"Are you sure?" Brodey's coach asked as he hovered over the young man's body.
"Positive. Look at the symptoms. He probably fell because of a headache," The medic replied as he waved a couple more medical personnel over to where Brodey lay.
"It just seems so sudden," The coach continued in disbelief. "I mean, don't withdrawal symptoms come on slowly?"
"With some types of spice they do, but the newer varieties are more unpredictable," The medic responded. "That's why we need to find out what he took."
"I just can't believe it," The coach said sadly, shaking his head.
"Let me through! That's my brother injured in there!" Ch'aanlei yelled as he pressed through the crowd. "Gods, what happened to him? We need to get our father in here! He's a jedi healer! He can help him!"
"I assure you, son, your father is on the way," The medic told him, trying to reassure the frantic young man. "I just need to ask you a few questions about your brother."
"Fine, what do you need to know?" Ch'aanlei sniffed as he wiped a tear away from his eye with the sleeve of his robe.
"He's showing signs of a spice addiction. Do you know what kind of spice he might be on?"
"No, I don't," Ch'aanlei said coldly, suddenly stiffening. "But I do know who does."
~*~*~
"Brodey?" Anja asked clearly as she wrapped a blanket around his feverish form. "Can you tell me what kind of spice you took?"
Brodey blinked slowly as Anja's form began to take shape. He could sense her anger and disappointment bubbling over inside, unlike the others who were just afraid for him. A sudden thought dawned on him: What if Anja didn't know that this was withdrawal? What if she thought he was addicted to spice again?
He wanted to tell her that he wasn't doing spice and that this was just an aftershock from a much greater problem, but he couldn't form the words properly. The only thing he managed to croak out was a name.
"Ganliet," He whispered hoarsely as the blackness swallowed him once again.
~*~*~
"Are you kriffing kidding me?" Ch'aanlei asked in outrage as he maintained his hold on the adolescent's shirt collar, pulling him up off the ground. "You must have a death wish! Giving Ganliet to my brother after all the media reports on the side effects might just be the last stupid thing you ever do."
"I'm sorry! I had no idea he'd react so violently!" Chaser squeaked in fear as Ch'aanlei's murderous gaze bore up at him.
"You better be sorry! You've been corrupting my brother ever since you came into his life!" Ch'aanlei barked through gritted teeth. "You introduced him to spice. You keep on pulling him farther away from his family and closer to the dark side. I think I'd be doing everybody a favor if I just killed you now!"
"You wouldn't," Chaser challenged, knowing that he spoke the truth. "Your honor is too much at stake. You wouldn't throw it away on a scumbag like me. Besides, I'm not the one who's pulling him closer to the dark side."
"Oh yeah?" Ch'aanlei asked indignantly. "Then who is?"
"It's so obvious," Chaser said in a far away tone. "I'm surprised you're not smart enough to figure it out already."
"Kid, you've got a lot of guts to say something like that with my hands around your neck," Ch'aanlei growled, growing angrier. "Now answer me! Who's pulling him to the dark side?"
"All of you," Chaser whispered icily.
~*~*~
"I've never heard of Ganliet spice!" Anja insisted angrily. "Maybe he's just delirious."
"I'm sure it's something that's not from this galaxy," Kyp muttered as he raked a hand through his hair. The group had managed to move Brodey back onto his bed and roll him over onto one side. Kyp found that his hair was amply soaked with sweat from the effort.
"Oh great!" Anja said sarcastically. "We're really going to be able to find out about it now!"
"Heh," Kyp snorted, casting a sidelong glance. "I guess it would be wishful thinking, but maybe rich boy has a data library installed on the ship's computer."
"Hey, it's worth a shot," Jaina remarked, taking Jag by the arm and leading him over to the ship's comm.
"She sure has that boy on a leash," Anja laughed under her breath. "I'm jealous."
"Why? You want to have a whipped little bantha cub following you around all the time?" Kyp asked with a snide half-grin. "I don't think anybody could put a leash on Brodey."
Anja glared at him defiantly with her hands on her hips.
"No offense, of course!" Kyp said mockingly.
"Hey, I think we found what we were looking for," Jaina called from the adjacent compartment.
"Really?" Kyp exclaimed with relief.
~*~*~
"Ganliet, in its purest form, is a potent stimulant and neurological toxin. It was originally discovered in mines below the village of Ganliet on Tsaorai. Many people have died since its introduction ten years ago on the streets of Freedom City. Death occurs both from the dose and from the withdrawal symptoms. Common causes of death during a high include aneurysm and heart attack while the most common cause of death during withdrawal is dehydration."
Ch'aanlei remembered the media broadcast well. It had been top news ever since Ganliet gained status as the new drug of choice for rich adolescents. He just never thought his brother would be so dumb to take it. It was painful to hear Chaser recount his story to the medical workers and police, to hear that his brother was so desperate that he took whatever Chaser handed him without asking what was in the vial.
"Do you know what the dosage was?" The medic asked patiently.
"One vial. Approximately a quarter of a millinic," Chaser answered cooperatively, pulling the vial out of his pack and showing it to the older man.
"That much?" The medic exclaimed, raising both eyebrows. "It's amazing that he's still alive!"
"It wasn't pure Ganliet," Chaser confessed. "I mixed a few other things in there too."
"Merciful Gods! What did you try and do to this boy?" The medic asked in outrage.
"Good question," Said a chillingly calm voice as the crowd hastily became silent. The swarm of people had parted and in the center of the opening in the crowd stood Noaa'lan Narundi. Heavily armed guards flanked him from every possible direction. Ch'aanlei wasn't sure if their purpose in this condition was to prevent assassination or to keep Noaa'lan from murdering Chaser. The king was displaying emotions that Ch'aanlei didn't think could come from his father. Noaa'lan still managed to hide them well from the public but he couldn't hide them from his son. Ch'aanlei could feel his father's fear and anger because he knew him better than the others. What he now felt rolling off his father chilled him to the core. "I'd love to hear the answer."
Chaser swallowed hard.
~*~*~
"So, does it describe the cure for withdrawal?" Anja asked impatiently.
"One second. . .yes, here it is," Jaina said, pointing at the screen. She read the line and her face quickly fell. "Looks like we need to give him an injection of this plant extract."
"Hah! I wonder if the mah'aala plant even exists in this galaxy!" Kyp laughed bitterly.
Anja moved closer to him, her eyes ablaze. "What alternative do we have, Kyp? Sit here and watch him die?"
"It says that as long as he doesn't die of dehydration then he'll live," Kyp challenged back, staring her down. "We should stop arguing and try and get water into him."
"Didn't you listen, Durron? He won't be able to keep it down! We'd need to do it intravenously, and I don't see any equipment like that lying around here, do you?" Anja sassed loudly.
"Well, then what do you propose we do, miss know-it-all?" Kyp snapped back, growing more than slightly annoyed at the woman.
"I don't know!" She yelled back, wringing her hair in frustration as her face turned redder. "I'm torn right now between wanting to help him and wanting to smack him so hard that his head falls off!"
Kyp just watched her silently as she seethed, not knowing anything to say to that. He sensed that Anja's trust in her boyfriend had been violated by Brodey's apparent lie of being clean and he didn't know what to tell her. That would be up to Brodey once, if he regained consciousness.
"Ahem!" Jag cleared his throat loudly and got the others' attention. "While you two were arguing I took the liberty to rifle through his personal effects. I found this."
~*~*~
Noaa'lan Narundi's eyes flickered with curiosity as the medic administered a pressure syringe filled with a viscous blue liquid into his son's arm.
"What did you just give him? What's wrong with him?" He asked, his voice shaking slightly as he knelt beside his injured son.
"Your Highness," The medic faltered and bowed, dreading the news that he'd have to deliver to the king. "I. . .I just gave him a dose of mah'aala extract. He should revive shortly. His arm was nearly ripped off in a boarding accident."
Ch'aanlei observed the look of stunned disbelief on his father's face as the king finally realized what his son had been into. Noaa'lan stared blankly at the medic with his mouth wide open. From there his gaze slowly moved to meet the fearful eyes of Chaser. The young man cowered, trying to hide amongst the faces in the crowd from his imminent death. If Noaa'lan had been feeling any other emotion besides denial then he would have surely launched himself right at Chaser but his gaze moved on. It fell quickly on Ch'aanlei.
Noaa'lan's bright blue eyes looked pleadingly up at his eldest son, hoping that Ch'aanlei could tell him that the medic was wrong. Brodey didn't need mah'aala extract. Brodey wasn't addicted to spice. Ch'aanlei only wished that it wasn't so but he couldn't lie to his father. Even if he tried he knew Noaa'lan would see through it. He met Noaa'lan's stare with one of sorrowful confirmation. Noaa'lan pulled his gaze away quickly and closed his mouth. He was stoic for a brief instant as he looked back at Brodey lying there on the dock. Brodey, the drug user, the alcoholic, the one he had failed. The king brought a hand up to his face, hiding the tears that were forming and the quivering lower lip. Ch'aanlei looked on helplessly as his father's shoulders shook forcefully. There was nothing he could do to help him and he stared, along with the rest of the crowd of people, as his father hit rock bottom.