4.
There were two things Jaina became aware of as she slowly regained consciousness. The first, and most distressing, was the pain. It was excruciating and not one part of her body was left untouched. The second, less distressing, was the two voices she could hear. She strained through the haze of pain to listen as they made their way closer to her.
"…I suppose I could try, but it's not something I was ever taught to do." It was a woman's voice, and vaguely familiar.
"How do you know about it then?" The second voice was not familiar at all, but it also belonged to a woman. Jaina tried to turn her head and open her eyes to see who was talking and immediately became aware of something far more distressing than the pain.
She couldn't move. Panicked, she tried again. Nothing happened. Panic turned to terror and she tried to open her mouth to speak. If she couldn't move, maybe she could try to get the women's attention by talking, or yelling, or something. Once again, nothing happened. She couldn't even open her mouth.
"I stumbled across it while doing some research—" the familiar voice abruptly stopped, pausing for a moment before continuing: "She's awake." The voice sounded surprised, then paused again. "Something's wrong."
Jaina could hear the concern in her tone and tried again to move or speak. Something was indeed wrong, and she was desperate to let whoever was speaking know. I CAN'T MOVE, she screamed in her head, knowing it was futile. Whoever it was, they most certainly couldn't read her mind.
"How can you tell?" The second, unfamiliar voice sounded skeptical. "She hasn't moved at all."
"I just can," the first voice replied. "May I?" The second voice didn't respond, and Jaina felt a hand gently grab hers. The panic and terror subsided slightly as she realized if she was paralyzed, she wouldn't have been able to feel that.
"If you can hear me, try and squeeze my hand," the first voice said. Her tone was soothing, and despite the panic and the pain, Jaina instantly felt at ease. She concentrated as hard as she could, focusing all her energy into her hand, trying to force it to do as the woman had asked.
Her effort was rewarded when she felt her hand twitch, slightly closing around the other woman's. "Good," the woman said. "Are you in pain?" Once again, Jaina focused as hard as she could, and her hand responded, twitching slightly. The effort was taking what little energy she had.
"Let's see if I can help with that," the woman said. "Do you mind?" Jaina didn't know if she was talking to her or the other woman, but considering she couldn't move or speak, she figured she didn't have much choice in the matter.
"Not at all," the other woman replied. "I'm very interested to see if it works."
Jaina felt another hand gently touch her ribs. The slight pressure sent fresh shockwaves of pain through her, and if she could've cried out, she would have. After a long moment, she began to feel a warm sensation spread throughout her body. It seemed to be originating from where the woman's hands were touching her. She had no idea what was happening but didn't care as the pain gradually began to subside.
As the pain started to recede, so did whatever paralysis had a hold of her body. It was as if she'd been frozen and was now starting to thaw. Her body began to twitch as her muscles relaxed, each spasm bringing on a fresh wave of pain. The sensation emanating from the woman's hands intensified slightly, then began to decrease.
After a minute or two, the sensation subsided completely and Jaina felt the woman remove her hands. Finally able to move again, she rolled her head to the side and tried to force her eyes open. She needed to see who it was helping her. She knew the voice from somewhere and wanted to know before she lost consciousness again.
"Is that better?" the woman asked. Her eyelids finally relented some, and she could see two blurry figures standing next to her. Trying to blink away the blurriness, she nodded as best she could.
"Thank you," she said weakly.
"You're welcome," the woman replied, and the figure closest to her started to move away. Her eyes refused to focus, however, and the woman moved out of her view. "The doctor is going to give you something for your pain and to help you sleep."
The other figure now moved out of her view as well, and Jaina tried to turn her head to follow, but the pain wouldn't allow it. She wanted to ask where she was and who they were, but she didn't have the energy.
A new, cold, sensation began rapidly spreading throughout her body, numbing the pain. She could hear the women speaking to one another again and tried to listen as best she could, but it wasn't long before the medicine took effect and she drifted off again.
She had no idea how long she'd been out for, but when she finally awoke, she was pleasantly surprised to find the pain had subsided to a somewhat tolerable level. A quick check told her that the paralysis hadn't returned, but any major movement was still out of the question. Her vision was back and she took a moment to look around the room she was in.
It was clear that it wasn't Imperial, and she breathed a sigh of relief. If anything could've made the situation worse, it would've been being in Imperial custody. The room was small and looked like it had been roughly transformed at one point into a makeshift hospital room. The walls were made of stone and covered in vines and moss, and the air felt damp. She assumed she was still on Akiva and wondered if Brentin had gotten word to Rowen about what had happened to her.
She frowned, realizing she couldn't remember what had happened. The last thing she could recall was confronting Brentin and his friends. After that, her memory was fuzzy. She shook her head in frustration. She needed to figure out where she was and whose care she was in.
The door slid open while she was trying to come up with a plan, and her mouth dropped open in shock as a woman walked in. It was the same stranger from the dream she'd had on Garel, albeit without the hood. She smiled slightly, realizing Jaina was awake.
Jaina stared at her as she walked up to the side of her bed. It was the same person, she was sure of it. She seemed taller than she had in her dream, but everything else was the same. Her brain was still foggy from the painkillers, and try as she might, she couldn't think of the name of her species.
"I'm glad to see you're finally awake," she said. As soon as she spoke, Jaina knew, without a doubt, it was the stranger from her dream. And the same woman who had helped her before when she couldn't move.
"Are you feeling any better?" the woman continued. Jaina nodded slightly.
"Yes," she replied. Her voice was thick from the medicine, and she winced at how terrible she sounded. "Thank you, for whatever you did earlier."
The woman subtly inclined her head. "You're welcome." She looked at Jaina thoughtfully. "You're lucky to be alive."
Jaina didn't know how to respond, so she just nodded again. She studied the woman's face, not even caring that it was obvious she was staring. She barely even noticed that the woman was studying her as well.
"Where am I?" Jaina asked her. "Am I still on Akiva?"
"No," the woman replied shaking her head. Jaina's eyes widened in worry and the woman added, "but you're somewhere safe."
Jaina frowned as she processed that information. The woman wasn't lying to her, that much was clear, but the fact that she hadn't said where she was made her uneasy. And she couldn't get a solid read on her emotions, which only added to the uneasiness. It was like the Inquisitor all over again, but without the dark cloud and unnerving sensation.
"So, what happened?" Jaina asked, somewhat bitterly. "How'd I end up here…wherever 'here' is?"
The woman raised an eyebrow at her. "I think I'll let someone who was there answer that." She keyed on her wrist comm and spoke into it: "You can come in now."
Jaina's eyes narrowed as the door slid open and the old man walked in, his arm in a sling. The woman from that night was right behind him, and she was surprised by the amount of relief she could feel from the two of them. The last thing she could clearly remember was that they'd had their blasters pointed at her.
"It's good to see you're okay," the old man said. "We were worried. You were in pretty bad shape." As soon as she heard his voice, her memory came rushing back. They'd been running from the Empire, running from the tanks, from the troopers. She remembered hearing the tanks firing, the explosions getting closer and closer.
His voice also brought another memory forward, one that caused a dull ache to form in her chest. Rowen. She hoped he was safe, and that if Brentin had gotten away, he would've told him what happened. She said a silent apology, knowing he would never hear it but hoping he'd understand and forgive her.
"What happened?" she asked the old man.
"Tank round exploded right in front of you," he replied, confirming her suspicions. "I tried to warn you, but I don't think you heard me." She slowly nodded. He caught her eyeing his sling and looked down at it. "The blast caught me too. Knocked both of us out, but I was lucky enough to walk away with just a busted arm and some bruised ribs." He gave her a sheepish smile.
She nodded again and he continued: "Kallus, the other guy, was able to drag me on board while Emry here," he motioned to the woman standing next to him, "got you."
Jaina shifted her gaze to the woman, Emry, who gave her a slightly embarrassed smile. "Thank you," she told her.
"You're welcome," Emry replied. "It was the least I could do after you saved us."
Jaina cocked her head, not quite understanding, then it hit her and she froze. She'd forgotten about what had happened with the rocket debris. She felt her face flush and quickly looked away. She still had no idea what that had been and if they were looking for an explanation, they were going to be disappointed.
"Speaking of—" the old man started to say.
"Rex," the familiar stranger said sharply. Jaina quickly looked up at her and saw she was frowning and shaking her head. "Not now."
Jaina had no idea what was going on between the two of them, but she didn't care, so long as she didn't have to explain. The woman seemed to realize this and for that, she was grateful. There was a moment of awkward silence, as the woman's sharp rebuke hovered in the air, then Rex cleared his throat.
He gave the woman a slightly chagrined look and rubbed his head with his good hand. "Ah, right. Sorry." He then turned his attention to Jaina. "Well, I guess we should let you get some rest." He nodded at the woman beside Jaina then headed for the door.
"I'm Jaina, by the way." She decided since they were nice enough to have given her their names, not to mention saving her life, the least she could do was be polite enough to give them hers. She couldn't feel any hostility coming from them and figured it was a harmless gesture that might work in her favor later on when she was healed enough to leave.
Rex turned back around and smiled at her. "Nice to meet you, Jaina." She returned the smile and watched him walk out the door. Emry turned to follow him, but not before she gave Jaina a nod and a smile as well. Jaina returned them both and watched her walk out after Rex.
"Are you hungry?" The woman's voice startled her and she jumped slightly, then winced in pain.
"Not really," she replied, even though she couldn't remember the last time she'd eaten anything. The medicine seemed to be dulling not only the pain but everything else as well.
"Now that you're awake you should try to eat something," the woman said. Jaina frowned but there was something in the woman's voice that told her not to argue, so she didn't. The last thing she needed was to make her mad.
"Fine," she said instead. "I guess I could try."
"I'll have the doctor bring you something when she comes in," the woman said. "Do you need anything else?"
Jaina swallowed an urge to blurt out the first sarcastic reply that came to her mind and shook her head. "No, thank you, I'm fine."
The woman nodded and turned to go. Before Jaina could stop them, the words slipped out: "I've seen you before."
The woman turned and looked at her. Jaina's face flushed and she rushed on: "I know it sounds crazy, but I've seen you before. In a dream, I had not that long ago. I just...needed to tell you. I don't know why." Embarrassed, she looked away, hoping the woman would say something, anything to break the awkwardness that now filled the room.
Finally, she sighed and gave Jaina a sympathetic look. "It doesn't sound crazy. In fact, I'm not surprised."
"You're not?" Jaina asked incredulously. She wasn't sure she heard the woman right.
"No," the woman replied with a chuckle. "There's a good explanation for it, but it's not something we're going to discuss right now. The doctor will be here shortly, and you need to eat and rest. I'll be back later, and then we can talk about your dream and what happened on Akiva."
The woman had a knowing look on her face when she mentioned both the dream and Akiva, and Jaina wondered if the two were somehow connected. She quickly pushed those thoughts and all the questions that followed from her mind. The woman had said now was not the time, so she'd be patient. It wasn't like she had anything else to do, and she certainly wasn't going anywhere any time soon.
"Okay," she replied. The woman turned to go, but Jaina had one last question she couldn't let go of.
"What's your name?" she asked, as the woman reached the door. She turned around again and smiled.
"Ahsoka," she replied. Jaina smiled back at her, happy that she'd answered. She'd honestly not expected her to, given how vague she'd been with all of the questions Jaina had asked her so far. Ahsoka left without another word, leaving Jaina alone with her thoughts.
She passed the time waiting for the doctor by taking stock of what was in the room. It seemed to be mostly medical equipment, and nothing she could use to identify where she was, or what group these people belonged to. Given what she remembered from Akiva, and how outfitted the room was, she knew she wasn't dealing with a simple group of pirates or smugglers. Whoever they were, they were more sophisticated than that.
Another thing she noticed, with a small amount of alarm, was that she didn't see the clothes she'd been wearing that night on Akiva. Normally she wouldn't have been concerned—she assumed the clothes were somewhat destroyed in the blast—but now that her head was clear, she realized she'd left her Imperial ident card in one of the pockets.
It was the one habit she hadn't been able to break. The card had been the last shred of a connection to her old life, and no matter how many times she told herself she needed to move on, she couldn't bear to throw it out. It was easy enough to hide, and she'd never worried about it being found while Emry had searched her. But if someone had gotten nosy and decided to thoroughly go through her pockets…
She shuddered. Even though she didn't know who these people were yet, she knew the fact that she had an ident card on her that identified her as an Imperial was not something that was going to help her. She wasn't naïve. She was fully aware of the growing unrest against the Empire. She saw—and felt—it everywhere she went.
She needed more information, and fast. As if on cue, the door slid open again and a woman entered. Jaina eyed her suspiciously until she saw the ration pack she had in her hand and realized she was the doctor Ahsoka had spoken of. The doctor smiled at her as she walked up to the bed. Jaina studied her, noting that she didn't appear to be as guarded as the others. If she went about this the right way, she might be able to get the answers she needed. She smiled back as the doctor handed her the ration pack.
"Thank you," she said. She wasn't hungry but opened the ration pack anyway. She said she'd try, and she would.
"You're welcome," the doctor replied. "How are you feeling?"
"Not great," Jaina replied, "but not terrible either."
"That's to be expected. You're very lucky the injuries weren't more severe." She was looking back and forth between her datapad and a monitor as she spoke. "Your recovery still won't be quick, however."
Jaina's face fell. That wasn't what she wanted to hear. She felt exposed and wanted to get away from whatever this place was as fast as she could. "How long?"
"That depends," the doctor said, "on a lot of things. How quickly your body decides to heal." She raised an eyebrow at her. "How quickly you allow it to heal. It could be a few weeks or a few months. I assume no one's gone over the extent of your injuries?"
Jaina shook her head. "I didn't think so," the doctor replied. She held up her hand and ticked them off on her fingers, one by one. "Broken ribs. Numerous lacerations. Some burns, though not as many as you could've had. And I had to remove quite a bit of shrapnel from pretty much everywhere."
Jaina cringed as she spoke. Ahsoka was right, she was lucky to be alive. The blanket and bandages she was covered in hid the injuries from her sight, but she could certainly feel them. Her whole body ached. Every little movement brought fresh waves of pain. Even breathing hurt, but now that she knew she had broken ribs, that made a little more sense.
"I guess I'm not going anywhere for a while," she said with a sigh.
"No, you're not," the doctor replied, a sympathetic look on her face.
"Is there any way I can contact my family? Let them know I'm okay?" She had a hunch and decided now was the time to see if she was right. The doctor was definitely less guarded than the others and playing on her sympathy could work in Jaina's favor.
The doctor hesitated, and for a moment Jaina thought it had worked. Then her face fell. "No, I'm sorry…" She trailed off. Jaina knew there was more she wanted to say, but couldn't. She gave the doctor a curt nod, feigning annoyance, and a silence fell over the room as the doctor continued her assessment. Jaina let the silence hang until it was almost uncomfortable before speaking again.
"So who do you work for? Crimson Dawn? Black Sun? The Hutts? Or maybe the Pykes?" She watched the doctor closely as she spoke, looking for any signs in her reaction that would tell her how close to the mark she'd hit. Shockingly, she saw none. The doctor stopped what she was doing and stared at her, genuine surprise written all over her face.
Jaina stared back, waiting for the woman's emotions to give her away, but all she could feel was the same surprise she could see. Frustration flared inside her; it had to have been one of those. There was no way she'd been wrong. If not one of the major crime syndicates, then who? Who else would have the credits and resources needed for this kind of medical care?
"They didn't tell you?" the doctor finally asked. Jaina frustratedly shook her head, ignoring the pain it brought on. "I work for the Alliance."
Shock and fear hit her at the same time as she realized what the doctor was saying. She quickly tried to hide her reaction, so as not to spook her and slowly nodded. "Ah….okay. That makes sense." The doctor smiled at her and went back to work.
She had been wrong. There was something worse than being in Imperial custody. She tried not to panic as her mind raced. She couldn't deny that they'd saved her life, but they were rebels. The same group of people who were hellbent on destroying the Empire. And now she was lying in one of their medical facilities, helpless and completely at their mercy.
She knew she should be thankful. She was alive and safe, for the time being. But even though she wasn't an Imperial any longer, the loyalty that had been literally beaten into her from her first day at the Academy wasn't so easily broken. These people were the Empire's sworn enemies, which made them her enemies.
And then there was the matter of her ident card. If they managed to find it, then she might as well kiss any hopes of freedom she had goodbye. There was no way they'd let her go, even if she was able to convince them that she was no longer an Imperial. The information she had would be too valuable for them to not try and exploit.
She grimaced. Let them try, she thought. She knew what it felt like to be tortured and interrogated. Every loyalty officer did. It had been part of their training, teaching them how to extract information by physically putting them through the methods themselves. If she could withstand that, she could certainly withstand anything these rebels could throw at her.
She was deep in thought when the door slid open once again. Ahsoka walked in, followed by a Twi'lek woman and a human male she hadn't seen before. He was older, tall, with thinning hair and a deep scowl on his face. Jaina glanced at Ahsoka, wondering what was going on, but her face was completely impassive, giving nothing away. The Twi'lek woman had her arms crossed and was regarding her warily.
"Leave us," the man said curtly to the doctor. Jaina watched, with some amusement, as she scowled back at him, obviously annoyed. But she didn't argue and quickly walked out the door, shooting another annoyed look at Ahsoka as she left.
The man turned his attention to Jaina and smirked. "Well, well, well. Had I known we were treating such an important guest, I would've come sooner. I hope you can accept my apology."
Jaina stared at him, trying to keep her face as neutral as she could and said nothing. He pulled something out of his pocket and her stomach dropped as she realized he was holding her ident card.
"An Imperial loyalty officer," he continued, looking at the card then back to her. "The Empire's most loyal servants, dedicated to rooting out corruption and treachery in the Imperial ranks." His tone was mocking and she fought the urge to sneer at him. "Did I get that right?"
His smirk twisted into a malicious smile and Jaina felt a flicker of fear pass through her. "Since you're here, let's have a little chat, shall we?"