Jhotan stretched out with the Force. His surroundings were wholly unfamiliar to him. He dared not open his eyes for fear of any damage that may be caused by the liquid he was submerged in. He inhaled sharply through his breath mask as he felt a familiar presence approach him. It was her. Avot. Suddenly, he realized where he was, or more specifically, what he was in. He reached out with both his arms and felt the roundness of the tube that contained him. Yeah, definitely a bacta tank, he thought. So I'm not dead after all… He opened his eyes slowly. The sight that filled his field of vision was blurred by the blue tinted liquid of the receptacle. He could, however, make out the form that belonged to Avot.
He craned his neck back to glance around as a low rumble filled the chamber. The cover had been removed and a small crane was being lowered toward him. It hooked into the harness around his shoulders and lifted him out of the bacta. The crane gently lowered him to the ground and he leaned on a nearby examination table for support. It had been a while since he had been on his feet, and his muscles had weakened in the intervening time. A towel was draped over his shoulders, and he finally noticed that all he wore was a pair of standard issue medical briefs. A glimmer from Avot's shoulder length golden-blond hair caught his eye, and he turned to face her.
"Avi…" he stammered.
"Jho…" she answered in the same tone. A nearby 2-1B droid tapped the pink area on his side where he had been punctured with the lightsaber. It tingled and the air came rushing out of his lungs as he tensed from the feeling.
"Don't do that," Jhotan hissed.
"You should be grateful, Jedi Jhotan," the droid began in its metallic voice. "If not for the quick actions of this young woman, the med-team would not have reached you in time." Avot smiled warmly. Jhotan smiled back. "As you know," the droid's torso rotated ninety degrees. It raised a pincer-like hand and pointed to a bio-scan on the wall. "A lightsaber cauterizes as it cuts, and therefore, your wound was closed when they arrived. However, in order for you to receive proper bacta treatment, the wound was reopened in one several hour-long procedure," the droid lowered its arm. "Fortunately for you, no major organs were damaged in any severe manner. The charred tissue and bone were carefully scraped away by our expert team of surgeons in preparation for your bacta immersion." 2-1B rotated back to face them. "Quite frankly, sir, you are very lucky to be standing here today."
"I hadn't realized…" he trailed off. 2-1B handed him a white robe and he slipped it on.
"What is it Jho?"
"I hadn't realized how close I was to…" he looked into her eyes. "I mean, I felt it was coming, and that's why I started crying - I didn't want to leave you… but, I never thought I really could have…" They both knew it was not necessary to mention the fate he had avoided.
"You still love me don't you…?" Avot raised her eyebrows. He looked down at his feet for a moment. When he lifted his head, his cheeks were blushing.
"I… uh…"
"If you do not mind, I must excuse myself to check on a patient in the next room," the medical droid clunked noisily out the door.
"Yeah, I guess so," he finished after the door had glided shut again. He paused for a moment, thinking. "Yes. But I knew it wouldn't be proper to continue harboring affection of such a manner for a married woman. It's just not right - not Jedi-like." The door opened with a whoosh, and Jhotan's former mentor entered.
"Master!" His eyes lit up. Jhotan also welcomed the break in the awkward moment.
"I came as soon as I could, Jhotan. I was stationed on patrol to monitor some smuggling activity near Tatooine, so it took some time to arrive," Kenth Hamner put a hand on his old apprentice's shoulder. "It gladdens my heart to know you are well." He observed Avot standing next to him. "Sorry Avot. I didn't realize you two were-"
"Quite all right, Master Hamner," she suddenly took on an air of politeness. "We were just-"
"-Talking," Jhotan concluded for her. Hamner furrowed his brow and looked from one to the other.
"What concerns me, however, is that a non-Jedi had the ability and the talent with a lightsaber to get the better of you," his tone was stern. "Not to boast of my training in the methods of combat, but, it is odd that some random person," he glanced at Avot. "Sorry. That an average person would be able to defeat a fully trained Jedi."
"I have to agree on that one," Jhotan crossed his arms and rested his chin on his thumb.
"However, I have some of our tech guys researching into Nem's past. We should know something shortly." The venerable Jedi Master ran a hand over his close-cropped brown hair and stared at the bio-scan on the monitor. Jhotan became distracted as he looked at Avot's beautiful facial features. She noticed his gaze, and raised an eyebrow in question. Swallowing hard, he laughed nervously.
"I… uh…"
"Sith spit, that must have hurt, Jhotan," Hamner winced. "Anyway," he whirled around. "I must be going. It's good to see my old Padawan back on his feet," he slapped him on the back. "If you need anything my comlink's on, I'll be around for a few days before I head back toward Tatooine."
"Bye Master." Avot waved. Kenth left the room, his robe flowing around him.
"Now where were we?" Avot smiled wryly.
"Yeah, I was just saying…"
"Oh, and kids?" The Jedi Master stuck his head back into the room. "You'd better behave." The two friends burst out laughing after Hamner was safely down the hall.
"I can't believe he thought we were-"
"Yeah, I mean, come on!" Avot put a hand on her cheek.
"I heard that!" Came the reply from down the hall.
3 Years Later…
The Jedi technicians never found anything about the past Avot's husband. Shortly after the "accident" at the wedding, Nem mysteriously disappeared from his hospital bed without a trace. All the medical equipment that had been hooked into his body was found strewn across his bed. Even the bacta jar that had encased the stump on his arm was lying on the floor. The Coruscant security force found no evidence of struggle of any sort, and even the Jedi brought in to investigate failed to mentally read anything off of objects in the room. The case of his sudden vanishing remained open.
Despite the fact that her husband had gone missing, and was therefore not present at the court session, the New Republic Judicial Court issued a certificate of annulment to Avot, certifying that their union never became official. Although she may truly have felt something for Jhotan at the time, she neglected to mention it, and the two went their separate ways. Oddly enough, Avot was discovered to have traces of Force ability and was often employed by Jedi Master Luke Skywalker as a messenger, spy, and reconnaissance agent. Due to the secret nature of her assignments, she was never allowed to make contact with anyone, the exceptions being Skywalker and other highly esteemed Masters such as Mara Jade Skywalker and Kenth Hamner. One day, on a particularly strange mission to a university on Corellia, she, too vanished without a trace. Without much choice, Master Skywalker turned to the only Jedi he knew that could possibly locate her.
"Something's wrong with Avot, I can feel it already," Jhotan shifted the position of his legs nervously in front of his chair. Across the meeting table sat Skywalker, Kam Solusar and Hamner.
"That may be the case, Jhotan, but you have no idea what the mission was about," Solusar narrowed his gaze. "Allow us to elaborate."
"Jhotan, Avot was on a covert operation at the Fel University on Corellia," Hamner began.
"We had received reports of strange Force-activity taking place on the university campus. Some said that the odd occurrences were caused by a group of students who unknowingly tampered with the Dark Side of the Force," Skywalker knitted his fingers.
"Now, please consider this, there are no Jedi stationed at that university, Corran Horn had recently been visiting on Corellia and felt flashes of Dark Side energy, but he felt they were too weak and too inconsistent to have been any real threat," Solusar continued.
"But Avot's disappearance cannot be ignored. Especially if we consider the fact that her would-be husband vanished in nearly the same fashion almost 3 years ago," Hamner paused, letting Jhotan take it all in. "And that is why you must be the one to go find out what has happened to her. Because you are the only one who's Force-attuned to her energy, and because you are the only one to have actually encountered Nem in combat, so you know what you could potentially have to deal with."
"I see…" Jhotan raised his hand to his chain, deep in thought.
"Should the need arise, a Jedi team will be sent to extract you and hopefully, Avot from the University. The extraction team has been instructed to call for additional Jedi support, if need be. Hopefully, we will be able to keep everything nice and quiet, without having to resort to the use of force," Kam concluded.
"Any questions, Jhotan?" Skywalker asked.
"None." Jhotan need not have replied, for the burning determination easily visible in his eyes proclaimed his desire to start the mission.