Precipice by shadowsong26

Part 4: Commander

Commander: Chapter 13

Bail had come over to join them for dinner, and for once, they weren't actually conspiring.

...well, all right, Motee was helping Luke write a formal request to visit Princess Lavinia, and that was sort of conspiracy- adjacent, but that was all.

Which wasn't to say that Padme and Bail weren't getting any work done. After all, the more they worked together on above-board projects, the more cover they had for their illicit activities. The Senate was mostly a formality these days, but they found plenty of perfectly legitimate reasons to collaborate, on aid projects, on what little official Senate business they had left…

They'd had this dinner planned for a while, ever since they'd both confirmed they'd be on Coruscant for Founding Week. In part for their cover, in part for the task at hand, and in part because they knew they'd both probably need the escape.

It was an escape, to a simple, dreamy world where double meanings to their actions were an occasional, unfortunate necessity, rather than the rule. It made her feel almost nostalgic, which was probably a little ridiculous. Because, looking back, there had never been a time where things were simple. Not really. Maybe before the Clone War started, but even then…

Then again, maybe everything that had happened since was tainting her memories of those times. She did remember feeling this way-or she thought she did, anyway-but now she knew that most of Palpatine's plans had probably been in motion even then, and it rang false in her mind. She didn't miss her naivete, exactly, but…

It was nice, to at least partially recapture that feeling, even if only for an evening.

"What are you thinking?" Bail asked.

"Hm? Sorry, I got distracted for a moment." She shook her head, set her wineglass down on the table next to the datapad he'd brought, returning her attention to the actual discussion. "I still think the mobile option is better-what's the point of getting the equipment down to that district if no one can actually access it?"

He nodded, and sighed. "Whichever option we go with is going to be a half-measure, unless we get more funding."

"And I'm all out of favors I can call in on this one." At least if she wanted to keep a few in the bank for their next project.

"Likewise," he said. "I still think having the resources to cope with a larger emergency would be-"

He stopped abruptly, one hand going to his vest pocket.

"Bail?" Padme asked. "What's wrong?"

Luke, over in his corner, looked up as well, breaking off in the middle of some question he was asking Motee.

Bail glanced briefly over at Dorme, who nodded, set down the book she was reading, and silently went over to the security station.

Which meant-possibly-that he had the emergency comlink on him, the one that connected them and their operations to the others. It made sense, especially with Specter's sudden disappearance, but if some message had come through…

"Sorry," he continued after a second. "I thought I'd come up with an additional funding scheme that would patch some of these holes, but the logistics wouldn't work. Not unless we want to wait another year to get this off the ground."

Motee put a hand on Luke's shoulder, but his focus on his letter was completely gone. He shook her off and crossed the room, climbing onto the couch to burrow into Padme's side. He'd been clingy like that all day, after having had a bad dream the night before. She knew she should probably gently detach him and send him back to her handmaiden, so he wouldn't see or overhear some detail he shouldn't, but she couldn't quite bring herself to do it. He needed this right now.

And, really, she did, too.

So, instead, Padme gave him a reassuring smile and kissed the top of his head. With the ease of long practice, she kept her voice light as she answered Bail. "No, I think even a half-measure now is better than waiting. And I think either way, emergencies are going to be a problem. So I think we should err on the side of covering as many non-crisis-level problems as possible."

"Hm." He considered for a minute, then nodded. "All right, you've convinced me. Mobile it is."

"Clear," Dorme cut in.

Luke tightened his hold on Padme's waist, and she turned his head so he wouldn't see as Bail pulled out the comlink and called up the message. That would have to be enough.

Text only, she saw immediately. Good, less likely for Luke to see what it contained and get more upset than he already was. She held her breath while Bail ran the necessary decryption protocol, then his eyes widened.

"What is it?" she asked.

He turned to show her the screen.

Specter is dead. May need additional resources for aftermath. Will be in touch.

She read it twice, to be sure she understood. Between that and Luke's nightmare…

"Who…?" she asked.

He glanced down at Luke. She covered his ears.

"Ben sent the message," he said.

Padme closed her eyes. On the subject of-memories; this was too...too much like it had been six years ago, waiting and waiting and waiting with only the knowledge that something terrible had happened, and Bail as her trusted go-between, her only reliable source of information. Who might be silent again for hours- days.

She did not tighten her hold on Luke, because that might be tight enough to hurt. But it was tempting.

"You'll-as soon as you hear more…"

"You'll be the first to know," he promised.

"Update me…" She opened her eyes. "Update me at least every couple hours, please? Even if it's just to say no news yet."

He nodded. "I understand," he said.

"Thank you." She ran her hand over Luke's hair again, and forced herself to breathe normally. As awful as waiting was, the odds were good that trying to do anything else right now would just make the situation worse. At least until she had more information to go on.

And they should probably have Dorme shut down the active countersurveillance before it was noticed, get back to their earlier discussion, close it out and send Bail on his way and put Luke to bed, but she couldn't-

She needed another moment first. To lock those memories away again, for just a little while longer.

This was not actually the first time a patient had vanished on Dr. Naar before they were ready to be released-an unfortunate habit of people who didn't want to be found, but needed help enough to come to him anyway. It wasn't even the first time a (theoretically) immobile patient had done it. It was the first time this had happened in broad daylight, but he supposed that really didn't matter much.

And, based on what he knew of the Jedi's reputation, he'd fully expected Skywalker to be one of those patients; unwilling to take the time he needed to heal properly before diving back into his work, either because prolonged idleness drove him mad or he considered his work that important. Or both. So, while opening the storeroom door to find the Jedi and his companion gone was certainly... alarming, it wasn't exactly shocking, once he'd gotten a moment to think about it.

Still, alarmed or not, shocked or not, he was definitely worried. For one thing, while he had gotten Skywalker stabilized the night before, the young man was by no means well enough to be up and about. He would probably end up, at minimum, undoing a good chunk of the work Dr. Naar had done, if not making things worse for himself.

And then there was the creeping fear that, rather than just garden-variety hero-complex idiocy, something had actually spooked Skywalker, made him want to go to ground somewhere with fewer potential witnesses.

Or less collateral damage.

After all, one would think it would take at least a full day of consciousness for Skywalker to reach a breaking point, particularly with a companion to keep an eye on him and rein him in while Dr. Naar tended to other patients.

But as the day went by and the only soldier who came to his door was one who'd had an unfortunate encounter with a dreek-thorn bush, that worry gradually faded. Not entirely-that kind of anxiety would probably never completely go away, not as long as Dr. Naar continued to associate with and treat Jedi fugitives-but enough that he could put it out of his mind. Enough that he was able to focus on the patients who were here, and spend his spare moments on the slightly-more-productive worry for the way Skywalker was probably derailing his recovery, and what might be done to reverse that when he came back.

If he came back.

And then, about a half-hour after full dark, the Togruta ex-Jedi returned. At this point, Dr. Naar was almost positive she was Skywalker's former apprentice, but he couldn't recall her name; she hadn't made the news nearly as frequently, or recently, as he had.

And, once again, she wasn't alone.

Here, again, was a very familiar face, and a completely unsurprising one. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker had come as a set for so long that Dr. Naar probably would have wondered where Kenobi was, if he hadn't had his hands full with other concerns.

He was a little shorter than Dr. Naar had expected, but legends often were; reddish hair starting to go grey; leaning on the wall with one arm pressed tight to his side. Broken or dislocated shoulder, probably.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when the Togruta-what was her name; it was hovering just out of reach-stopped halfway into the clinic, tilting her head. "He's not here," she said, frowning.

"No," he said. "They left hours ago. I'm sorry, I had other patients-"

"It's not your fault," she assured him quickly, flashing a brief, if tight, smile to show she meant what she said. "How long ago, exactly?"

"At least nine hours," he said. The last time he'd checked on them had been about three hours before noon; he'd come back just over two hours later to find the room empty. "I...I didn't have any way to contact you." Not that he'd actually thought of it until this moment, but if he'd had the option, maybe he would have. It didn't really much of a difference at this point, of course, but he felt like it should be said.

She shook her head. "Don't worry about it," she said, then glanced over at Kenobi.

"We'll find them, Ahsoka," he said.

Ah, that's her name. He fixed it in his memory as best he could.

"Yeah," she said. "We shouldn't lose any more time, then."

He nodded, pushing himself up from the wall. "Thank you for your time, Doctor."

"Wait a minute," Dr. Naar said, holding up a hand to stop them. "I can at least take a look at your arm before you go."

Kenobi considered for a minute, then nodded again. "Thank you," he said. Dr. Naar pointed him to a seat and he took it with a faint, weary sigh.

Dr. Naar got his scanner and checked the setting on the shoulder. It was a simple dislocation, and everything had been lined up correctly. Not all that much for him to do here at this point, other than a shot he could give that would ease the pain and swelling and speed up the healing process. And provide a sling, of course-sped up didn't mean instantaneous.

Kenobi relaxed a little when the shot kicked in, but simply held the sling in his lap for a moment, rather than putting it on. "How much damage has he done, running off like this?"

Of course. The key question; he supposed it was inevitable once he'd stopped them rushing out the door quite so fast. Unfortunately, "Hard to say," he said, shaking his head. "It depends on where he's going, how smooth and easy the trip is...significant, I can say that much. Especially if his fever spikes again, which it probably will."

He nodded. "Right, of course." He paused a minute. "When we've caught up with him, may we bring him back here? I understand if you're unwilling to take the risk again."

"He still needs care," he said immediately. And no one gets turned away. "Even if he doesn't seem to think so." He paused. "I'm sorry, that was…"

"True," Ahsoka said, wryly.

"He can be...difficult sometimes," Kenobi added. "I'll speak to him. This won't happen again."

"Let's just say I know the type," he said dryly. "But-my point was, he still needs care. That's all that matters to me. Besides, I'm...apparently not exactly immune to doing something reckless, either. As far as the risk goes, I'm not sure you'll find anyone else fool enough to take it." Which was...unfortunate, and all the more reason for him to do it.

"Most likely not," he agreed softly. "Thank you. Thank you. We'll have him back-" He frowned. "I don't know that we'll be able to make the round trip before sunrise, but tomorrow night, if at all possible."

"All right." Not exactly ideal, but ideal of course would have been Skywalker never leaving in the first place. This was the next-best thing. "You know where he's gone, then?"

"Oh, yes," he said. "I know exactly where he's gone."

But Ahsoka hadn't, based on the quick but intense flash flash of relief Dr. Naar caught on her face before she covered it up.

"All right," he said. "The sooner the better, but I understand you need to take precautions."

Kenobi nodded, then stood and bowed. "We should go. Thank you again, Doctor. For...for everything."

"Of course," he said. Then pointedly added, "You should wear the sling for at least three days."

"...ah. Right." He had the grace to look a little sheepish, and put it on, adjusting his cloak so it was more or less hidden; one sleeve lying empty for the moment.

Ahsoka waited until he was settled, then bowed briefly. "We'll see you tomorrow, Doctor," she said.

"Tomorrow," he agreed, and showed them out the back way. He watched until they disappeared into the cool darkness, then retreated to lock up. Just as if it were any other night.

Because, at least until tomorrow, that was the best he could do for Skywalker and all of his other patients-keep up appearances, act like nothing was wrong, act like he wasn't harboring Jedi fugitives, and ensure his clinic was still there and open when they returned.

Leia was not hiding from her aunt and uncle on the roof. Not at all. Only little kids did that, and she wasn't ever going to convince Daddy she was old enough to go with him if she kept doing little kid stuff.

Besides, if she was hiding, she'd've picked a lot better place than up here where all Aunt Beru or Uncle Owen had to do was walk outside to see her. She wasn't dumb.

She just-wanted to be alone for a bit, that was all. It was probably better that way, 'cause all day she'd felt weird and jumpy, like everything anyone said to her was something broken and sharp trying to burrow under her skin until she wanted to scream. Ever since the dream she'd had last night, the one that had started on the silver planet but then all of a sudden jumped to a place she'd never seen before, one that was black and white and cold.

It had been scary, and Leia really, really did not like being scared.

So she'd climbed up here, where all of that could stop for a little bit, and it was just her and the sand and the suns, counting the minutes until Daddy got home for her birthday. Things would be better once he got here. They almost always were.

She'd lost track of time, but the suns were still no more than halfway to the horizon when she heard the speeder coming up, and she knew that was Daddy and Uncle Rex.

Except-that didn't make any sense. They always got eopies, 'cause they were quieter and lasted longer in the sand. But she knew it was them, the way she sometimes just...knew things.

Not good.

She stood up and shaded her eyes, trying to get a look for the speck on the horizon where they were coming from.

Mos Eisley? But that's where they came in last time and Daddy always switches…

For a minute, she was back in her dream, even though that cold, dark place couldn't be farther from midafternoon on Tatooine if it tried.

She scowled and shook her head until she stopped feeling like that, then slid down the side of the dome to meet them.

It didn't take all that long for them to pull up, even if the two or three minutes felt like forever. As soon as they were close enough, Leia didn't even wait for the speeder to come to a full stop before she darted over to it. Uncle Rex was driving, and Daddy was-

Daddy was hurt.

And, yeah, okay, it wasn't the first time. He'd come home bruised and stiff and achy before, even if he always pretended he wasn't where she could see, but this-this-this-not like this.

His eyes drifted open and he smiled at her, a little sideways. "Hey, princess," he said, ruffling her hair and his hand was shaking a bit. "Missed you lots."

"Missed you, too," she said, automatically, then climbed up onto the speeder and flung her arms around him-real careful, 'cause she didn't know exactly where he was hurt-and buried her face in his shoulder. He was hot, too hot, even for driving hours in the suns- fever hot. She blinked back tears.

"Hey…" he said again, hugging her close. "Hey, it's okay, princess. It's okay, I'm here."

She just nodded, and didn't let go, until she felt Uncle Rex's hand land on her shoulder.

"C'mon, ad'ika," he said. "We should get inside."

Right. 'Cause Daddy was hurt, and he had a fever, so he needed to lie down. Reluctantly, she detached herself and climbed down off the speeder, hovering just out of the way while Uncle Rex helped Daddy out and-

Daddy's leg was gone.

It was just- gone.

A big, choking lump built up at the back of her throat and her eyes started prickling because Daddy. And part of her wanted to go cling to him again so he wouldn't-so she would know he wasn't getting hurt any more, and part of her wanted to go find whoever did that to him and put scorpions in their bed, and part of her wanted to run inside for Aunt Beru who would probably know what to do to make him feel better, and part of her whispered, if he'd just let me come this never would have happened. Except she knew that was dumb, just like she knew that scorpions in the bad guy's bed wouldn't fix this, and that running to cling to Daddy would probably just make him fall over which would make things worse.

"I-I-I'm gonna get Aunt Beru," she said. Because then at least she'd be doing something.

"Good idea," Uncle Rex said. "We'll be right behind you."

Daddy didn't say anything. Daddy was maybe just focusing on standing right now.

And that was all it took for her to start actually crying. But she had a job to do, so she tried to blink back the tears and make them stop; just for a little while, just until Daddy was inside and okay.

When that didn't work after a few seconds, she gave up and just took a shaky breath to steady herself before turning and running inside for help.

Original Author's Notes: And we are officially past 100k words, wow. Uh, so I'll do some sort of bonus to mark the milestone on my writing tumblr-I'll probably post something about that sometime in the next couple days. Feel free to message me if there's anything you want to see! And thank you all so much for staying with me for this long 3

~shadowsong