Just finished this :) Also with a different POV than usual, so hopefully it worked out.


Chapter 28

It was like a nightmare. Or one of these horror-holos Dex absolutely hated. His headlamp illuminated the whole scene in a yellowish hue which provided a stark contrast to the red of the blood that kept bubbling out of Obi-Wan's chest.

He still tried to ignore the black number which had been crudely tattooed on his friend's forearm and the few notes he had read in Arbor's experiment folder.

Function of organs: no abnormalities.

Bone resistance: Average.

Dex pressed his lips into a thin line, trying to focus on continuing with the compressions.

But one thing he knew for sure. There was no safe place for Arbor in this galaxy. He would find her.

And then she will pay.

Normally, he was not someone who believed in the supernatural or miracles. But today - for Obi-Wan's sake - he prayed for someone to respond to his desperate calls.

Suddenly Obi-Wan jerked under his hands, gasping for breath. For a moment it seemed as if a shimmering bluish figure was detaching itself from its friend, long hair falling on its shoulders, a sad smile almost hidden by a beard.

Qui-Gon.

But as fascinating as the moment was, it quickly snapped him back to the present as the figure dissolved and Obi-Wan once again needed his attention.

"Obi-Wan," he breathed, immediately turning his friend on his side as he continued to cough, "… it's okay, I got you…"

The jedi again tried to suck in a wet breath but didn't seem to notice their presence at all.

Dex crouched down so that he was face-to-face with his friend. "Obi-Wan, can you hear me?", he tried.

Unseeing eyes tried to focus on him, but the action did not seem coherent. Hesitantly, Dex reached out and carefully touched one of Obi-Wan's hands.

His friend flinched in response but did not manage to pull his hand away, his head flopping on the table. A trail of saliva and blood led from his mouth, forming a small puddle next to where his cheek was pressed to the metal surface.

"We need to get him out of here," whispered Padme, having witnessed the whole ordeal.

"Yes," acknowledged Dex, still wrecking his brain on how to proceed, "… you think they have something like a blanket around?"

Obi-Wan's pale skin looked even paler than he knew it actually was with the dark shadows that surrounded them. The only thing they had left him was a poor excuse of shorts. The rest of his body - Dex had to force himself not to look away in disgust - had fallen victim to the experiments. They had even taken the hair on his head - leaving Obi-Wan with a kind of military styled buzz cut. The beard on the other hand had been left untouched. And then there was that collar around his neck – a cruel invention meant to hurt a force-sensitive. But he didn't see a way to remove it now, so he had to leave it, as much as he hated that.

"There's nothing here," Padme explained as she returned to his side, a grim expression plastered onto her face.

"Blast," muttered Dex in response and stood up again.

Gingerly, he now fully grasped Obi-Wan's hand, keeping hold of it as the jedi tried to pull it away again. "… I will lift you now," Dex explained after a moment of hesitation, "Can you try to press my hand twice if you understood that?"

His eyes wandered to the trembling hand held firm in his own. No response.

"Dex, we need to get him to a medìc," urged Padme, worriedly staring at the blood collecting on Obi-Wan's chest, arms and legs, where stitches had torn open.

"I know…," he rasped and let go of Obi-Wan's hand, "…I'm sorry, my friend."

With that he carefully moved to lift Obi-Wan off the table.

The jedi began struggling and made a pained noise which probably would have been a guttural scream had he had any strength left.

His heart clenching painfully, Dex tried to shift the man in his arms, hoping to somehow brace the broken legs at least a bit. Obi-Wan's head lolled against his shoulder, chest contracting sharply as he alternated between breathing and coughing.

Without a word, they started moving out of the lab, back to the ladder they had descended when entering the complex.

Obi-Wan was a dead weight in his arms, still shaking violently. "We're almost out," Dex tried to soothe him, "… just a moment more and we're at the ship."

Balancing the man against his chest, he used his second set of arms to climb up the ladder as steadily as possible. The jedi whimpered silently.

When he finally made it to the surface, Padme was already waiting for him, shooting a worried glance at Obi-Wan's limp form. "Go ahead and prepare the ship," Dex suggested as he began walking, "The faster we get out of here, the better."

The senator hesitated for a second. "Are you sure you'll be alright on your own? Arbor could still be around."

Dex shook his head. "If she's smart enough, she left long ago…. Now go."

Padme let her eyes wander between him and Obi-Wan, but then nodded sharply and began to run towards their ship.

Watching how her silhouette grew smaller in the distance, he continued on his path with steady steps.

"Don't you dare give up on me, you hear that?", he mumbled mostly to himself, "… you always said that you wanted to learn how to cook…"

He swallowed thickly. "… I promise you I will teach you everything I know if you hold on now…"

Of course, he got no response.

"What was your favorite dish again?...nerf burger? That's what you always ordered when you visited with your kids…", his breath got stuck in his throat, … yeah, I can teach you that…"

His fingers tightened around Obi-Wan as he finally reached the ship, the engine already running.

Padme met him halfway up the ramp. "We're ready for take-off," she announced, her eyes resting on the jedi, "I already activated the meddroid, he's already waiting for Obi-Wan."

Dex nodded sharply as he ascended the ramp completely and let it close behind him. "Good, get us up in the air. I'll handle this," he waltzed towards their small medbay, "Call me if you need me."

He then quickly moved on to the small medbay tucked in the corner and gently deposited Obi-Wan on the cot there, eliciting a groan from the man. The meddroid immediately began hovering over him, scanners ready.

"I must ask you to step back from the patient, sir," it bleared.

Dex glared at the droid and bared his teeth. "I won't leave him alone."

The droid was undeterred. "I am programmed to help my patients, not hurt them," it announced monotonously.

The ship jolted under his feet as they ascended into the atmosphere but Dex didn't move an inch from his place. Somehow he couldn't get himself to trust that droid but at the same time he knew that Obi-Wan needed the treatment. "Okay," he finally breathed, moving a bit to the side, "You can proceed but I'll be watching."

Not waiting any longer the droid began to scan Obi-Wan, the device's screen flashing in an angry red. After it was done, Dex could swear that there was something alike a frown on the droid's face.

"The patient has severe injuries to both upper and lower legs, as well as the knees. Presumably caused by violence with a blunt object...," it said, as Dex stared at the almost black discolored and swollen limbs, "... there are also poorly stitched wounds on the torso, arms and legs that show signs of unprofessional surgery."

"Arbor," Dex hissed quietly, clenching his fists as the droid continued with his seemingly endless list.

"... seemingly deeply embedded into the spinal cord."

Blinking, Dex came to attention. "What did you just say?" he queried.

The droid looked up from his list. "There is some kind of device in his back," it repeated, "It has been somehow implanted in his spinal cord."

"What kind of device?", he urged, panic rising up.

"I have never seen anything like it."

Dex nervously ran a hand over his face. "Does it have an explosive? Can you remove it?"

"I am not equipped to perform such delicate surgeries," it answered, "But my sensors did not detect any kind of explosive… the device seems to cause severe pain to the patient though… recommend sedation to proceed with treatment."

His eyes wandered up to Obi-Wan's face. His friend had his eyes screwed shut und was still gasping for breath. "Do it…," Dex finally relented, "Treat him as best as you can."

The droid bopped its head in acknowledgement. "I will administer a mild sedative now and then I will proceed with fixing the sutures and stabilizing his ribs and legs. Then he needs to be transferred to a medcenter."

Swallowing, Dex watched how the droid prepared the medication and then injected it into Obi-Wan's arm. The man was too weak to flinch away but his breath evened out eventually. The droid then proceeded to fit an oxygen mask on Obi-Wan's face and attach a monitoring bracelet on his wrist.

"Patient exhibits tachycardia," the droid noted after a moment, turning to Dex, "Is there something I should now?"

"He wasn't breathing when we found him," he supplied, "… he choked on a breathing tube connected to a not working machine… I had to perform CPR – he looked relatively stable after that though."

The meddroid processed the information. "The description fits with the injuries presented," it rambled then, already moving to administer a different kind of medication in Obi-Wan's arm. "His heart rate should stabilize now."

Dex eyed the monitoring bracelet with anticipation and let out a breath as his friend's heart rate indeed returned to a normal. "Okay,"

"He also needs blood," the droid said then, as it continued to hook Obi-Wan up with fluids, "He lost a dangerous amount."

Arbor.

"She must have taken it," Dex growled, "We interrupted her during one of her… experiments."

Gathering the tools it needed the droid, kept moving around. "Like I said, an immediate transfer to a medcenter is recommended."

Watching a second longer, Dex finally stepped back. "I'll… I'll talk with Padme… tell me when he wakes up."

He then almost fled from the medbay, stopping as the door closed behind him and letting his emotions wash over him.

"Blast…," he hissed into his hands, flopping his head back against the wall.

Things were bad – if that would even sufficiently describe their situation. They needed to find a save place for Obi-Wan – and one that could provide a decent doctor. He didn't know if his friend would ever be the same – or if he even was still in there.

The ship jerked again as Padme apparently docked on the other ship they had left behind priorly.

Right. They promised to pick them up.

Dex pushed himself off the wall and walked up to the airlock, meeting Padme halfway. "Obi-Wan needs a real medic," he said immediately, "There is something in his spine and the droid can't remove it."

Padme stopped short. "What?", she asked unbelieving, "What do you mean there's something in his spine?"

"I don't know what it is," Dex explained, "But it's causing him pain."

Cursing under her breath, Padme ran a hand through her hair. "Okay… we'll… we'll figure this out. Let's just pick up the others and then we're on our way."

"On our way to where?", Dex urged, as Padme opened the airlock, "Obi-Wan is a wanted man. We can't just bring him to a Republic medcenter. Not even speaking of that collar around his neck we still couldn't remove."

With a hiss, the airlock finally opened and shortly after Lyn and Arrik poked their heads through the opening.

"You came back…," mumbled Arrik gratefully, helping Lyn to climb through the door with her son in her arms.

"We don't have much time…," Padme ushered them inside and closed the lock again, "Obi-Wan is not doing well and we need to find a doctor as fast as possible."

Lyn's face fell. "… is he going to make it…?"

Both Padme and Dex remained silent at that, making the woman turn her head down. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"Our meddroid will take a look at your son as soon as he is finished with Obi-Wan," Padme finally said and pointed towards the small sleeping quarters to her right, "You can take the bunk beds and rest."

"Thank you…," Arrik and Lyn mumbled simultaneously as they shuffled past them.

Dex kept a close eye on the group until the door closed behind them. "So where do we go now?"

"I suggest we set course to Stewjon," Padme then said, "They have a proper medcenter and the risk of getting discovered there is relatively low."

"Stewjon?", Dex queried confused, "Why there of all places?"

"Because we have friends there," argued Padme, already walking back to the cockpit, "… and it was Obi-Wan's home after all."

Dex remained standing behind her, his face tight. "…Padme… you know that Obi-Wan's family is dead, right?"

Her hands halted over the controls. "… yes, of course…," she breathed, "Anakin told me… His mother and her husband are living on the farm now."

Blowing out a breath, he sat down in the co-pilot's seat. "Okay… I just… I just don't want to hurt him more than necessary."

Padme settled her brown eyes on Dex. "That's not my intention," she said calmly, "But Stewjon is our best option."

He swallowed thickly. "I know… I know."


They got Obi-Wan out, but at what cost? Let's see what will happen when they arrive on Stewjon (you know who's waiting there ;D)

Let me know what you think of this chapter!