Chapter 3: Can't Touch This

Atton slammed a fist into the wall, startling Mira awake. She looked around to find herself still at the Telos Security Offices. Rolling her eyes, she sat up and stretched her arms up.

"Atton," she complained, "would you calm down? How long have I been asleep?"

"About an hour," Bao-Dur replied calmly, sitting beside Mira and staring straight ahead. He seemed completely unruffled by Atton's rage.

"I thought they were supposed to let him see her forty-five minutes ago," Mira remembered with a yawn.

"There were some unforeseen complications," Bao-Dur explained, motioning with his head towards Mical.

Mira looked over at Mical, who was sitting in a chair on the other side of the room, staring, shocked, into space.

"Such as?" asked Mira, beginning to feel worried.

"The General is in more critical condition than was first believed," Bao-Dur said. Mira noticed dark circles beneath his eyes. Had he slept at all on the agitated voyage to Telos? She did not recall seeing him resting, but she had assumed that Bao-Dur was simply resting at the same time as Mira had been. With the incisive tension between Atton and Mical inescapable on the journey, she had rarely ventured outside of her quarters.

Mira furrowed her brow and decided not to venture any further into this conversation. She assumed that she would learn what was happening soon enough. She turned over into a more comfortable position, hoping to get more sleep. It was not often she was able to seize such a chance, and until now, she had not fully realized the toll it had taken on her.

Quickly, she lapsed into reassuring slumber.

All she could hear was the thump of her heartbeat as she floated. She concentrated, she pulled, every pulse of life sending waves of pain through her as she tried to move.

She knew not in what she was drifting, and she could barely see through the strange, glutinous substance surrounding her. The sensation was familiar enough, though, and Alainna took a grim comfort in the knowledge that if she died now, she would probably die among acquaintances, or, at the very least, people who did not want to torture her and destroy her galaxy.

Alainna's senses began to return, and her surroundings began to sting her eyes and nose, more with discomfort than with true pain.

Then came the memories. Alainna wanted to cry out for help. She found this difficult, however, as there was a device of some sort wedged in her mouth, probably keeping her alive, she realized.

More memories. Revan! Sith! Alainna felt an intense pain course through her, and cracks suddenly appeared before her, splintering the walls which contained Alainna. The cracks split, letting loose a deluge of fluid and Jedi onto the floor of the stark room in which Alainna found herself. Alainna shivered as cold air rushed against her, hitting her hard and nearly pressing her flat to the smooth floor.

Voices. Basic. Alainna was home.

"Call for backup! Hey, Jedi… you all right?"

"Don't touch her!"

"Wait for backup! It's all right, Jedi, we'll… where is that backup?"

Alainna coughed, driving the apparatus in her mouth out and away from her. She felt two hands on her back, trying to steady her as her wheezing pushed her into a curled-up position.

"What are you doing?" called an urgent voice. Alainna whipped her head up, trying to see who was yelling, but she moved too quickly, and the world seemed to spin around her. Too late, she realized that the voice was speaking not to her, but to the officer whose hands were on her back.

"What are you doing, lieutenant?" the voice repeated. "Don't touch her!"

As Alainna tried to steady herself, she worked out this command in her mind, and she remembered. She remembered everything that had happened, save the event of her very return. She understood the cause for concern now.

"I…" she started, but began to sputter. Air was rushing into her lungs too fast, but not fast enough. The world went dark.

"Remind me again why you can't tell me what's going on, Bao-Dur?"

Bao-Dur smiled sadly. "You'll know soon enough, Mira, but I think it would be better… if she told you herself."

"So can I take it Alainna's not dead?"

"You may."

"And how do Mical and Atton know what's up?"

Bao-Dur frowned, staring out into space. "They both knew. As soon as we arrived on Telos, they knew, to some extent. They knew something was wrong with her. While you were sleeping, I understand that Atton and Mical managed to hunt down a doctor with the information that they wanted. It was a bit of an historic moment. Atton and Mical working together."

Mira nodded, imagining how much bribery would have to have gone into such an endeavor. "Wow," she sighed, "I can sleep through anything. Wait, Bao-Dur—you know what's wrong with Alainna, right?"

Mira watched as Bao-Dur's eyes took on a detached look.

"Yeah," Bao-Dur murmured, "I know why the General's in there."

Silence.

"You're… not gonna tell me."

Bao-Dur blinked rapidly and smiled slightly, shaking his head. "I don't really want to talk about it. I wouldn't anyway. Wouldn't want to lose my cryptic Jedi edge, would I? That's enough for the time being, I think."

Mira quirked a scarlet eyebrow, but let the matter go.

For now, she promised silently. But this better not take much longer.

A/N: Ok, it's short, but the next one's coming a lot sooner! Really! I don't know if I got quite the desired suspense here, but just imagine it's really suspenseful if this doesn't do it for you. And there's more angst on the way... dun dun DUNNNN...