"Obi-Wan!" Qui-Gon shouted, upon hearing the Padawan's 'announcement'. He leaned over and got closer to the hole. "Get out of there, now!"
"I'm trying!" was Obi-Wan's reply as the boy scrambled in the small space. His tunic got hung up on a broken pipe that was jutting out of the wall. He groaned and tugged, trying to loosen the tunic. Finally he just gave a great pull and, ripping a huge hole in his shirt, loosened himself from the pipe.
"Obi-Wan!" Qui-Gon shouted again, reaching a hand into the hole. The thing the large Jedi had feared the most was happening. His Padawan was stuck in the hyperdrive room with a bomb about to go off.
"Master!" Obi-Wan yelled as he got tangled up in more destroyed piping and wiring. He pulled and pulled, but to no avail. Whenever he loosened himself from one snag, his tunic got caught on another. Finally he just pulled the tunic off, hoping his undershirt wouldn't keep getting caught as well. He scrambled around more pipes and wires, until he could finally see his Master's outstretched hand. "I'm almost there! I can see you!"
"Hurry!"
Obi-Wan did, and managed to grasp his Master's hand. Qui-Gon pulled as hard as he could, and was able to pull his Padawan out of the small hole. He fell backwards, and Obi-Wan landed roughly on top of him before scrambling back to his feet.
"It's still gonna blow!" he warned, trying to pull his Master to his feet. Clieg stepped forward and helped.
He turned to his son. "Owen! Get out now! Go!" Without any argument the boy nodded and took off running out of the ship, stumbling over various objects. Clieg turned to the Jedi. "We need to get out as well! It would be bad for Obi-Wan to go through all the trouble of getting out of that hole if he's going to die standing next to it!"
The Jedi nodded and took off in the direction Owen had gone. Clieg got out of the ship first, but waited by the ramp for Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. They ran as fast as they could in the sand.
It seemed like an eternity, but finally they heard the sound of an explosion. Then they were all knocked off their feet by the blast and debris. For a second, time seemed to freeze for Qui-Gon. Then he felt a sudden pain shoot through his back and legs and realized that he had finally hit the ground after being thrown in the air. The air flew out of his lungs and he spent a moment gasping for breath. Dust and smoke filled his lungs, causing him to cough and sputter even more
He laid on his back for a moment, trying to get below the smoke so he could breathe. But as he lied there, he could faintly hear the sound of someone screaming in sudden pain. It quickly stopped, leaving Qui-Gon to wonder if he was hearing things.
Finally, the smoke began to clear, and Qui-Gon could see clearly again. He struggled to his feet and began to look around. The ship, obviously, had blown up, sending pieces and chunks all around.
Feeling a sharp pain in his arm, he looked down to see a chunk of metal jutting out of it. He winced and pulled the metal out slowly. It seemed to take forever to get it out, but he did. He stared at the bloody metal for a moment before flinging it to the side. He checked himself over again and found that he had many small slivers of metal painfully stuck in him. These, however, he could not get out himself. He did pull out the larger chunks he found jabbed in him. When he was satisfied that he could make it back to the Lars homestead, he frowned and looked around for his companions.
He saw Clieg first, lying on the ground with a small cut on his head. Other than that, he seemed to have gotten lucky and skewer-free. Qui-Gon leaned over, ignoring the pain from his many slivers, and shook him.
Clieg groaned, but woke. "Wha...?" He shakily stood up. "It went?"
"It went," Qui-Gon answered, nodding his head.
"Owen!" Clieg suddenly exclaimed, turning to search for his son.
Clieg's outburst quickly reminded Qui-Gon of his own 'son'. He scanned the desert as he called his Padawan's name. "Obi-Wan! Obi-Wan!" He struggled to remember where the boy had been when the ship blew. Behind him... Qui-Gon headed backwards, as if going back to the smoldering remains of the ship. Finally he saw his Padawan and ran over to him.
Obi-Wan was awake, but had his eyes closed and was breathing quickly. From his waist down he was covered with debris. Qui-Gon leaned down next to him as he began pulling debris off.
"Obi-Wan, hold on. I'm going to get you out of here." Suddenly Obi-Wan cried out in pain as Qui-Gon grasped another piece of debris. The Jedi froze, his hand still on the thin rod of metal. Obi-Wan quieted, but leaned his head back onto the sand with his eyes clenched tightly shut. Qui-Gon frowned and began to toss away every other piece of metal but the one. Finally he was able to see why Obi-Wan didn't want him to move that one piece. It had pierce the boy's thigh, just above the knee, going completely through.
Qui-Gon winced at the sight of the ghastly wound, then turned very concerned when he saw the blood staining the sand below the boy. Qui-Gon placed a comforting hand on Obi-Wan's forehead as he turned to Clieg, who was carrying his son towards the Jedi. "Obi-Wan's hurt! Come help me!"
Clieg nodded and put Owen down. He spoke to the small boy for a moment, and Owen turned and ran back towards the homestead afterwards. Clieg reached the Jedi, then paled at the sight of Obi-Wan. "How bad is it? It looks bad."
Qui-Gon nodded. "It's bad. The metal went all the way through. I'm not sure if it hit an artery or not, but he's in a lot of pain."
"I can imagine. We're gonna have to carry him back to my house somehow." Clieg looked around for a moment. "We can make a stretcher. That way we can carry him, but we won't have to touch his leg."
Qui-Gon nodded, then turned back to Obi-Wan. "Obi-Wan, listen to me. I'm going to leave you for a second, but I'll be right back. I need you to stay awake. Don't go to sleep. We're going to get you out of here."
Obi-Wan nodded with clenched teeth. "Hurry."
Qui-Gon patted his shoulder gently, then got up to search for stretcher material with Clieg. The two men managed to find a reasonably flat piece of metal that they could put the boy on. Using his lightsaber, Qui-Gon cut out a piece on the side that would allow the metal below Obi-Wan's leg to stick out, so as not to cause Obi-Wan any more pain. They also managed to attach some tubing to the sheet, to serve as 'handles' for them.
Qui-Gon nodded when they finished, satisfied with what they had made. "Alright. Let's get Obi-Wan on here." Clieg nodded, and they carried the stretcher to where Obi-Wan lay. The Padawan was still awake, but barely. When they picked him up to put him on the makeshift stretcher, he merely groaned when it bumped his leg. Qui-Gon knew how much it really had to hurt, so he knew that Obi-Wan was slowly losing it.
"We've got to hurry," he said to Clieg. With that, the two men each picked up an end of the stretcher and took off towards Clieg's home.
The trip seemed to take an eternity, with Qui-Gon's small wounds gradually getting worse. His arm began to lose feeling, and he was afraid he may drop his Padawan. Clieg, as well, seemed to be getting a little lightheaded. He kept stumbling and tripping. Finally, to Qui-Gon's great relief, the little homestead came into view. He could vaguely see figure running towards them in the distance. It was Kena, running towards the men with all her might.
They met in the middle, and she froze at the sight of Obi-Wan and the metal sticking out of both sides of his leg. She shook her head and turned to her husband. "Owen told us what happened. I've got a place set up for him so we can get that...thing out of his leg. And once he's stable, I can work on you two," she said in a shaky voice.
Qui-Gon and Clieg nodded, then continued to the home. They got inside and saw that a table had been cleared off and covered with a cloth. Kena pointed to it, indicating that they should lie Obi-Wan there. They set the boy halfway on the table, then waited until Tela found something to prop his injured leg up on, to prevent the metal from touching anything.
Her hands shaking, Kena took a pair of scissors and began cutting the pants leg away. She got too close to the wound once, and Obi-Wan cried out in pain. This startled Kena, who dropped the scissors.
Qui-Gon set a hand on Obi-Wan's forehead. "Obi-Wan, listen to me. I want you to repeat after me. It'll help take your attention away from the pain. Okay?" Obi-Wan nodded. "Alright. There is no pain-"
Obi-Wan cried out again as Kena began cutting away flesh from the wound. "There is pain! There is lots of pain!"
Kena looked up at Qui-Gon. "Can't we give him something for the pain? It must be terrible. Please," she pleaded.
Qui-Gon shook his head reluctantly. "If we give him anything, he could lose consciousness. And if he does that, he may never wake up again." Qui-Gon turned back to his Padawan, who had now lost all color in his face. "I know it hurts. But I need you to try not to think about it."
"Do you know how hard that is?" Obi-Wan asked through clenched teeth. He tensed up again as Kena wiped away dust and blood from his leg.
"I know. But if we give you anything, you could die. That's why you have to push it away on your own. Trust the Force, Obi-Wan. Trust the Force."
Obi-Wan nodded weakly, then began to chant the Jedi proverbs under his breath. Qui-Gon kept a comforting hand on his head, but turned to help Kena. She had cleaned the wound as best she could, but now was faced with the problem of getting the metal out. It was far too long to simply pull out. She looked up at her husband. "We're going to have to cut it. Here," she pointed to a part two inches above the top of Obi-Wan's leg. "And here," she said, pointing to a point just below Obi-Wan's leg. "That way, when we pull it out, there won't be so much."
Qui-Gon nodded to her, then turned back to his Padawan. Obi-Wan's lips were still moving to the mantras, but his eyes had lost all focus. Qui-Gon tried to get him to snap out of his stupor, but nothing worked. He looked up at Kena. "You'd better hurry. He's losing consciousness."
Kena nodded, her own face paling. Tela turned away and covered her mouth with a rag. Qui-Gon shook his head sadly then looked down at the floor. What he saw there was no more comforting. The floor was covered with blood. Obi-Wan's blood. Qui-Gon clenched his eyes shut, only opening them again when he heard Clieg return.
He held the boy down with a hand while Clieg began sawing away at the pole. It seemed to take hours, but finally it was short enough to easily pull out Kena didn't have the stomach or the heart to tug it out, so Clieg took over. He grasped the top part of the pole and pulled. Obi-Wan tensed up, but he was too far gone to scream. Qui-Gon gritted his teeth at the sight, but still mopped up the blood that came out. After a few agonizing minutes, the pole was pulled free of Obi-Wan's leg.
Immediately after it was out, Kena began putting anti-bacterial medicines in the wound, along with many other disease fighting components. After all of the medicines were administered, she shoved gauze into the wound. Then, last of all, she wrapped up the wound in a bandage. She stepped back when she was through with a sigh.
"There. Now all we can do is hope," she said, her voice quavering. As Clieg and Qui-Gon moved the boy to a bed, she sank down onto the floor. The buried her face into her hands and cried.