, wiping the blood off his face before placing graft bandage over the cut.
This close to her, Zekk took in the sight of giant welt forming on her face. "You're hurt," he said, reaching up and gently running his hand over it.
She refrained from wincing. "It's just a scratch," she said and moved his hand away from her face.
"I'm sorry," he said to her.
"It's not your fault. I shouldn't have stood still like that after hitting the Barabel,"
"I'm sorry for that too, but that's not what I was talking about," he waited until she was finished with his face before continuing. "The last time you were here, I said some things to you…"
"You were right, though," she said softly.
He said nothing and they were both silent while she finished cleaning his face. Only when Jaina had finished washing her hands and was getting ready to leave, did Zekk speak up.
"I'm not going to pretend I like Ganner – because I don't and I never will. But if he makes you happy…"
"He does,"
"Then that's all that matters,"
And that was that. It was Zekk's way of telling her he wouldn't interfere with her relationship with Ganner. Whether or not she believed him, remained to be seen. She seriously doubted he would back off all of the sudden, and deep down she wasn't sure if she wanted him to.