Chapter 4: The Corellia Run, Part II

Jaq emerged from the privacy shield with four other people, presumably their additional passengers. Jaina stood up and offered her hand to each of them in turn. "Captain Jaina Draygo," she said, and, indicating Tenel Ka, "My first mate, Tenel Ka Djo."

They gave her names that did one courteously 'Jaq's' didn't: they were obvious about being fake. The man whose face she couldn't really see was 'Saber,' the dark skinned man 'Drebble,' the woman on his arm 'Corria,' and the bearded man 'Jys.'

"We've got a speeder parked outside. Some of us can't afford to be seen together. Or at all. In any case, we can't take the –"

Saber was interrupted by the sound of the doors banging open.

"EVERYBODY DOWN!"

They all dropped to the floor immediately.

"We are the Corellian Intelligence Service. This operation is for your protection. Rebel leaders have been traced to this location. You will all be taken in for questioning. Please remain calm."

"Damnit, Saber I thought you said you'd thrown them off!" whispered Jys.

"I'm not in the Intelligence Service, Jys!"

The armored agents were now moving through the bar, hustling the patrons out one by one.

"If they see my face…" said Saber.

Jaina came to a decision.

Here we go again.

She pulled out her blaster and fired off a volley at the agent who had spoken first. He dropped immediately, and almost at the same moment the rest of the agents turned towards her and started firing.

She rolled, came to a stand, and leapt over the bar, taking up a firing position on the other side. The bartender, crouching down and holding the glass he'd been polishing in a grip so tight his hand was shaking, glared blaster bolts at her. She ignored him.

Shoot. Duck. Change position. One down. Tenel Ka was beside her, bowcaster firing. Jaq had made it back to the corner table and was letting fly blaster bolts from behind the privacy screen. Three of the new passengers were holed up behind a table made of the same plasteel fake wood as the bar that they'd knocked over and pushed up against the wall. The fourth, Saber, was presumably with Jaq. There were two streams of fire coming from the holographic and sound dampening privacy shield.

There had been twelve CIS agents. Now there were eleven – no, wait, ten – left. Tenel Ka had taken down another. A third and fourth fell to the fire from the behind the privacy shield, almost simultaneously. Eight left.

A grunt from beside her and Tenel Ka was down with a blaster bolt to her shoulder.

"Tenel Ka!" Jaina dropped down and crawled over to her first mate, but the Dathomiri was already up again and continuing to shoot.

Jaina stared for a moment, then went back to shooting.

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The last agent went down and the shooting stopped. Jaina stood up, followed by their passengers and the rest of the patrons. Jaq and Saber emerged from the privacy shield.

Everyone stared at each other a moment, then Saber spoke up in his strangely unmemorable voice. "We need to go. Now."

They all ran for the door, grabbing their things as they went. Halfway out, Jaina came to a dead stop.

"Where's Tenel Ka?" She about-faced and jumped back over the bar. Tenel Ka had collapsed. She'd somehow opened up the cauterization caused by the blaster-bolt. Her left arm was covered in blood.

"Crap." Jaq had come up behind her. He leaned down and picked up Tenel Ka and her knapsack, then followed Jaina out of the bar.

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"What happened to her?!" shouted Corria as they ran behind the building, following Saber to a speeder.

"Broke open her wound," said Jaina. "She's Dathomiri. She doesn't let little things like being shot stop her from fighting!"

They clambered into the speeder, Tenel Ka jammed between Jaina and Jaq, Corria packed in on Jaina's left. Saber, at the wheel, shared the front seat with Drebble and Jys, who seemed to be trying to scoot as far away from Saber as possible. Jaq stripped off his shirt and used it to apply pressure to Tenel Ka's wound.

"We can't take her to a doctor or a hospital. They're all required to check ID and report anyone without papers."

"Then what are we going to do?!" Jaina was panicking. She wasn't going to loose a first mate, not again.

"Calm down, captain. I know a healer on the east side who should be able to take care of him."

"A 'healer?'"

"No formal training, just a hell of a lot of talent."

"Great."

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They drove, at a fast but not overly remarkable pace, across the city to east Coronet, which, it turned out, was even more destitute than the area they'd come from. It was practically a shantytown.

"This used to be a middle-class neighborhood," Saber explained, "but it got pretty beat up during the uprising. Now you get four or five families squatting in the houses that are left standing and the rest of the population building makeshift homes out of whatever they can find."

They'd had to slow down or risk running over the numerous children playing and running around in the streets. Tenel Ka was nearly white as a sheet.

Eventually they stopped in front of a house that was both smaller and in better shape than the rest of those around it. Saber parked the speeder and got out.

"This way."

They followed him, Jaq carrying Tenel Ka.

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The door to the house was unlocked, interior clean, and the décor, such as it was, colored in earth tones and soft blues and greens. There was a feeling of organic cleanliness about the place. It had a calming effect, and Jaina felt her muscles relax somewhat as she entered.

"Hello? Jace?" Saber called out.

"Coming!" came a voice from one of the adjacent rooms.

Jaina set down her pack and the tube containing her blastsword and Jaq's gear just as a young man of about her age entered the room, wearing loose pants and no shirt and toweling his light brown hair dry.

"What brings you here Ha-"

"Saber."

"What brings you here, Saber?"

Jaq, still holding Tenel Ka, who had his shirt wrapped around her wound, stepped forward. "She does. Saber says you can help her."

The man leaned over Tenel Ka, gently unwrapping the shirt. He whistled.

"This is pretty bad but I think I can handle it. Follow me." As the man turned to lead them through a door to their left Jaina caught his eyes, meaning to ask him how exactly he planned to 'handle it' without any training. His eyes were the exact same brandy-brown as hers. He broke eye contact after a moment and continued heading towards the door. As he opened it, he spoke.

"I'm Jacen Draygo, by the way."

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Jacen continued into his workroom, trying to concentrate on clearing his mind but unable to pull his thoughts away from the woman with his eyes. He shook his head and turned to the black-haired man carrying his patient. He ran a sanitizer over the padded plasteel surface that was his makeshift examining table.

"Put her over here, Mr.…"

"Antillies," said the man. "Jaq Antillies."

Jacen nodded, noticing that the brandy-eyed woman and Hal – what was going on? Why was Hal using his Resistance codename? Was his patient a rebel? What about Antillies and the girl with the eyes? – had followed them into the examining room.

"The bleeding's almost stopped," he said, half to himself. "That's good."

He pulled up a stool next to the examining table and sat down. "Blaster shot?"

"Yes," said the woman with his eyes. He could even hear echoes of his voice in hers. He nodded.

Jacen closed his eyes, placed his hand over the wound, and began listening to the woman's life-beat.

"What's her name?" he asked as he slipped into the trance.

It was the browned hair woman who spoke. "Tenel Ka Djo."

Jacen nodded and surrendered completely to the energy around him.

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Jaina turned to Hal "What the hell is he doing?"

Hal, who had taken a seat in one of several chairs upon coming in, gave Jaina a deadpan look. "Healing her."

"What the frak? Is this guy some kind of Jedi?"

"No."

Jag, for his part, hadn't turned away from Jacen and Tenel Ka. It could be a coincidence, but why did the healer have Jaina's last name? It was after all, a very rare one. More important, were his eyes wrong, or was the flesh around the edge of Djo's wound slowly knitting together.

"Jaina. Look."

Jaina turned back and immediately shut up.

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Tenel Ka's first thought upon waking up was that she should have learned the basics of the healing spells before leaving Dathomir. Her second was that the state the wet-haired man in front of her was in pathetic shape, judging by what was visible of his body. She attempted to tell him as much, but it came out garbled and in Dathomiri. Disappointing. She had worked hard learning on improving the Basic her father had taught her since leaving Dathomir with Jaina Draygo.

"Easy now," said the man. "You've had a rough day."

Tenel Ka nodded. It was unwise to tax one's body when it was damaged. She turned to look at her injured shoulder. Tender new pink skin covered the area where the hole had been. She whipped her head back to look at the man again.

"You- you did this?"

He grinned and nodded. "Uh-huh."

The word came from her lips in a whisper, almost unbidden: "Jai." And then she fell back into darkness.