Chapter 10 – Trouble in Babylon
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Sam groaned as he looked up. Doctor Franklin hovered over his aching body. He looked down at the large bandage on his chest. The doctor looked down and noticed he was awake.
"Good afternoon Mr. Mina. It seems you came pretty close to joining the Ensign over there," he said while motioning toward Ensign Ruel.
"Wha...What happened to me? Who did this? Why?" Sam managed to groan out.
"You were stabbed with a sword like weapon, approximately 1 meter in length, and we are still uncertain as to who and why they did this."
"I think I'm remembering now, very vague, but I think I saw a Narn."
"That's what I was afraid of; we have witnesses from yours and Ronald's murder that saw Narns. To make things worse, I think they used the same weapon against you, but missed your heart by a few millimeters. You are very lucky they missed."
"How long was I out?"
"9 hours."
Sam groaned and tried to sit up, and Doctor Franklin pushed him back to the bed.
"You need rest, doctor's orders."
Sam let his head drop to the pillow and almost instantly fell asleep.
"Poor guy."
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Shaizla Kand Shai smiled as he wiped the blood from his weapon. Laying it on the table, he pressed the side of his nose. His face became distorted and then fell into his hands. He placed the creature on the table next to the snake-like weapon. Looking over, he saw Vandred Lupis Shai do the same. Her face was distorted and the creature fell into her hands. She placed it on the table and grinned.
"At last, we have convinced the humans that these Narns are responsible for their crewmen's deaths," Shailzla said to his mate.
"Yes my love, we have, now we await orders from the Supreme Commander," Vandred said in response.
Shaizla ran a hand across Vandred's scarred and tattooed face. He brushed her lips, and tickled each of the incisions in them. She was busy running her hands across his new arm graft, recently gifted to him by the gods. Yun Harla was very kind to her loyal subject, and had gifted him with many great skills. He was a master of the Ooglith Masquer, and had very precise abilities with the amphistaff. He grinned as he removed Vandred's armor, and tossed her to the floor. He ripped his own clothing off and jumped down to the floor next to her, and they immediately began wrestling and clawing at each other's bodies.
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Jacen ran down the corridor to Master Luke's quarters. He pressed the button on the wall, and waited for the doors to open. After a few seconds the doors opened and Luke was standing there, wearing a bath robe. Jacen looked over, and thought he saw movement on the bed.
"What is it, Jacen?"
"Uncle Luke, I have reason to believe there are Yuuzhan Vong aboard the station."
"What?!?! You have to be mistaken."
"I saw one, Uncle Luke, clear as daylight, standing in the Mutai audience."
"We'll have to alert the captain, and tell him to have his men watch out for them."
"Do you want me to tell him, or would you rather do it yourself?"
"You can do it. I need to get back to my training exercises."
"Yeah, okay, you have fun, training..."
With that, Jacen turned and left the room. The doors shut behind him, and he chuckled at his Uncle. He knew that Luke wasn't training, well not in any manner he showed the Jedi students. He walked down towards the command deck, hoping that Sheridan or somebody was there, that he could talk to.
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He arrived and saw a woman standing with her back towards him. She was looking out the window at the surrounding space. Jacen could sense that she was very calm while standing there. He coughed and she spun around. He had surprised her it seems.
"Yes, young man, what can I do for you?"
"My name is Jacen Solo, I am Senator Leia Organa Solo's son, and I came by to talk to somebody about a possible threat to the station."
"Oh, you're Han's boy, he said a lot about you."
"You know my father, well, that makes things easier, since it's easier to say Han Solo than Senator Leia Organa Solo."
"Commander Susan Ivanova pleased to meet you. So what about this threat? Explain it to me."
"Well, I'm sure you've heard about the Yuuzhan Vong, right?"
"Yes, go on..."
"Well, I have reason to believe that there is one, if not more Yuuzhan Vong aboard the station."
"Really, well that's not good."
"Yeah, earlier, me and the ranger, Marcus..."
"You saw Marcus?"
"Yeah, well..."
"How did he look, was he sad?"
"Not that I could tell, I wasn't really paying to much attention, as I was saying..."
"Sorry, please go on."
"Thank you, Well me and Marcus were at the Mutai watching Walker Smith and Gyor, when I looked over and saw a Vong, I tried to scan for it in the force, but there was nothing, that could mean one of three things, I was seeing things, there is a species of alien here, that looks identical to the Vong, or it really was a Vong."
"I see, well I'll tell Garibaldi to have his men watch out for anything weird."
"Thank you."
"By the way, who won the fight, Walker or Gyor?"
"Walker won."
"So that explains why Garibaldi was in such a good mood a few minutes ago. He offered to buy the whole command staff a round at the bar."
"Well, I'll be going now, talk to you later."
"Wait, how is your father?" she said, trying to stall him.
"He's doing pretty well, why?"
"Just wondering...Well see you later."
Jacen turned and left the room. Susan walked back over to the observation port and sighed. Solo's kid was just as dashing as his father. *Why am I falling in love with every guy I meet all of a sudden?* she thought to herself. She shook her head. *I can't be with Jacen; he's only 20 or something, making him 10 years younger than me. Plus, he's a telepath, I can't trust him. But he's so darn handsome. Damn it, I need to get back to work, busy, busy, busy!* She stood there, alone, with nothing happening outside the station. *Commander Susan Ivanova Solo...It's got a certain ring to it.* She then smiled for the first time in a while.
Jacen walked down the corridor, with a huge grin on his face. He looked just like his father did when he knew he was in love with Leia. He looked over his shoulder and sighed.
"Susan, what a pretty name..." he said with a sigh.
*Susan Ivanova Solo? Nah, she would never go out with me, she's like 10 years older than I am...But still where is the harm in asking, I'll do it tomorrow, after breakfast.*
He continued his journey back to Green 7 where he and Kyp were quartered. He walked in and flopped on the bed, smiling from ear to ear. He fell asleep right away. In his dreams he saw Susan and him, and they were together, holding hands, kissing, and having fun. She was smiling, and so was he. *I like these dreams* he thought subconsciously.