Consequences

Rating: T+
Summary: All choices have consequences whether they be good or bad
Disclaimer: All cannon characters are owned by the Great Flanneled One, and now Disney. All Enterprise characters are owned by the Great Bird of the Galaxy. All others are mine. I make no money off this.
Note: This is a sequel to Choices

Timeline: 40BBY

Speech: " "
Training Bond communications: /
Internal thoughts: italics

Chapter Nine

He lay there in the warm afterglow, sated and completely content. After being separated for so long it was if they were newly wed again. Finally rousing himself from his self-induced stupor, he nuzzled Eira's neck.

She shifted under him, her hands roamed up his back and into his hair, and then down into his beard. They turned over so that he was now resting on his back. "You know, I don't think you needed to put up that shielding," her voice muffled, "the stone walls are good enough."

"Not after what I did this time." Running a hand through her black hair, he couldn't help but notice the silver strands that glinted in the low light.

Eira pulled back and looked up at him, the skin wrinkled around her eyes in a smile. "And the bonds?"

This time he rolled his eyes. "I do not want anyone to have any idea what we do in private." His eyes flickered over to the door and then to the other side where there was a window. It was dark outside.

Looking out the window he felt something calling for him. After gently disentangling himself, he got up and went over to the window. Everything went dark and he wasn't in their bedroom anymore. The call grew dark, and turned into a hissing sound.

"Eira?" Obi-Wan called out to her as he turned around, but all he heard was that hissing sound.

Flames coming out of nowhere licked at his body, consuming him. Within that living hell his mind and body created, a hand of comfort broke through to reach out to him. "Obi-Wan, can you hear me?"

"Obi-Wan?" Qui-Gon woke to find his apprentice collapsed onto the floor, thrashing and moaning in obvious pain. How he managed that Qui-Gon would never know. He did know that his nerves were once again sending his brain the wrong signals.

"Obi-Wan, can you hear me?" he asked again, this time his voice stronger. Now kneeling beside Obi-Wan he placed a hand on his chest, feeling his heart pounding and then begin to falter. At that point he knew he had to get Obi-Wan awake, and quickly. "Obi-Wan, you will wake up," he gave the order augmented with the Force. Obi-Wan's eyes flew open and he reached out and grasped Qui-Gon's arm while crying out in pain.

"I'm here, Obi-Wan." Qui-Gon furrowed his brow, the sleep did little for his own headache. Taking a deep breath, he reached back into Obi-Wan's mind and helped him once again to release the pain into the Force. When it was finally bearable for Obi-Wan, he found him openly weeping. His breathing and heart rate slowly settled back down to normal levels. "Can you tell me what happened?"

/I dreamed I was consumed by fire./

Qui-Gon pressed his lips together. "Is that how it feels?"

After a few moments, Obi-Wan nodded.

"Was there anything else to your dream? If so, then we might be able to anticipate these before they happen."

/Yes, there was./ Obi-Wan looked away, but eventually turned his attention back to Qui-Gon, /Eira was there, but she was much older…I was much older./

The two remained on the floor until Qui-Gon picked Obi-Wan up and settled him back on the bed.

/It also felt that there had been a long separation./ Obi-Wan narrowed his eyes, as if trying to recall the dream. /It makes me think that this what I had was vision, and not just a dream./

Qui-Gon opened his mouth to remind Obi-Wan his thoughts about visions, but was cut off.

/I know, Master. I still think it was a vision of sorts, and from the future. How far distant I'm not sure./

"The here and now is more important, Padawan." He got up and then went over into the corner where he had a blanket folded on the floor. Qui-Gon lowered himself into one of their many meditation poses then lowered his voice, "Get some more rest, Padawan. I believe it's still many hours until morning."

Obi-Wan had been lying on his back, then turned onto his side. /Master?/

Qui-Gon opened his eyes, "Yes?"

/I'm afraid I'll roll off./

A small smile crossed Qui-Gon's face. "Don't worry, Padawan. I'll make sure that doesn't happen. Now, get some rest." Instead of slipping down into a light meditation, he watched as Obi-Wan's eyes slid shut and his apprentice slowly descend back into sleep. Rising to his feet, he took the few steps to reach the bed then sit down on its edge. Obi-Wan wasn't totally asleep. To help him along, and to make sure that he descended into the realm of dreams, he placed a hand on his forehead and gave him a minor sleep suggestion.

Feeling his own weariness grow, Qui-Gon looked from the corner of the cabin, to the bed, and then back to the corner where the blanket lay. It wasn't that unusual for Jedi to have to share sleeping accommodations while out on a mission. This wasn't the first time he had to do this with Obi-Wan and he knew it wouldn't be the last. At this point sleep felt much more alluring than meditation. With a sigh, he stretched out next to Obi-Wan. As he descended into sleep, a part of his mind remained aware enough that if Obi-Wan stirred sometime during the night it would wake him up.

What felt like only minutes later Qui-Gon felt himself return to awareness. The residual effects of yesterday's headache were still there, somewhat. He also felt as if something were wrong. As he shifted, he realized what it was. There was something keeping him from moving. Turning his head, Qui-Gon noticed Obi-Wan sleeping mostly on his stomach. The relaxed nature of the younger Jedi's position produced a smile. He had slept through the rest of the night with no ill effects from either the seizure or his nerve-induced pain. He only hoped that neither would decide to make their appearance during this new day.

Qui-Gon shifted. Feeling that familiar twinge in his bladder, he knew he had to get up to take care of that. Obi-Wan's head and arm stopped him, though. He looked quite comfortable using him as a pillow. The first time they had to share tight quarters it surprised Qui-Gon at how Obi-Wan slept. Now, it was more amusing than anything else. Reaching to the Force, he was able to keep Obi-Wan in a deep enough sleep so that he wouldn't be disturbed when he got up. Rising from the bed he heard Obi-Wan's muffled protest of warmth lost. Letting a half-smile cross his face, Qui-Gon made sure that Obi-Wan was still covered, for he had shifted to the spot he had just left, searching for the warmest place to remain.

After preparing for the new day, Qui-Gon turned and went over to get Obi-Wan up. He was a moderately early riser, only sleeping in late if he stayed up late studying. This was different. With the events of the previous evening he wasn't sure if Obi-Wan would be as receptive of getting up. He sent a tendril of through to his Padawan's sleep addled brain. The response was as expected, he was still deep asleep.

Thinking he could get a better reaction he flicked his hand and had the lights come on low. "Padawan, you need to wake up."

There was a muffled grunt and then a sleep-drugged thought came through the bond, /Just a few more minutes./

"No, you've slept long enough, Obi-Wan. I need you fully awake." Qui-Gon reached down and pulled the covers off the younger Jedi.

With shaky hands, Obi-Wan attempted to keep himself covered while he uttered a louder protest.

Qui-Gon sharpened his voice, "Padawan."

/I'm awake, I'm awake,/ came the hasty response. Obi-Wan opened his eyes, and then with shaky arm muscles, somehow managed to push himself to almost a sitting position.

Qui-Gon didn't smile, but showed his approval in his eyes. This was completely unexpected, but not unwelcome. "Very good, Padawan." He leaned over and helped Obi-Wan the rest of the way up. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he continued, "You're going back to sickbay after breakfast. The healer wants to help you with your motor control."

/Good. I'm hungry./

"You're always hungry." Qui-Gon stood up and went over where he placed the clothing these humans were kind enough to give Obi-Wan and brought them over. It didn't take as long to get Obi-Wan dressed compared to the previous day. The last thing he did was to fix Obi-Wan's Padawan braid. It was half the length it had been just a few days earlier. Rummaging around, he found a pair of scissors so he could trim its now jagged end. After unwinding the plate, and with a few snips, it was trimmed. It was then braided. It barely reached his shoulder.

Once completed, he helped Obi-Wan to get back into the chair and they headed out the door and to the refractory.

When the doors whooshed open, Qui-Gon felt a spike of apprehension, and then embarrassment from Obi-Wan. It was obvious that he never eve considered that breakfast would be in such a public setting. Finding a corner where no one sat, Qui-Gon moved the chair so Obi-Wan's back faced the rest of the tables scattered around, then went to get their breakfast. Lucky for them, almost all the crew that frequented the refractory had already gone onto their respective duties for the day.

By the time they were finished Trip wandered in, apparently he was looking for both of them. He smiled when he saw them, then turned and headed directly to them. "Sleep late?" he asked as he sat down.

"Not really. There were some problems last night, so I wanted to make sure that Obi-Wan was able to sleep a little bit more."

"Ouch," Trip scrunched up his face. "That's never fun."

"No it's not." This time Qui-Gon shook his head.

"Well, if I'm going to get your transport fixed, I'm going to need another set of eyes. Let me know when you're ready, that way we can get it fixed sooner rather than later." Trip turned and gave Obi-Wan a knowing look.

Even Qui-Gon could see the gleam in Obi-Wan's eyes. "Thank you Commander. I will send word when Obi-Wan's is ready. It'll probably be later in the day, though."

Trip shook his head, "Don't worry about it. We'll cross that bridge when we reach it." He stood up and nodded before heading out of the refractory.

As Trip walked down the corridor, he couldn't help but have a bit of a bounce to his step. Obi-Wan was going to help, though he figured that Qui-Gon would be their go-between. This way it wouldn't take all that long to get the transport up and running. The Captain never mentioned if he had gone through Daniel's database yet, but he wouldn't be surprised if he already did. At this point no news was good news in his estimation. At the last minute, he turned and headed towards Archer's office. The Captain gave him a lot of leeway in running engineering, but he thought it'd be good that he would at least give the captain a heads up on what was happening.

He found Jon where he thought he'd be, in his office just off the bridge.

"Trip," Jon acknowledged him while leaning back his chair, fiddling with an old style pen.

"Cap'n, I wanted to let you know that, well it looks as if Obi-Wan will be able to help me with their transport."

Jon sat up straighter. "So, he's mobile?"

"I suspect so, I found both of the in the mess. Obi-Wan was in a hoverchair."

When it looked like the Captain had come to some sort of decision, he stood up. "Come on, Trip. I want to see of Daniels' database has their shuttle, or some sort of hyperdrive engine."

Trips suspicions were correct, at least partly. He followed Jon out of the office and over to the lift. Only when they were inside in the relative privacy of the enclosed space, did Trip finally ask, "So you think they might be from the future?"

"It's a definite possibility. Though if they had Vulcan characteristics, I would think they would also have some of their physiology. Phlox never mentioned that. That means that they're fully human."

The lift deposited them on the correct level, and they got out and turned down the corridor. Stopping at a random door, Jon unlocked it and stepped inside the darkened interior. Flipping on a light, Trip joined him after a couple of minutes. Once the database was opened, they searched through it for any configuration similar to their visiting transport or hyperdrive engine. There was nothing.

"Maybe it's from beyond the 31st century," Trip mused.

"Don't know." The two stopped. Jon glanced around to make sure that no one was near, and turned his attention back to Trip, "Did you notice that there's no hyperdrive technology?"

"Yeah, I saw that."

"That what worries me the most. There's no telling what a ship in hyperdrive can do."

"Which means they have to go back to where they came from," Trip's face turned grim.

"Looks like it."

The bond remained quiet all the way to sickbay, which Qui-Gon wasn't all that surprised. He hoped that Obi-Wan was thinking about how he could help the engineer with the repair work. As soon as they were in sickbay and Obi-Wan was back on one of the bio-beds, Phlox turned back to him and begin asking questions. "How did he do last night?" was the first one he answered as they moved to a far corner of the open room.

"He had a nightmare, but I believe it was partly because of his nerves sending the wrong signals again."

Phlox tapped his lips with a finger, "Which is understandable." He narrowed his eyes, then smiled, "And anything else?"

Qui-Gon closed his eyes. The headache from last night threatened to come back with a vengeance. At first he didn't want to mention the seizure, but finally decided that the healer needed to know about it. "And then there was a seizure."

"And you're now just telling me about it?"

"Healer, I was busy making sure that if it happened again things won't go flying around the room."

Phlox folded his arms and gave Qui-Gon a pointed look. "You need to tell me about these things."

Qui-Gon gave the Denublian a bittersweet smile. Phlox reminded him of the healers in the Temple. "It didn't last all that long. It took longer for Obi-Wan to come back than for the actual event."

"I cannot believe I'm doing this," Phlox muttered as he waved the larger human off. As Qui-Gon turned to leave, he reached out a hand and touched his arm, "Not yet. I need to run another scan on Obi-Wan's brain to see if there's been any changes since last time."

"I would think there wouldn't be any after such a short period of time." Qui-Gon followed the healer back over to the bio-bed.

"Normally there wouldn't be," Phlox answered over his shoulder, "but there can always be a first."

Qui-Gon nodded absently as the healer began gathering up the instruments he was going to need. As soon as he was ready he went over to the bio-bed, and Obi-Wan's side. Holding an odd looking instrument in hand he began, "Obi-Wan, I am going to do another scan of your brain, along with your brain wave activity."

Obi-Wan's readings spiked in obvious nervousness. /Is something wrong?/

Qui-Gon shook his head. "No Padawan, everything is all right. You have nothing to worry about."

It took a little bit before Obi-Wans vitals came back down to normal levels. /Will this be like the yearly examinations that the Temple healers perform?/

/Maybe, I'm not sure./

Qui-Gon could actually feel Obi-Wan's amusement as it came through the bond, /Does that mean it's time to go back to the Healer's Ward?/

/Brat./

"All done."

Both Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan turned their attention back to Phlox. "Already?"

The healer nodded. He looked at the readout once again. "I have good news and bad news."

Obi-Wan's hear-rate spiked. As soon as Qui-Gon placed his hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder did his vitals begin to moderate once more. "I know Obi-Wan. He would want the bad news first."

"Okay." Phlox turned and looked directly at Obi-Wan It was his brain that they were discussing. "The bad news is that even with todays technology you're not going to improve."

Obi-Wan's heart spiked up again as his eyes widened.

"And the good news?"

He gave the two a smile. "I don't see any signs telling me that there will be future seizures."

"Yes, that is good news indeed," Qui-Gon nodded as he turned back to Obi-Wan.

/But I won't get better./

/At least not here Padawan. I know it will be difficult, but until the transport is up and running we'll just have to trust in the Force that the Commander will be able to repair the engines and we make it back to our home./

Obi-Wan closed his eyes and sighed. /Why me?/

/I don't have an answer for that, Obi-Wan./

Instead of anger, which Qui-Gon thought was fully expected, something completely different came through their bond. For a moment Qui-Gon had no idea how to deal with it.

/Whatever./

/If it makes you feel any better Commander Tucker will be by sometime later./ Instead of giving an answer through their bond, Obi-Wan nodded.

By the time they were finished in sickbay the first half of the day had already passed. For Qui-Gon it was difficult telling what the time was on this strange ship. It was Phlox that informed him of the time. "Thank you, healer." He nodded and then he guided the hoverchair out of the space and into the hall.

"I know your feelings about eating, especially from this morning. The problem, Padawan, is that the Captain won't have our meals brought to us."

/You mean coddle./

"Yes."

/I really don't want to go there because I feel as if everyone is watching me,/ the emotions were harder than expected.

"Padawan, while here you will have to come out at least sometime." Qui-Gon's thoughts turned to the Jedi that had injuries so devastating that the healers couldn't do anything for them. Those were cared for in a separate area of the Temple with just as much, or even more care than the ones in the Healer's ward. Obi-Wan's injuries, thank the Force, could be healed.

/What if I don't want to?/

/Now you're acting like a child. I know your angry, but do not give into it even though it's the easy way out, which leads to the dark side./

/I already know all about this, Master./

Qui-Gon looked over and noticed his frown. "Think of this as a lessen in perseverance." They entered into the ship's version of the refectory once again and found quite a few of the crew on the current shift eating their meals. What was surprising was that he didn't see any other non-human, or humanoids as part of the crew.

Even though it was unnatural for a Jedi, especially in an unknown environment, he made sure that Obi-Wan's back was not facing the wall. To Qui-Gon it was obvious, it gave Obi-Wan more privacy. He gave his shoulder a squeeze as he walked past him on the way to where the food was served.

On the way back to the table Hoshi had joined him.

"Padawan," Qui-Gon spoke along with sending a thought through their bond so that Obi-Wan wouldn't be startled. He placed the food on the table and sat down.

Looking over to the woman with a darker skin tone, Obi-Wan frowned and turned his attention back to the food now before him.

"Hi," Hoshi started with a smile on her face as she sat down. "You probably don't remember me."

Obi-Wan mumbled something unintelligible, then shook his head.

"That's okay." She reached out, but brought her hand back. "I'm Ensign Hoshi Sato." She picked up her fork and knife, "I'm the senior communications officer." She indicated the translator they had. "I also helped design that. Even though you think it's perfect, it's not. Sometimes I still need to be a translator. Which reminds me, I would really like for you to teach me that language you're using." She paused as her skin flushed, "Sorry about my ramblings. But it's not that often that I come into contact with another human language that's not related to any of the language families on Terra."

This time Qui-Gon actually smiled. "It's all right, Ensign." He paused, "I am actually honored that you would want to learn what we call Basic. It's not every day when the local inhabitants wish to understand the visitor's speech."

She sat back, "You act as though this is a common occurrence."

"More than you realize. Being professional diplomats we have to deal with a lot politicians where most of the time we're never quite sure of their motivations. The people we end up helping have never asked us if we could speak their language."

Hoshi's eyes widened as she sat up straighter. "Professional diplomats?"

"In a way. We're also keepers of the peace, negotiators, or whatever the mission requires of us. Before we landed here, we were on our way home from being what turned out to be invisible bodyguards."

"So you do everything."

"Whatever is required of us, though mostly we're there to make sure the negotiations run smoothly."

TBC…