Disclaimer: George Lucas owns Star Wars
A Shift in the Force: Chapter Forty: Inside the Bacta Tank
AN: A lot of concern for Sabé and people looking forward to Padmé dishing out some sass and truth, so I hope I deliver.
For Anya who's been absolutely wanting an update for weeks.
"My sister's health is my only priority, Master Jedi."
Padmé was a staunch supporter of the Jedi, after all, her sister was a part of the Jedi Order, and they had assisted her in retaking her planet, and she would be forever grateful to them for that. But this was Sabé, this was the woman that sent her data-messages whenever she could to keep Padmé and the rest of their family up to date on what she was doing, this was Sabé who came to Naboo on meditative retreats and didn't tell the Jedi High Council, this was Sabé.
"I understand that, and we want that as well," Mace Windu was trying to say, but Padmé cut him off.
"I don't believe you do," she said coolly. "Because if her health was your priority, then you wouldn't have had her forcibly removed from a bacta tank in order to interrogate her."
Mace's eyes flicked to where Talik was standing, looking, for her part, very innocent, but Mace Windu thought she'd perfected the art of looking innocent from Sabé, and he knew better than to believe that look.
After Talik's verbal outburst to the High Council earlier, he wasn't actually surprised and he couldn't help but admire her loyalty to her master, it was admirable, but misplaced.
"That is a private Jedi matter, Your Majesty," he said, ignoring the scoffing sound behind them, but Padmé did not. She turned to survey the Twi'lek.
"He means they're deciding if she gets to stay a Jedi or if they kick her to the curb," Talik translated for Padmé with an annoyed tilt of her head.
"I…see," the queen said, her tone frosty.
"In the events of a debilitating injury, the blood relatives of a Jedi can speak for them concerning their medical care," Talik pointed out, ever present and ever aggravating. "Queen Amidala is the highest ranking member of the Naberrie family and the only one that can speak for Sabé."
Mace's eyebrow twitched in irritation.
"I think," Padmé said calmly, "I'd like to see my sister, Padawan Shala."
"And I'd be happy to take you to her," Talik said, offering her arm to the queen and Padmé took it without a change in expression or indeed a glance back to Mace Windu where he was still frowning at the Jedi Healer.
"How are you?" Padmé asked her young friend quietly as they walked. The majority of her retinue was remaining behind with the ship but Captain Panaka remained half a step behind her.
"The past two weeks have been…rough," Talik grimaced and Padmé squeezed her arm comfortingly. "She's just been so ill and nothing we've tried has made her better, and I think she's only going to get worse, with how she's been doing so far."
Padmé's red and white painted lips drew downwards in a frown. "Is the Order going to throw out Sabé?"
Talik sighed loudly as a few Jedi stared at them as they passed by. "Honestly, I have no idea…they only know a fraction of the crimes she committed as Carina, but, technically, there's a clause to protect Jedi Shadows from persecution of the crimes they commit undercover. I'm not really sure how the High Council will feel about allowing a former Sith back into their ranks…it's been awhile since that happened…just through here."
The Jedi Padawan pressed the button beside the door, and it slid open to reveal a private bacta chamber.
The bacta tank itself was made large in order to accommodate possibly large Jedi Knights, Padmé was sure, and within it Sabé looked impossibly small.
There was a sharp intake of breath through her mouth in startled surprise, and Talik couldn't blame her; Sabé looked worse for wear these days, and Padmé hadn't seen her in more than a year.
Padmé took a cautious step forward, resting a hand against the surface of the bacta tank, looking at her eldest sister. The burn scars weren't something she'd ever seen before, even though she'd known that Sabé had scars, she'd been rather upfront about it the last time she'd been on Naboo, much to her mother's chagrin. The spiraling black tattoo adorning the side of her neck and her shoulder was something new though, Padmé was definitely sure that hadn't been there the last time she'd seen her sister.
She looked terrible.
"Careful," Talik warned, "Jay-Seven is a bit skittish."
"Jay-who?" Padmé asked in befuddlement before looking to where the Jedi Healer was pointing, surprised to note a black and hulking security droid resting against the wall, its optical lights fixed on her.
"Skittish is not a word I would use," the droid mentioned in a mulish fashion and Padmé blinked.
It sounded almost…human. Padmé didn't think she'd ever heard a droid speak like that, and she looked to Talik for an explanation.
"Obi-Wan said when Sabé was Darth Carina she found him and reprogrammed him, scrambled his circuits a bit, though," Talik had to admit, a small smirk playing on her lips. "The voice-print I'm pretty sure he had before…but my master has a habit of picking up droids with loyalty complexes."
Padmé's lips turned upwards. "Arthree?" she asked, thinking of Sabé's faithful astromech.
"Still recharging, he completely drained his batteries hovering around Sabé for the past two weeks," Talik explained, "when he's done he'll probably be back here…but the droids'll have to come with, especially Jay-Seven, Carina left him with a kill switch to kill every Jedi in the vicinity in the event of her death."
Padmé's eyes widened. "That's a bit…drastic."
"Obi-Wan thought so too." Talik snorted. "But, given his descriptions, I don't really think Darth Carina did things in halves."
Padmé frowned.
"You're probably going to want to see the holo-records for when she arrived," Talik mentioned, holding the datapad out to the queen. "You can look it over while I run a check on her vitals."
Padmé played the holo-video silently as Talik moved to scan the bacta tank. It was harder than she thought it would be, watching her sister play across the screen with yellow eyes that didn't suit her, dragging along an injured Obi-Wan by the arm as a shield. He'd grown a beard since she'd last seen him; Padmé wondered what Sabé's thoughts on it were.
"Obi-Wan was injured?" she asked, looking to Talik, who paused.
"Assassination attempt on Carina; they missed and hit him, don't worry he's fine," Talik assured her when she saw how Padmé's eyes had widened. "I think he's over at the Senate with Master Swan calming a heated dispute between two senators."
He had been personally requested, which wasn't that strange, but Anakin hadn't gone with him. Anakin had been complaining about that an awful lot lately, not going with Obi-Wan on as many missions; the one to find Carina had been the first in a short while, and the most dangerous. But Talik had always figured that had been because Obi-Wan didn't think that those missions would be the kind Anakin did very well on, negotiating and such, and even though Obi-Wan didn't care much for senators, he was very good at hiding his feelings, and Anakin was an open book.
Talik was sure that he'd complained about the matter to Chancellor Palpatine, much to her disapproval. If it had been a year ago, she probably wouldn't have minded so much, but Talik had been doing a lot of studying over the year, looking into magnifying her ability to sense the Force, and she was starting to understand why Sabé had never liked being on Coruscant, it was like a tingling under her skin that was stronger when she found herself in the Chancellor's presence, which was rarely, and she didn't really feel comfortable with Anakin sharing so much with the Chancellor, but that wasn't any of her business.
Padmé nodded, looking back to the holo-video in time to see Carina disappear into a room a few moments before there was a sound explosion and alerts blaring. "What happened exactly?"
"From what we can gather…the key-phrase that Sabé left with Master Plo to reassert herself after the split she made to become Carina ripped apart her mental shields," Talik said slowly, tapping her fingers out against the screen to document that Sabé's elevated heart rate had calmed since Padmé's arrival. "She's always been sensitive to the Force, I think it was too much for her to handle…sensory overload. I doubt she even realized that she ripped a hole in the wall."
Padmé recoiled in surprise. "She ripped a hole in the wall?"
"Yeah." Talik grimaced. "Ripped apart her prosthesis too." Padmé looked to the stub of her arm where the silver-plated arm had once been. "She was pretty out of it. We had to sedate her to even get her into the bacta tank."
Padmé looked to her sister, before looking back to Talik who noticed her staring immediately.
"What?"
"Oh, nothing," she said, smiling.
Sometimes Obi-Wan really didn't understand Anakin. His irritation with Obi-Wan seemed to be growing and Obi-Wan couldn't quite fathom why. It was true that he was rather laid back for a master to a Padawan, observing Sabé and Talik together had showed him that. But Anakin was so impulsive and reckless to Obi-Wan's patience and peace.
Sabé had said he would be the making of Obi-Wan, with a far too knowing look in her eye, but Obi-Wan couldn't really see it.
He sighed and Anakin frowned, his emotions blaring across their bond as they walked silently down the Halls of Healing, both pausing before the sliding door that both knew Sabé was behind, surprised to find it well guarded.
"Captain Panaka," Obi-Wan remarked in surprise, "I thought you were still protecting Queen Amidala on Naboo."
The dark-skinned man looked him over, eyes appraising. "Knight Kenobi," he said, "I almost didn't recognize you. And I'm still protecting the queen."
Anakin's eyes gleamed as he pressed the button, grinning widely as he saw the woman standing in ornate garb, face painted. "Padmé!"
"Ani!" Padmé's smile was clear even behind her makeup as Anakin and Obi-Wan approached, Anakin almost hugging her before opting just to take her hands; he was least likely to topple anything that way. "Look at you! You've grown so much!"
He was no longer that little boy she'd once known on Tatooine, he was a boy of fifteen, still growing and already level with her and then some. He'd clearly taken a cue from Sabé, with robes a darker brown and a leather jerkin that Padmé still remembered her sister sporting.
"So've you," Anakin said with a smile. She had grown more beautiful since they'd last met, but Anakin didn't mention that, the thought more in the back of his mind than anything else. "How're things on Naboo?"
"Peaceful," Padmé said, still smiling.
"Is that senator still a piece of—?"
Obi-Wan gave a rather polite cough before Anakin could even get the word out, but Padmé still laughed.
"Unfortunately," she admitted, her disapproval of the matter radiating, even though the smile was still present on her lips, "but he only has a few more months left before another is elected to replace him…what about you? Still practicing the Ataru?"
Talik allowed herself a private smile of her own at how interested both were in each other's very different lives, even though they really only understood half of what the other was saying half the time.
Anakin grinned. "Absolutely!"
Then Padmé's eyes flicked towards the man standing beside him. "Obi-Wan Kenobi, it's been far too long."
"Indeed it has, Your Majesty," Obi-Wan said, giving a respectful bow that made Anakin roll his eyes towards Padmé. "Congratulations on your second term."
The vote had been more than a year previously, but Obi-Wan wasn't in as close contact with Padmé as his padawan was.
"Thank you…" Padmé said, looking like she was considering saying more, but Talik spoke over her.
"Have they decided to cut her off?" the Twi'lek asked loudly.
Obi-Wan sighed. "The High Council is still in session, Talik."
Disdain was evident in Talik's entire expression, but then Padmé looked back to Obi-Wan, noticing how his eyes had drifted to her sister in her bacta chamber, hazel eyes softening slightly.
That was a new development.
"I'll be taking her with me back to Naboo," Padmé said, bringing all three Jedi's attention front and center. "With or without the High Council's permission."
She wasn't even sure what kind of response she was expecting, particularly from Obi-Wan, whom Sabé had always described as being rather pro-Jedi Order, hence why Sabé had never made her love for him obvious. Love was something forbidden by the Order, after all.
But Obi-Wan's lips twisted into a faint smile under the short cropped gingery beard. "You sound like her," he said, the fondness clear.
"The statistic likeliness of that is close to thirty one percent," a modulated tone behind them pointed out a bit blandly, "increasing depending on if you are acting the part of 'Queen Amidala'."
"Have you met Jay-Seven?" Obi-Wan asked wryly and Padmé released a small chuckle.
"Slightly," she said, turning back to look at the hulking security droid. "He's quite a character."
"He is that."
"That sounds like an insult," Jay-Seven decided.
"It probably was," Talik crossed her arms, leaning against the bacta tank in order to arch an eyebrow towards the droid. She saw how its finger pieces tightened over the blaster that Carina had undoubtedly given him prior to their arrival at the Jedi Temple; he didn't like people being quite so close to Sabé. "Ready to get off this planet, bucket-head?"
"I am ready to get out of this temple," the droid grated and Talik smiled sweetly to Padmé.
"He grows on you," she said simply. "Like a fungus."
"That is far too unlikely to calculate," Jay-Seven responded miffed and Anakin hid his sniggers behind his hand when the door slid open once more, this time to reveal Yoda, moving forward slowly, his gimer stick in hand.
"Quite a gathering, this is," the Grandmaster mentioned and Talik leaned off of the bacta tank. "Unsurprised, though, I am not."
No one could really come up with anything to say to that, but nothing was needed as the green Jedi moved past them slowly to stand in front of Sabé in the bacta tank, resting a three-clawed hand against its base, the highest he could reach.
Talik could never be sure how Yoda really felt about his old Padawan, he'd always seemed ambiguous at best, and on rare occasions, very rare occasions, it seemed that he actually liked her, like now. Talik didn't know how her master, with such an open and loving heart, could've been raised by someone like Yoda who didn't believe in that kind of thing.
They allowed him a brief moment before he removed his hand and turned around, grasping his gimer stick and tilting his head back to look at them all.
"Decided it has been," he said and the smiles fell from their lips abruptly, "that no longer a Jedi, Sabé Amidala is."
"What?" Talik demanded furiously as Anakin's mouth fell open. She would've berated the Grandmaster if she'd gotten the opportunity, but Yoda cast her a reproachful glance and raised a hand to stall the flow of her words.
"Gone is Darth Carina, with her died her crimes," Yoda continued, "uncertain, my old Padawan's fate is. With the Jedi? Perhaps. With the Sith? Perhaps. With neither? Perhaps. Her choice it is. Do not agree, many on the Council do. Demand, there is, for the Sith Holocron that searched for Sabé did. Believe, they do, that collateral it should be, for her to be allowed back to the Temple."
"Do you believe that, Master?" Obi-Wan asked and Yoda heaved a heavy sigh.
"Believe that my old Padawan succeeded in finding the Holocron, I do," Yoda admitted, "but believe the experience as Darth Carina changed her, I do. A Jedi perhaps she is not meant to be. The choice is hers."
Padmé straightened her spine when the Grandmaster fixed his old eyes on her. "Permitted you are, then, Queen Amidala, to bring your sister home."
"Thank you, Master Yoda," Padmé said respectfully and regally, despite knowing full well that he would never approve of the relationship Sabé had with her family. Then she called for the bacta tank on her ship to be brought down to the room and Yoda meandered off.
"So she hasn't technically been kicked out," Anakin mentioned hopefully.
"I'm sure some on the High Council would've preferred that," Talik scowled, thinking of Pablo Jill and Coleman Trebor, who had always been rather vocal of their disapproval of anything Sabé did. "Really, it's more like a suspension."
"Unless she doesn't come back," Obi-Wan said and all three looked at him.
"You really think she won't?" Anakin was dubious at best, and Padmé could understand that sentiment, after all, a Jedi was all that Sabé had ever expressed a desire to be.
"I think we will just have to wait and see," he said, dropping a hand to his Padawan's shoulder. "Sabé deserves some peace and quiet to come to her own conclusions, don't you think?"
Anakin's expression was positively petulant and Padmé allowed herself a small smile.
"Do you have room on your transport for one more?" Talik asked, turning to face Padmé a bit more completely.
"What? Talik you can't just leave!" Anakin had never looked quite so heartbroken as the time she'd disappeared for three months to train on Dagobah.
"Sabé isn't going to get back to full strength on her own, she needs someone who understands the Jedi way and who specializes in healing, someone that she trusts," Talik stressed. "Of course I'm going…that is if you don't mind having me around all the time?"
"We'd be more than happy to have you," Padmé assured her.
"Never one without the other, Talik Shala and Sabé Amidala."
"I'm sorry," Talik said, rubbing her arm uncomfortably as her substitute master drank her tea in her apartment within the temple, looking remarkably serene. "I didn't mean to sideline you, you're a great master, really, Master Aayla, but—"
"But Sabé is the one you chose," Aayla responded with a smile that was easy and understanding. "You don't need to explain yourself to me, Talik, I've been there."
Talik so often forgot that Aayla's first master, Quinlan Vos, had relinquished her training to his former master.
"Sabé's going to need your help…it's not going to be easy," Aayla warned and Talik swallowed.
"I know," she said seriously, "but she's my master…and I owe to her to at least try."
It was thinking like that that would've earned her reproach from Yoda.
"Good," Aayla nodded approvingly as she stood, "I have something for you before you go."
Talik's brow furrowed as she followed Aayla into her room in order to pull a box from under her bed, stepping aside to allow Talik to stand in front of it, looking to Aayla in surprise before pulling the lid off, her eyes widening.
"You were looking up some Jedi that went Dark and came back a few days ago," Aayla mentioned, "I know you were interested in Bastila Shan's history and you followed her line down to Satele Shan. You were a bit focused on her, so I thought her style of clothing might suit you better than the black."
Talik lifted the combat-styled tunic that was olive-green in color with silver trimmings, trousers a similar color, and headgear to match.
"I honestly think you were trying to emulate Sabé too much," Aayla chuckled, "but even black wasn't her favorite color."
"It's perfect," Talik said in awe, grinning at her. "Thank you."
"And when Sabé wakes up, I want you to give her this." Aayla was holding a glowing red stone in her hand.
"What is it?" Talik asked, taking hold of the stone. It fit into her palm and pulsed with heat, like a tiny beating heart.
"It's a Heart of Fire," Aayla said. "Quinlan gave it to me for my thirteenth birthday…you're supposed to give them to someone you love."
Talik's eyes softened and she hugged Aayla tightly. She wasn't the only one that had lost Sabé for a time; Sabé was one of Aayla's closest friends and had suffered too.
"I'll look after her," she promised into Aayla's shoulder.
"Good," Aayla said, pulling back to bring a finger under her chin, "so long as you look after yourself too, Talik."
"I promise," Talik said.
"How long are you going to be gone?"
Tiplar had offered to ride with Talik on the speeder bus to 500 Republica to pick up some things from the apartment for Sabé, and she was remarkably somber about the whole thing. It plucked at Talik's heartstrings to see such a look on Tiplar's lovely face.
"I don't know," Talik said honestly, fixing her lightsabers where they were hanging at the sides of her hips, one clattering slightly against the blaster pistol secured on her leg. She wasn't yet used to the new tunic that Aayla had gifted her, but she liked it far better than the black jumpsuit she'd been wearing for months. "Months, hopefully not more than a year."
Hopefully Sabé would come back to the Jedi Order with her.
Tiplar nodded in understanding, relief flowing through the Force. It made Talik's heart skip a beat.
"I'd get bored without you," Tiplar said, sparing her a smile as they stepped out of the speeder bus together, heading into the residential tower, ignoring the looks from newer patrons, after all, why would two young Jedi Padawans be there in the first place?
Talik laughed as they made it to the lift. "You'll be fine," she said with certainty, "you've got Tiplee."
The look Tiplar gave her was one that she couldn't quite comprehend. "You know that's not what I meant."
"You can always data-message me," Talik pointed out, her grin still present, "Anakin does that all the time with Padmé."
Tiplar's eyes glittered. "I just might," she said, just that side of cheeky as Talik punched in the code to Sabé's apartment.
It was still as spacious and ornate as Talik remembered, better suited for a Senator than a Jedi, but there were obvious hints that a Jedi had lived in it.
"Wait here," Talik suggested to Tiplar, who was looking around the apartment with interest, never having been in it before, "I just need to grab some of her things."
Tiplar nodded absently.
Obi-Wan had sent over what little things she'd brought in the transport as Carina in a black bag, but Talik didn't hardly glance at it, instead opting to pull the clothes out of the closet and the credits Sabé had tucked out of sight in case of dire need.
Then her eyes fell on the two sabers resting on the table beside Sabé's bed, covered with a fine layer of dust, unmoved since the day Sabé had left them there.
She almost grabbed them, but the Force rang in her mind, a suggestion, a warning.
So Talik left them where they were, reaching under the bed to pull out a box, clicking it open to reveal the many sided Holocron that Sabé had made herself. That was definitely something she was going to want to see.
Talik almost left the room, then, but then she turned her attention back to the bag. There was a round cylinder that was heavy enough that Talik decided she really didn't need to know what was inside. And then there was the double-sided saberstaff that Obi-Wan had described.
She took it in her hand and weighed it there. It was rather lightweight and she thumbed it on with interest. Red blades shot out from either side before stuttering and failing.
Talik couldn't help her disappointment, but the Force hummed in approval, so she shoved it into the bag and zipped it, ready to take it all back to the Temple, where Padmé was awaiting her arrival.
Really, the Initiate shouldn't have been out, particularly at that time, but he wanted a place to hideout and read the schematics on the Starfighters in the Temple in peace and quiet, and he sensed the procession more than heard, lifting his head to watch the Nubian guards walking with the Queen that had arrived earlier that day, the rear pulled up by Jedi Healer Talik Shala and a bacta tank on a lift.
There was a tingle in the back of his mind as he watched, his eyes fixed on what he knew to be Sabé Amidala.
But even he didn't understand the sensation.
AN: So, Padmé does what she wants and Sabé is kind of kicked out, kind of suspended for the time being. Talik and Tiplar are wonderful, and who is the young Initiate?
As always: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!
