Chapter 13

Ranzel stood to one side, his dark brown eyes fixed on the slumped figure on the table. The surgeon was working on reconstructing the flesh, pulling it together and sealing it little by little.

The Force had told him that something was wrong, and the weak cry of help that the Padawan had sent to him had been helpful enough in finding him.

But Ranzel hadn't expected to find him on such a low level of the complex, nor in such a terrible condition. Leo had lost a lot of blood, and it was merely the strength of the Force in him which had been keeping him alive.

Soon enough Ranzel had delivered him to the surgery, and since then it had been a rush for the doctor to replace his blood, and begin work on the repair.

Leo had needed some stretches of synthetic flesh to replace some of the parts where whatever had done this to him had torn him to pieces. Ranzel suspected they were Gnorlashes, since the species did often smuggle its way in to places like this, and hide waiting for unsuspecting prey where they weren't wanted.

Ranzel considered Leo lucky to have escaped them, if that was the case. Considering that the youth knew very little about this Galaxy.

Which was half the problem, Ranzel considered; He knew very well about the Gnorlashes, the Mandorcs, the Cromellians – but Leo knew nothing of them until he met them.

There was so much that must be a complete mystery to him – and the Universe was a dangerous place. Not knowing about things was as good as being dead already.

Ranzel would have to be sure to educate Leo a little in what he needed to know - and perhaps if he threw in a few myths it might help. Often what was only mythology made itself a reality in the face of a Jedi.

Leo groaned into the pillow underneath him, and Ranzel smiled and stepped forwards slowly, waiting patiently for Leo to speak.

The first thing Leo did realise was the insistent pain in his back. But it was less now than it had been in the moment of sudden tearing flesh, and he could block out a little of the pain if he tried to ignore it. He began to focus a little on what was around him, instead of dwelling on the pain, and steadily he became aware that he was no longer in the dark, and that Ranzel's presence hovered just to his right.

"Can I move?" he asked Ranzel slowly. He could feel something still working on his back, but he wasn't entirely sure what it was.

"No," Ranzel replied, quietly. "You're being patched back together by the surgeon. Relax, close your eyes and concentrate the Force within you to healing your wounds."

Leo closed his eyes and let a slow sigh. Anything that moved his back hurt, and he was sure that too much movement would disrupt the surgeon. Slowly it began to hurt a lot less, but he wasn't sure whether it was the cause of the doctor's ministrations, or else of the Force itself. At any rate he was concentrating furiously on healing, his eyes tightly shut.

It was intense, and difficult. Firstly, he had to empty his mind of everything, including the pain in his back, and then he had to focus on the Force around him, bring it flowing through him to the point of the wound. Ranzel didn't expect him to manage anything like that…but perhaps Leo would be capable of wiping the feeling of pain from his mind.

Leo didn't find it easy at all to ignore that pain, but he did it none the less. Somehow it was easier in this half asleep state to manage this strange power than it had been otherwise. He'd have to remember that for future reference.

Soon enough, the surgeon was done with repairing Leo's back, and Ranzel helped him slowly to his feet. The drunken feeling was gone, but he felt tired from the effort of struggling with the pain, and he had to lean against the elder man as he was led slowly out of the bright surgery, back into the thick, consuming darkness of the cave systems.

"We'll spend our nights here in the ship, under a total lock down. It's much safer in the long run."

"Ranzel," Leo said after a moment. "Did you know I'd been…kidnapped?"

"I had my suspicions…but I wasn't sure; No," Ranzel replied, with a momentary glance at Leo. "Those I asked were unclear on the exact circumstances. The best I understood was that a lightsaber had been drawn."

There was a space then, which allowed Leo to fill in exactly what it was Ranzel didn't know – he remained silent for a moment, and then did just that.

"I was attacked by…by something – well several things, really." Leo struggled to remember the details in the same way that he had been able to see them in his mind at the Temple.

"There were certainly no less than three of them. The first distracted me. Well, he tried. I took out his blaster when another came for me. He retreated from my lightsaber – but a third attacked afterwards."

Leo took a rest here and closed his eyes. "I was overpowered by the third one…" he said, softly, knowing Ranzel would find fault with his not calling on the power of the Force to aid him.

Ranzel didn't say anything; he let Leo continue. Apparently he would be saving his reprimand for the end of the story.

"Either one of the first aliens, or a new one, attacked me from behind…they knocked me out with a single blow."

"If you had used the Force to the best of your ability, not only would you have not lost consciousness, but you would also have at least been able to identify the types of alien involved." Ranzel said, sternly, just as Leo had predicted he would.

Leo shook his head. "You didn't ask me."

Ranzel narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. "You should have told me without being asked, Leonard."

Leo skirted the edge of another reprimand boldly. "One of the aliens had a pig like face…" At Ranzel's blank look he went on. "His skin was in folds over his cheeks and chin, and his nose was upturned. His eyes…" Leo concentrated a little. "Very tiny and…and blue."

"I see…" Ranzel said thoughtfully as they stepped out into their docking bay. The Renzucon was there, looking tired and lonely, but Leo was glad to see it again. Within the walls of the ship, things were predictable. Time continued on a steady course, and no nasty aliens were about to rush in and knock him senseless.

They stopped at the ramp of the ship, and Ranzel flicked his eyes towards the exhausted figure of his Padawan. Leo was exhausted, and obviously suffering from the pain in his back, even if he didn't display it obviously. The doctor had told him the pain would stop him for about five or six days, at the least, but Ranzel didn't believe that the doctor knew anything about the recuperation of the Jedi.

For the next few days, Ranzel would simply have to teach Leo how to go into a Jedi Trance, and focus him on the Force, and on completely striking the existence of the world from his mind, freeing himself of his emotions; that was the key. Perhaps, with a little meditation behind him, Leo would be okay to tackle the fight he was expected to be a part of.

Cantauri remained ahead of them though – but no doubt Arakaziel would spend his time training his own initiate to take on the older student, adding special tips that the Master could identify as to the flaws of the Otherworld Padawan. Ranzel would simply have to counter him with his own tips – but he was no Jedi Master.

After all, where there is a Master, there is a reason for their gaining the title. Soft on the outside, they might appear to be, but on the inside they could be hard as steel, or even devoted to the Dark Side entirely. Such things had been in the past, and remained now as unwelcome possibilities.

But there would be no possibility, lie as he might to the Jedi Council, and to the Masters of the Temple, there were only two options. He could fail, or he could succeed. Success might mean the end of the Empire – but failure… Failure would go beyond a simple Jedi's pride. Failure would mean the rise of a new Dark Lord, and the total destruction of everything that Ranzel held dear.

There was no in between. It would come down to one or the other, depending on how Leo reacted to his training, and how much he was perverted by the causes of the Dark Side.

But if that really had been a Jamafet that Leo had found himself fighting, then perhaps the Sith were not so far away from striking against them. Most of the Jamafet spies had taken up with the Empire – and if they weren't working for the Empire, then why risk attacking a Jedi?

However, this wasn't the time to trouble anyone over the Jamafa people. Nor was it a time to trouble Leo over the possible implications. He wasn't ready for that kind of knowledge yet – and definitely not in the current position he seemed to be in.

Ranzel stepped over to Leo and offered him his shoulder to lean on as they went up the ramp into the ship. At least, if he could always be there to offer his kindness, and the safety that Leo required, then Leo might remember him if he ever found himself forced to make such a dark choice.

As soon as they were on board, in the safety of the ship, with the bulkheads between them and any listeners, Leo began to recount the rest of the story.

"I woke up in an almost completely dark place. There were…aliens there. I couldn't see them well. They wore cloaks too." Leo shook his head. "One of them had claws. He held my throat," he explained, at Ranzel's puzzled look. The puzzlement turned to a smile, pleased with Leo's perception. They asked me questions…my name, about you, about the ships that attacked us. They drugged me to answer them."

"Why didn't you use the Force to call for help? Or reject the poison?"

"Something was blocking it…the planet, I think."

Grimly, Ranzel nodded. At least Leo had tried. "What else?"

"Lots of questions I couldn't answer; the whereabouts of a Princess I didn't know - the capabilities of some super-weapon - the mission of a particular ship…"

Leo shook his head. "I couldn't answer them, because I didn't know them. But I can't offer any other compensation for my failure." He sighed and then winced at the pain in his back.

"Relax…" Ranzel replied softly. "Finish the story, and get some sleep. What happened would have happened to any inexperienced Jedi."

"Thank you." Leo said warmly, casting his gaze up at Ranzel briefly.

"Go on then…"

"When they were done questioning me, they simply turned me away…gave me my lightsaber, too," Leo went on.

Yes, Ranzel mused to himself. That sounded like the calmer of the Jamafet races; always stepping in to protect something that might be useful again.

"And then…?"

"Then I got mauled by tiny little aliens with sharp teeth!" Leo snapped. "You saw my back! They were trying to eat me!"

"Calm your emotions, Leonard," Ranzel governed the younger man. "Take a breath and relax. You don't need to be so angry about this."

Ranzel waited until Leo was as calm as he had insisted, and then went on. "They were Gnorlashes. They will attack and eat anything that invades their territory, and considering the extent of your training, you were very lucky to escape."

Leo gave him a brief, withering look, but managed to contain himself again as another wave of pain slashed away the emotion.

"You must give your back some rest," Ranzel murmured, looking over Leo with obvious worry. "Let your flesh heal, and tomorrow we can do some hard work on mental exercises, so that you may use the Force to help you heal."