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Padmé awoke and looked about, seeing nothing but white walls. Her head was bound up and she found it difficult to move-even if she had wanted to. "You are awake, my Lady," a soft voice said, relieved. "Do you feel up to visitors?"
"Uh?" she started to speak but stopped, her voice painful to her ears. Trying to swallow down needed moisture, she found that it was nearly impossible to do so over the tearing agony. The pain in her throat, it almost felt as though it was trying to strangle her. "Wh?" she tried again, unable to keep silent. Tears sprang to her eyes and forced her into silence once again. Frightened, she looked at the woman, gesturing weakly but wildly with one hand.
The scarred face of the Neti appeared before her, all green and fresh smelling. Honey eyes, soft with concern, met hers and Padmé relaxed, slightly. "Shh, Senator, don't try to talk. I am Dr. Alaris Ho'shan and you must be careful for you are still in transition. The crash destroyed most of your larynx. We were only able to minimize the damage to save what was left of it. There are also several severe burns on you face and body that will need extensive therapy to heal."
Padmé struggled to take in her words, shaking her head and trying to rise. To speak, "No..but…ship…my…" voraciously coughing, blood welled up and splattered all over her hands as she tried to talk. Seeing blood on her hands, staining the white sheets, she panicked and started to shake. "Daddy," she cried out, shaking all over. Her hands reached out as though he would be there to take them.
Flinching only slightly from her reaction, the doctor remained a total professional. Calming her as gently as she could, she wiped off her hands and face. Rechecking her bandages, she spoke softly, "We have sent for your family. They will be here soon. The Chancellor himself has arranged for their transportation." She was soothing in her actions and calmly put a hypo-spray to Padmé's neck and watching as her distress faded into blank sleep.
"How is she?"
"Who are you?" she asked, voice low. She was instantly suspicious that a holo-net reporter had somehow breached the security of the hospital for she had given express orders against any disruptions. Though she was, as all her race, highly Force sensitive, she was rattled by the emotions pouring off of her patient. And somewhere out in the Force was a pair in great pain. Even with her shielding at it's highest, she could feel the anguish of it.
"I am Nobal Naberrie, Padmé's father," he said, holding out the papers for her inspection. "If you require further proof, you may talk to Chancellor Palpatine. He is out in the hall."
Shaking her head as she recognized many features in him that resembled the senator, the doctor could only shrug. "Only time will tell, sir," she replied. "I informed her of her condition, feeling that it was best to get it over with. I thought it best to tell her outright. I'll leave you in here with her. It will do her good to feel a familiar presence, even if she is not yet able to know who they are. I will return after I've seen to my other patients, we shall talk more of her condition then."
Thanking her for her kindness, he sat down beside his daughter, only able to stare at her bandaged face in helpless rage. Clenching his fist, he just stared at the visible burn marks and what was left of her hair, wondering if she'd ever be able to grow it back after it had been burned off. Wondering if there was even a chance for her to recover after this catastrophe.
With an anger he didn't know he was capable of feeling, he fumed silently. He only wished that he could blame those who had been in charge of her security-especially the Jedi for what had happened. They were supposed to be able to foresee such events and prevent them from happening. Under their watchful eye, this kind of tragedy was not supposed to occur.
But he was a fair minded man and knew that he couldn't. The Jedi's body had been found, mangled almost beyond recognition for she had sacrificed her life and her energy to protect those in the ship. Expending all of her talents into the Force, she had protected them as best as she could.
At least she was alive-unlike Senator Antiles and his daughter, Breha. Unlike several of those who had been unfortunate enough to have been on the landing pad when the explosion happened. She had a chance to regain her life while Senator Organa was barely holding onto his life. Even with all the operations he'd undergone, he would never walk again. In comparison to Bail's injuries, her own were minimal.
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Qui-Gon appeared on the ship, looking around for Obi-Wan even as he glanced out the window. Careening towards Tatooine, the ship was traveling far faster than it should have-even one that had been amplified by the Force. He paid it no heed after taking that one look.
One look was enough to pound into his head the reality of the danger that his Padawan was in.
Kneeling down, he tried to reconnect with Obi-Wan, to bring him out of this catatonic shock he'd been sent into. Trying and failing for it seemed that his son was gone.
Simply gone as though he had never been a living soul.
"What good is it to have this ability if I cannot help anyone?" he exclaimed, frustrated. "Obi-Wan, don't do this. Don't. Your Padawan needs you. Do not leave him to despair. You have never yielded in battle before, don't start now. Anakin needs you."
From somewhere deep inside, Obi-Wan heard the voice, that annoyingly smug, quiet sounding voice that had guided his youth and he wanted to follow it as he had always done. But Anakin was here, somewhere in the darkness and he came first.
Qui-Gon felt it, the tiny flicker and prodded incessantly. "Wake up, my Padawan. You cannot continue to sleep this way. Get up!" He ordered, voice rising as he saw the surface of the planet coming ever closer.
"Obi-Wan, you'll be killed if you don't stop this insanity! How will you help Anakin then? Stop thinking of the pain and focus on the here and now. The pain doesn't matter, Anakin does."
Anakin? Obi-Wan clung to the thought, sending out an I'm coming, my Padawan to the one tendril of their bond that clung tenaciously to life-that wouldn't give up. He had to, feeling the desperate grasp that came after him as he slowly withdrew from the Force's deep currents. Opening his eyes reluctantly, mind splintered with pain, his eyes met the worried light blue of Qui-Gon Jinn's own.
Snapping his eyes closed against the sight, Obi-Wan waited a beat before chancing another look. Much to his dismay, the image remained. "I have failed you, Anakin," he brokenly whispered. His shoulders hunched and he curled in on himself, trying to hug himself for comfort-though his mind was slowly taking in several facts that defied his current belief that he was truly gone from the world.
"Not yet, Padawan mine, but if you don't pull this ship free from the Force, you will." An undoubtedly relieved Qui-Gon announced, sitting back on his heels. He was rather happy that he'd managed to do this after so long of trying to reach his stubborn and hard headed Padawan. It was almost more than he could believe, that he was having a conversation with his child once more. "I thought I had lost you, boy," he couldn't stop himself from adding.
"Since I am dead, that can hardly be the case," he replied dryly. Idly, he wondered why he could still feel pain if he was dead. Wasn't death supposed to relieve one of all burdens? But, he was in pain and could feel the blood on his face from the pain when the bond broke. Yet, this couldn't possibly be real. Could it?
"You are not dead."
"Then I must have lost my mind for you could not be here for any other reason."
"Obi-Wan, stop doubting what is going on. You can figure it out later. For now, just believe me when I saw that you are neither dead nor are you insane. Your eyes do not deceive you in this. I am really here before you. Now, for Anakin's sake and your own, pull out!"
Slowly sitting up, he looked at his Master. It certainly sounded and looked like Qui-Gon Jinn. Still, this was some trick. The dead simply did not come back to life. It was a well known fact-there was no death, only the Force. "You are really here."
Letting out an exasperated sigh, he nodded. "Yes," he added for Obi-Wan's benefit.
"This is not a delusion," Obi-Wan said, as though he were talking of the weather and not something that defied everything they knew. "Because, of course, we as Jedi always sought to destroy the natural order of things. We've always denied death its place."
"I am not denying or destroying anything. Stop searching for the logic in this, Padawan. Pull out before it is too late."
Deciding to humor his imaginary companion, Obi-Wan slowly pulled himself out of the Force and out of the ship's engines. Almost instantly, he could feel the violent rocking of the ship. The stomach churning dive they were in-and leapt to his feet, grabbing onto the controls.
Ignoring the way he felt-the ill and dizzy feelings that pressed upon him, threatening to unbalance him yet again-he guided the craft out of its suicidal fall. Calling upon a skill he hadn't used since taking Anakin on as a Padawan, he leveled the ship and guided it around, seeking a suitable place to land.
"Relax, Padawan, you are safe."
Obi-Wan glared, "And thanks to your infernal meddling, Anakin is not. If you've got nothing useful to do, will you leave? I must find my Padawan and bring him home."
"Padawan," Qui-Gon said, standing up and approaching him.
"Don't 'Padawan' me, Master Jinn. If you had to meddle in our affairs, could you not have arranged for us to be together as opposed to separated and saved us this foolishness?"
"You would be in danger yourself if I had."
"You don't know that-and by your own words, you underestimated the situation on Tatooine. Your vision has always been in the Living Force, mine has always been the Universal. Had I been with Anakin, his burden would've been lessened and he would not be torn. The two of us could've faced the problems together."
"And you would still be a Jedi Knight," he softly added.
Obi-Wan's eyes closed briefly in pain. "True but I do not regret it. It is a small price to pay to have Anakin safe, Master. He has become my dearest friend and truest companion. I can honestly say that I have never been closer to another person-even you. If I must lose the Jedi in order to ensure that he is alive and well, I will do it."
"Through him you have truly become the Jedi I saw in you so long ago. Be careful, Obi-Wan. Your emotions do you credit but they may also be your downfall."
"Thank you for your counsel, Master. I will do nothing that will endanger Anakin-or make me unworthy of his continued friendship."
Scanning the land, he focused on finding a trace of Anakin. The pain flared so brightly and violently, he had to pull back and refocus on something else, something close to his Padawan but not so dangerous. And then he realized, he had to find Shmi Skywalker Lars. Refocusing on the planet, on searching for anything that seemed familiar, he soon found himself drawn by the gentle touch of the Force to her. Anakin's mother was almost as beautiful a light in the Force as her son. But there was something very troubling about her signature-there was a darker presence near her, almost threatening her in some way.
Qui-Gon sighed, and sat beside him. "I must leave you for a time, my Padawan. There are others who need my guidance."
Not surprising, Obi-Wan thought, nodding in understanding. "I shall see you again, right?"
"My task in not yet finished. While I must depart for a time, I shall not desert you."
"Except for now," Obi-Wan muttered after he'd left. With a sigh, he rubbed his face and winced as he touched the bruises that were solidifying there. Obviously, the breaking of the bond he shared with Anakin had been more shattering physically than he'd previously believed. It hurt far more than losing Master Jinn ever had. He'd heard about Force bonds like this and it worried him to be feeling the backlash of it. For it confirmed his fear that their bond had been stronger than any had ever suspected.
Shaking off the residual pain as best as he could, he made to land and decided to let the navigational computer handle it. After all, it would never do to meet his Padawan's mother covered in blood and grime-and worry.
"Master, my mother won't care what you look like, so long as you care about me."
Heart clenching in his chest as the whisper like call of his Padawan came to him, he winced in pain. He shook his head, unable to deny the conversation, imaginary though it may have been. There was comfort in the familiar feel, the familiar sound of his Padawan. That may be, my friend, but one should still be at one's best if one wishes to ask for help. Besides, what is she to think of how I treat you if I do not look like I care at all for my own appearance?
"I'd accuse your of being vain but I know you are anything but."
A Jedi does not need vanity.
"Yeah. I knew you were going to say that. Master, I hurt inside. And I'm…cold. I'm just so cold. I…I…I can't feel the Force anymore, Master. They've taken it away from me!"
The sudden change in his voice, the sound of tears in tone, startled Obi-Wan out of his lethargy. For the first time, he actually considered the fact that their conversation may not have just been wishful thinking. If they were really talking, then Anakin might not be as far gone as the broken bond implied Hang on, Anakin, I'm coming. Padawan, I shall not let you go.
Anakin slowly regained consciousness as he was poked and prodded by alien hands. Tentatively, he reached out, shocked back into unconsciousness when he felt…nothing. His connection…his communion the Force…to his Master, it was gone. Only a weeping wound remained and it tore into his mind continually.
The scientist frowned, unhappy. This was not a normal reaction for those modified-and she knew having perfected this experiment herself. Many of her patients had been these so called Force sensitive beings that populated this strange Galaxy. It puzzled her that this would be so.
Sure, there was some discomfort, even some rage but no one else had been so…so…startlingly empty of life entirely after her experiments had been conducted. The boy lay there, unmoving, pale and still as death, only flinching when someone poked or prodded him. Tapping her cheek, she wondered if it could do with the fact that he was much stronger in this Force than the others had been.
Still, there was something keeping the boy from fully accepting the modifications. It bothered her, this failure on her part to fully integrate it into him. It was odd, how empty he seemed. And yet, for all the lack of even moderate life signs, there was something in him, something that contradicted what her eyes were seeing.
It was almost as if he was deadened to what was around him, to the life within him and yet, he was still connected in some way to the Force.
Striding out of the room, she spied Aurra Sing. "Take him to the arena. I want him broken."
Aurra looked up from her bow, smirking. "Hasn't he broken already? It doesn't usually take you much to break these…degenerates."
"This one is different. Stronger in ways that the others were not. There is something within that sets him apart from the others we've had here."
"That boy is just like the others," Aurra sneered, "Though he is more emotional and prone to outbursts of passionate recklessness." Must have driven my former Master mad that she couldn't break him, she thought vindictively. Her hands curled about the bow momentarily, enraged that she had been denied the chance to get her revenge on the woman who had called her Padawan and daughter, then betrayed her to this life.
The doctor's head shook. "Do not speak of that which you do not understand. I worked under another scientist who also experimented upon these so called Jedi. My teacher, Jenna Zan Arbor, was studying the way the Force worked, trying to break through the genetic coding of the Jedi. She was particularly amazed by the strength of on."
"I know this story. She captured Master Jinn—who survived her experiments against all odds. Who recovered with amazing strength and perspicacity and arrested her, making sure that she was exiled upon some penal colony," she interrupted, mocking the story. "Master Jinn is quite the character, but no big deal as far as Jedi go. I fought and defeated him-in honest combat no less."
"I know of Master Jinn but do not see him as the reason for Dr. Arbor's fascination. Once she escaped, she never sought me. So, I never went after her. No. It wasn't Master Jinn that caught her eye. It was another one, another Jedi. One who was close to the Master Jedi. She wished to see, to work on the one whose presence was bound to him. The one whose presence I recognize on that boy."
"Ah, you mean Obi-Wan Kenobi," she said, trying to sound nonchalant-it was anything but the truth. Of all the Jedi, his was the name most of the Bounty Hunters knew-and feared. For he had done what they all thought impossible-he had brought down a Zabrak assassin of the highest quality. And not just a common assassin at that. The Zabrak had been a fully trained Sith warrior. Certainly not up to the rank and power of his Master-few were as good as Sidious-but he was still a force to be reckoned with.
"Why the fear?" the doctor picked up on her undertone anyway.
Aurra fondled the knife she pulled from her pocket casually, noticing the slight flinch of her companion. A smirk crossed her face, "Obi-Wan Kenobi is the only Jedi to go up against a fully trained Sith warrior-a warrior with a most impressive record of kills I might add-and not only survive, but defeat him. He is…one that should never be treated lightly."
"Then why did we take this boy if he is known to this Kenobi?"
"The Lady Vergere ordered it-and Ventress, while an angry soul, is broken and can no longer feed the people of this colony. This brat was born with a gift of rage and deep seated anger. It is limitless and perfect-at least, according to her it is. Lady Vergere believes it is worth it."
The doctor was silent but her look to Aurra said it all. The Lady Vergere was a fool.
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Author's Note: I'm not sure how much time I'll be spending with Padmé and company. But I felt that she would not leave as she did in the movie. So, Sidious' game plan had to change. Since the man has a mind like a spider, he has myriads of them. This is just one of the ways he's going to try to make a point. Hope no one objects to much. (And I sincerely hope I can pull off all of these changes adequately.)