Ben's eyes opened slowly, taking in the harsh light that poked through the large gaps of the cockpit. Stale, dusty air filled his lungs, and despite his coughing, could not free his mouth of the putrid taste. The cockpit had been reduced to a heap of burnt, twisted metal, with exposed wires and shattered glass for as far as the eye could see from in the small space for ones legs under the console. And being upside down didn't help, either. Once Ben did work up the energy to get up, intense waves of sharp pain shot through his left leg, and he was under the console again.

He pushed a small sheet of metal off to find the legs wrapped in electrical from the knee down, with their exposed tips digging into the skin. Setting his teeth firmly, Ben pulled each out, grimacing at the smell of burnt meat.

After a few minutes, he was free and making his way to the exit. But as he crawled up to the torn out hole, Ben found his lightsaber stuck inside one of the destroyed screens, its pommel stick prominently out. He plucked it out and got up to the hole with it in hand

The Burning Phoenix was in half a dozen different pieces scattered about the large clearing they were in. It seemed that no two large chunks could be even remotely close to each other. And among the smaller bits was a body, lying on the ground . . . motionless.

"Master!" He tried screaming out, but only coming through as an exhausted whimper. Falling to the ground and ignoring the radiating pain from his leg, Ben ran to Gallai as fast as he could.

Her clothes were tattered and ripped in some places. Small cuts were all over her body, and she had a large, purple-ish bump on her right temple. When he called out to her, there was no response. Ben heart began racing faster. He looked around at the wreckage, hoping for something to be out here that would help them, but there wasn't.

Clipping his lightsaber to her belt, Ben dragged Gallai to under a long sheet of metal embedded in the ground, twisting horizontally. The least he could do was gave her shade from this horrendous sun.

Ben scanned the area again, though wondered why he bothered. He stopped at the very back of the ship as it pushed up against the bottom of a mountain. Suddenly, it flashed through his mind; next to the refresher and laundry unit, was their survival med-kit.

Filled with new, hopeful energy, Ben made his way to the foot of the mountain in just under twenty minutes, glancing back several times at Gallai. It took him a couple more minutes to find a hole to get in from, since the actual entrance was buried in the ground, but he did find a small gap in the engine room he could squeeze through. Slowly but surely, he got to the room from there.

It was a terrible mess. The machine and 'fresher were destroyed far beyond repair, their insides and components scattered on the floor and stuck in the walls. But Ben did find his robes in the right-hand corner, and the left-hand corner, and a little bit in the ceiling.

After rooting through some of it, Ben found the med-kit, its plasteel case shattered in three different spots. His hopeful energy almost died there, until he found a small syringe of anti-bacterial at his feet. Ben looked and realized that the ground was littered with different medical supplies, some were broken, yes, but most looked at least serviceable. He went to work, gathering as much as he could in his arms, but it wouldn't be enough. Ben grabbed a light panel off the ground and heaved it across the room, and was surprised to find his cloak under it, intact for the most part.

Using it as a make-shift bag, Ben found all he was going to find, then tying it together at the ends, made his way out of the ship and back to Gallai.

Her head wound was getting worse, and every time Ben glanced at one of the broken ship pieces, two words rang through his mind; death trap. Then, a small indent at the foot of a mountain north of them caught his eye. Taking the bag in one hand and leaning Gallai against him with the other, he began his trek across the clearing.

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Constantly having to shift his weight as Gallai fell in and out of consciousness, it took Ben a total of forty minutes to reach the cave, and a few more to get inside. It was a refreshing change from the boiling sun. Using the yellow glow off his lightsaber, Ben gently leaned Gallai down against cool rock, then untied his cloak and spread out its contents. With the pain returning, he quickly took one of the syringes filled with numbing application and jammed it into his shin, injecting the blue liquid within. His mind now free of the burden of pain, he went to work.

But Ben's knowledge medicine was minimal, as was their supplies. In the end, all he could do was disinfect the wounds, clean up the cuts, and apply the last of the numbing application before it finally ran out.

He fell to the ground, bracing himself against the opposite wall as he stared at his unstable work, on the verge of tears.

"Ben. . ." If they weren't in an echoing cave, Ben doubted he would have ever heard the faint whisper.

He approached slowly, bringing his lightsaber closer and seeing that Gallai's eyes were open, though barely. Her hand twitched, and Ben realized she was reaching for something. The hand, covered in bandage wrap, reached into her pocket and slowly pulled out a small gold chip.

"Take this," She said softly, pushing the credit-chip into his hand. "Go . . . get transport . . . get us home."

Ben swallowed. "But you need medical attention, we still have to finish the mission—"

"The mission's over, Ben." Gallai cut him off. "We've failed."

After a moment, he shook his head. She was right. There was no recovering from this, not right now, anyway. As he pocketed the chip, she grabbed the tails of his cloak, brining it up to him and rolling the empty syringes and used bandages off. Ben stood, shutting down his saber and threw his arms into the sleeves of the cloak.

"I'll be back soon, I promise." Ben said before turning and heading back toward the light at the end of the cave.