Chapter 14

Jacen and Tenal-Ka Solo sat listening to political leaders battle it out in debate over how best to restore Coruscant to its former state as a city-planet. The Yuuzhan Vong takeover of the capital planet of the galaxy had proved devastating. Nearly all of the artificial constructions had been destroyed or broken down into materials that could be used to feed the plants and organic creations the Vong had cultivated.

The proposals ranged anywhere from just building over top of what was already there as they had done in the past, to attempting to recycle the now bountiful organic life to create material that could be used for construction, to destroying everything; clearing the planet of both Vong organics and artificial constructions.

Not only were most of the ideas far-fetched, but it was also becoming extremely boring. Jacen sighed and glanced at his wife. He knew that underneath that mask of interest and thoughtfulness, was the no-nonsense, adventure-loving, debate-hating person he absolutely adored.

Tenal-Ka stretched, and in doing so, the cloak surrounding her fell aside exposing her left side and the limbless spot where her arm should have been. In an attempt to impress Jacen when they were children, Tenal-Ka had rushed her lightsaber construction, and as a result it had failed her in the middle of her duel with Jacen, causing him to accidentally sever her arm at the shoulder. The arm could not be reattached, and Tenal-Ka had refused any robotic replacement, wanting her loss to make her more independent and responsible.

He was about to whisper one of his infamous corny jokes to her, when she suddenly gasped and jumped to her feet. Jacen was about to inquire when he felt it as well. Something had happened to Denz!

Jacen and Tenal-Ka realized that the speaker had become quiet and was looking at them, as if annoyed. Jacen smiled sheepishly as he and his wife quickly left the auditorium. In the hallway, they set a course for the nearest communications room. They had to find out what was wrong. They knew Denz was still alive, but they were worried about how long that would last.

Tahiri rushed toward Denz as she whipped out her comlink. "Lowbacca, come in!" She received a lengthy growl in return. "Master Skywalker called? Listen. We'll discuss it when I get back; I have an emergency here! Send the retrieval shuttle immediately! One of the students has been severely injured!"

Lowbacca roared an affirmative.

In an afterthought, Tahiri added, "And make sure Tay Norat'k is on the ship. We're going to need her help!"

The Twi'lek, Tay Norat'k awoke from her slumber with a start, her headtails thrashed about before she calmed. What had awoken her? Had it been a dream or something real? She sat in the dark and reached out with the Force. Nothing seemed amiss inside the Jome, but there was some sort of disturbance deep in the forest. Before Tay had time to wonder if it had anything to do with Tahiri and the rest of the Jedi, a loud knock and roar came from the other side of the door. She was startled at first, but then realized that it was only Lowbacca. Tay climbed out of bed and padded to the door. As soon as she opened it, Lowbacca grabbed her, picked her up, and slung Tay over his shoulder.

Tay yelled at the Wookiee to put her down, but Lowbacca just kept going as he headed out into the lounge. M-TD was startled to see Tay's predicament and offered an apology for the Wookiee's brashness.

A second later they were outside, and Tay shivered in the cool night air. Not given a chance to dress, Tay only had a T-shirt and a pair of baggy pants on. The way Lowbacca was carrying her, she could not see in front of her, but realized that they were climbing a boarding ramp to a ship.

The Wookiee dropped her on the metal floor of the cargo hold and sealed the outer hatch. Lowbacca gestured for her to follow him to the front of the ship, but now that Tay was on the ship, he didn't seem to care if she went with him or not. Tay decided to accompany the Wookiee to where it might not be so cold.

She entered the cockpit and found Lowbacca in the pilot's chair warming up the engines and ignoring the pre-flight checks. She plopped herself into the copilot's seat and strapped in. Within seconds, they had lifted off and were shooting toward the center of a forest in the dead of night.

Denz was losing strength fast. Every second that went by his heart beat a little slower, and his breathing came in shorter gasps. Tahiri began feeding energy into Denz in an attempt to stabilize him. She instructed the students to do the same if they could.

Zeek was like a living life-support system, pumping his great Force power into his brother to keep him alive. They did not have to keep this up for long, however. After only a moment or two, the shuttle piloted by Lowbacca hovered overhead. The Wookiee pilot put down on the stone field where the duels had been held.

"Quickly! We must get Denz aboard the ship!" Tahiri said as the boarding ramp lowered.

"Zeek!" Jyo said. "You lift him and we'll help you."

Denz's brother nodded as he concentrated on Denz's body. He used the Force to lift Denz and levitated him up the ramp into the ship with the other students' help.

His eyes flew open and he sat up! Todan looked around, trying to figure out what was going on. He saw a ship and everyone hurrying inside it. "What's the rush?" He wondered. Todan stood up and yawned. He then realized that the boarding ramp was starting to close. "HEY! Don't forget me!" He yelled as he started running toward the ship.

Zeek had set Denz down and heard Todan's cry. He pulled the lagging student inside just before the outer hatch closed. His energy spent, Zeek collapsed on the cold metal floor of the hold.

Tahiri yelled into her comlink, "Lowbacca! Get Tay back here now!"

Five seconds later, Tay burst through the doorway to the hold and gasped when she saw Denz's black streaked upper body and red-stained cloak. She asked Jyo and Todan to help her remove the blood- soaked shirt and robe. Tay bit her lip to keep from gasping again as the torn and broken flesh was uncovered. She had always wanted to be a Jedi healer, but the thought of having to deal with such gruesome wounds had never occurred to her. Not having any actual medical equipment, the best she could do was to try and stop the bleeding. The color had begun to drain from Denz's face, which was a bad sign that if he lost much more blood, it would be all over. Tay instructed Jyo to use his lightsaber to cut Denz's shirt and cloak into long strips of cloth. She then wrapped his entire upper body in the cloth strips, while the others continued to give Denz strength.

Cordell had been aware enough to board the ship when it landed, but immediately after entering the hold, he seated himself in a corner and continued to stare at his lightsaber.

Just as Tay finished bandaging up Denz as best she could, they all felt the ship jerk as Lowbacca set it down. Before anyone could concentrate enough to lift Denz again, Lowbacca charged into the room and picked up the bandaged boy as the landing ramp lowered. He dashed into the nearest building, which turned out to be a lot like a medical ward. With Tay and the others in tow, Lowbacca entered a room that appeared to be equipped with every modern medical gadget there was.

Lowbacca laid Denz, who was still unconscious, on an operating table as Tay and Tahiri entered the room. The MD-1 droid of that room was startled by their entrance, but did not hesitate as it began its prognosis of Denz. "Status: unconscious. Blood loss: 90 percent to critical. Heartbeat: stable. External damage: repairable."

The droid paused as the other computers fed it new information. "X-rays show no bones broken except right wrist. Scans reveal no serious internal damage. Major organs: undamaged. Small tear in right lung from external trauma: repairable. Mental trauma: minimal."

As the droid gave them the run down, Tay and Tahiri removed the blood soaked cloth strips from around Denz's upper body. Lowbacca left the room to wait with the rest of the students.

Tay cleaned the wound and used a welding-like tool to seal it shut, leaving a long red mark where the gash had been. Tay was thankful that Denz was unconscious. She didn't know if she could have been so calm if he had been awake and aware.

"Is he going to be OK?" Tahiri asked.

Tay nodded, "The bacta tank will take care of the broken wrist and torn lung, as well as restore the lost blood into his system."

Tahiri smiled with relief and thanked Tay. She then exited the room and found all of the other Jedi students still waiting outside. "Denz is going to be fine, everyone. We should all return to the Jome and get some sleep."

Jyo, Zeek, Todan, and Salah stepped forward as the other students filed out of the building. "If it's all right," Jyo said, "I think we'd like to see Denz awake and healthy before we try to sleep."

Tahiri nodded, "Very well, you may return to the Jome when you are ready."

The four friends entered Denz's room and saw him floating in a bacta tank. Tay sat nearby, jotting something down on a datapad. She seemed startled when the others came in, and she jumped to her feet.

The scar from Denz's hip to shoulder stood out on his pale skin, but even as they watched, the color started to return.

"He lost a tremendous amount of blood." Tay explained. "But the regenerative properties of the bacta have already restored about 35 percent of the lost blood. His wrist is healing nicely, and once enough blood begins circulating throughout his body, he should regain consciousness. He did have a small tear in his right lung, but the bacta has already sealed it up.

"I have been monitoring his brain waves. Right now he seems to be enjoying a peaceful sleep."

He awoke with a start. It felt like he was surrounded by liquid, but he wasn't drowning. When his mind cleared completely, he rationalized that it must be bacta, the healing fluid. He heard voices, but no one was in sight. Everything was dark and blurry, and it didn't feel like he was hearing the voices with his ears, but they seemed to come straight through his Force senses. Having gotten his bearings, he listened carefully to what the voices were saying.

"So how long do you think it will take for him to wake up?" Zeek asked.

"Well, at the rate he's recovering, it shouldn't take more than three days." Tay replied.

"Three days!" Todan exclaimed. "They probably won't let us do anything fun until he wakes up!"

The others scowled at him.

"What?!"

Jyo suddenly stood. "I'll be right back."

The others watched him leave and began chatting amongst themselves. Salah noticed that Tay didn't join in the conversation much. "Is something wrong, Tay? You're kind of quiet."

"I'm just wondering what will happen to Cordell."

Before anyone could reply, Jyo burst back in the room. "Cordell's gone!" He exclaimed.

"What do you mean, 'gone'?"

"I just called over to the Jome. He's not there, and Lowbacca said he wasn't on the ship when he took it back to the hanger. To make sure, I scanned the planet for him, but he's nowhere to be found. I then contacted the spaceport and asked if any ships were missing. My fears were confirmed when they told me that a renovated Jedi starfighter was missing from the underground hanger. There is no record of it leaving, and the guards were found unconscious!"