CHAPTER TWO – A DRUM! A DRUM!
AHSOKA
I'm never going to get used to being called to a meeting in the middle of the night.
It's all the bad things of being woken up at ungodly hours to fight, with none of the helpful adrenaline to assist in kick-starting my brain. Only foggy, bone-deep exhaustion which makes me want to roll over in bed and close my eyes.
Every time it happens, I always swear that the next time I won't be a half-dead zombie walking down the Temple hallways and wishing I had a cup of caf in my hand or better yet, an intravenous drip of caffeine.
Note "every."
This time is like all the others. I shiver in the turbolift and wish I had a sweater to ward off the middle-of-the-night chill while the lift ascends to the Council's level.
What in blazes is so urgent that the Council needs me at one o'clock in the morning? I internally squabble. They don't make a habit of assigning missions three hours apart. They know we need at least one full night's sleep between long stretches of light dozing and forcing your eyelids to stay open...right? Otherwise I might have to kill someone. They can't blame me; I'll claim sleep deprivation-induced insanity.
And why me, and not Anakin? They still send us on missions together.
I blink hard to wake myself up and walk through the open Council room door.
"You asked for me, Masters?" I bow, suppressing a yawn.
"Padawan Tano," Master Yoda acknowledges me. "An urgent transmission for you, there is."
"An urgent transmission?" Who would want to contact me through the Council?
"We understand that you've only returned from your last mission a few hours ago," Master Windu says, "But given the severity of the situation, we need you to report to Onderon immediately."
Onderon. Oh, this is not good.
"What's on Onderon? Is something wrong?" I ask, decorum slipping my mind for a second. This can't be happening. Onderon just gained its freedom about a month ago; what kind of crisis could have transpired in such a short amount of time? True, it was a ticking time bomb given that Dendup doesn't have any heirs, but he couldn't have died already. Is he sick? Did someone play the game of thrones well enough to shove their way to the top?
And what is Lux, the senator for Onderon, doing about it?
"It would be more efficient to have your friend explain," Master Windu says and presses the control on his chair's armrest.
The holoprojector in the center of the room buzzes to life with the blue likeness of Lux Bonteri.
"Have you reached a decision?" Lux asks feverishly.
I wave. "Senator Bonteri."
Lux startles. "Padawan Tano! Hello to you, too. I apologize for waking you at an hour like this, but under the circumstances…"
"Right, the circumstances…"
"You don't know about Saw?"
My blood pressure spikes. "Saw?"
Lux turns his attention to the Council. "She doesn't -?"
"We thought it best that you tell her," Master Windu says tiredly. Well, I know who isn't a morning person either.
I catch a barely detectable half-eye-roll from Lux before his face returns to its usual professional state. "This evening, Saw was attacked in his apartment. He's in the hospital as we speak and King Dendup is working to transfer him to the palace's Med Bay."
"Is he all right?" It's a pointless question. If Saw Gerrera is one thing, he's a strong, stoic fighter. If he needed to be taken to the hospital, I'd bet my entire Temple stipend that he's not.
"He'll live."
I can sense Windu's annoyance at our commentary across the room. As much as I want to know more about Saw, I change the subject. "Who attacked him?"
Lux's face darkens. "The militia thinks there have to be at least two people to pull something like this off. The same people who did it are responsible for two other attacks just like it. The only difference is that those ended with corpses."
Corpses. The subject material from a half-remembered class resurfaces while I sputter out "Saw was attacked by a serial killer?"
"Not a serial killer," Ki-Adi Mundi corrects me. "There is a difference. As these suspects don't have a waiting period between each victim, they're classified as spree killers."
Tomato, tomato. "Spree killers, excuse me."
"And unfortunately, yes." Lux confirms. "This is the first time they haven't killed their victim, and the first time they've operated on Onderon. General Tandin and the rest of the Militia is looking into it, but they won't get anywhere before a lot of people die - ."
Master Windu decides to hasten his return to bed. "Padawan Tano, you will go to the Onderon system immediately to aid with the investigation. A transport is waiting for you outside."
Well, that destroys any thoughts of going back to sleep.
"Thank you, Masters." I say, and bow to their dismissal. "I'll be there as soon as possible, Senator Bonteri."
…
The first chance I get, I put the ship in autopilot, recline the seat back as far as it'll go, and close my eyes.
I have eight hours to catch up on a week's worth of sleep.
…
"Ahsoka Tano, you have been cleared to land."
"Received, tower." I confirm and deploy the landing gear. "Landing now."
"Roger. Your party is waiting for you on the platform."
Lux is sure in a hurry. But then again, after what just happened I'd be surprised if he didn't come straight from Saw's bedside.
Once she fighter is powered down I pop the cockpit and crawl out.
"Ahsoka!" Lux greets, jogging up to me. "It's good to see you again."
"Same to you," I say and wipe my palms on my pants. "I just wish it was under different circumstances. How's Saw?"
Lux's face shifts from polite enthusiasm to utter concern. "He's still in the hospital, but he's stable. The doctors are evaluating him as we speak."
I close ranks with him and we speedwalk over to the nearest speeder. "What's wrong with him?"
Lux opens the speeder door and gestures for me to climb in. I happily oblige. "He has a few bumps and bruises from being thrown around. He has a concussion; the scans don't show any kind of skull fractures though. But we're mostly concerned about the gunshot to the leg."
"Gunshot?"
"Yes, gunshot." He clarifies, pulling away from the landing platform. "The attackers used a slugthrower pistol."
Slugthrowers are so old, they're practically obsolete. After the invention of the blaster, no one had any use for guns that shot solid bullets. I'm fairly certain the major manufacturers don't even make them anymore.
I rack my mind for the few things Kix and various first aid classes taught me about slugthrower injuries. "Where was it? Is the bullet out?"
Lux nods. "It was a clean shot, but by the time someone found him he'd lost a lot of blood. As for where, the leg. He's lucky it didn't hit the femoral artery."
No kidding there. If Saw's femoral artery had been so much nicked, he would have bled to death in minutes. I've seen it happen too many times before.
"How long was he there?" I ask.
"Saw says they attacked him about fifteen minutes before five PM. The neighbors heard a commotion and went to investigate while after and found him. I don't know exactly how long he was laying there, but it was long enough for him to lose consciousness."
His fingers tighten around the speeder's controls and I sense his agitation in the force. Oh, this isn't good at all.
"I'm sure he'll be fine." I reassure. "Saw doesn't go down easily; it'll take more than a slugthrower to take him out."
"That's not everything. He keeps going on and on about something or other. Tandin hopes it's just a dream from his concussion, but I don't think so. He's babbling about Steela."
All my muscles turn to stone.
Lux glances over. "I shouldn't have said that."
"You didn't do anything wrong." I force out. "I hope Tandin's right."
"Ahsoka, I shouldn't have mentioned her." He says flatly. "We all miss her, and I shouldn't have brought her memory up like I did."
I swallow hard. It's true, while Steela Gerrera and I had our issues we mended fences. The issue may have closed for good when she kissed Lux, but we had a few conversations about guns and weapons, and brothers.
"Tell me," she asked the night Saw set off on his failed attempt to rescue the king. "Do any of your men make you want to punch something, or is that just brothers?"
"Well, my brothers do the same thing." I replied. "It must be a part of being a brother."
Steela snorted. "Amen. I swear by the time this is over, I'll be celebrating my victory bald."
I looked at her head of curly hair, and then at my bleeding fingernails. "If it makes you feel any better, I won't have nail beds."
"Maybe I should switch to that," she mused, glancing at her own hands. "They grow back faster."
When I mentioned it offhandedly to Padme later, she smiled and asked what we talked about next.
Answer: we didn't. We had a briefing to give. I swear Padme deflated like a balloon when she heard it.
I swallow. "How far away is the hospital?"
"We should be there in a minute or two, traffic willing." Lux says. "One thing about using a speeder on Onderon, it can be slow going."
…
Lux parks the speeder as close to the door as he can without blocking an ambulance bay. In his rush, he forgets to lock the doors.
"Lux, wait up." I lock the speeder for him and jog to catch up to his quickened pace.
Lux looks at me and his face falls. "Oh, right. I'm sorry."
"No harm done," I close the distance between us and lock step with him. "What floor is Saw on?"
Lux pauses.
"You don't remember?"
"He was still in the emergency bay when I last saw him, but they've moved him to a different floor now." He explains. "We'd better ask reception."
"Are you on Saw's medical records? If he hasn't given you permission, the staff can't tell you anything." I point out. I found that nightmare out when Anakin was injured in battle and the medical droid couldn't even confirm that he was treated. After that, he put me down for his records.
"I don't think so," Lux says. "He never mentioned anything like that, but we can always try."
Before I can say anything else, he walks up to the reception desk.
"Excuse me, can you tell me which room Saw Gerrera is in?"
The nurse eyes him. "Name?"
"Saw Gerrera," Lux repeats.
"Not the patient's name. Your name."
"Oh," he recovers. "Lux Bonteri. B-O-N-T-E-R-I."
"Bonteri," the nurse repeats while she enters Lux's name into her computer. "I'm sorry, Mr. Bonteri. But due to patient privacy laws, I can neither confirm nor deny that the patient you mentioned is here."
Lux exhales. "I understand. Thank you for checking." He says and walks back to where I'm standing. "That didn't go as well as I hoped. Do you have another plan?"
"General Tandin is with him, right?"
"Yes, and so is King Dendup."
"And you know either one of their comm numbers?"
Realization dawns on Lux. "Yes, I do." He pulls the device from his pocket and selects a number I assume belongs to Tandin or to the king. "Look out for a turbolift. Once they say which room he's in, we'll need one."
Ahsoka is on the case and so is Lux. Now all they have to do is actually find Saw in the hospital, which is a difficult task if you don't have a room number.
Thank you to McAwsome, Starwarshobbitfics, and Johnt12345 for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!
Until next time,
LS
