"So we'll stay until a cure can be found?" Ben asked.
Luke nodded. "Once one is found, we'll bring it back to Cilghal."
Ben smiled at the thought of being reunited with Vestara, without her pain. That thought quickly brought along sorrow, since he was apart from her. Luke sensed this, and wiped away a tear trickling down his son's cheek. "Hey, it'll all be okay. You'll see." He promised.
Ben sniffled and nodded. "But I need you to stay focused. I'm worried about Vestara and the other Jedi too. But we can't help them if we're too busy grieving." Luke continued. Ben agreed with his father. He took a breath to calm his nerves. "How will we find a cure?" He asked.
Luke clicked his tongue a few times. "I don't know. According to Nas Choka, it's very likely a new variant with a new genetic makeup. So we'd need a different way of synthesizing a cure." He kissed his son's forehead.
They left the Jade Shadow, and went to where Danni had instructed them to meet her, Nas, Sau, and Jako for the planning of the raid.
Vestara was in a different room in the medical center. Cilghal was getting the machines and IV Drips ready. She turned to her patient. "Would you like me to explain a Medically Induced Coma again, Jedi Khai?" She asked. She wanted Vestara to be reminded so she'd be at her calmest as she was being hooked up.
Vestara weakly nodded. Cilghal gestured to the machines. "These will take care of your body while you're unconscious. It'll filter waste, circulate blood, and more, as well as keeping tabs on your bodily activity."
The Mon Calamari doctor began hooking Vestara up to the machines. Cilghal felt bad that she had no choice but to do this, but Vestara's brain damage would need her unconscious. And it saddened Cilghal further that Vestara would have to remain unconscious until the Skywalkers found a cure, which didn't have any ETA whatsoever. Vestara would have to remain unconscious in order to prevent another seizure.
Once Vestara's body was fully hooked up to the machines, Cilghal gestured to the IV Drips. "These contain water and the drugs that will put you under." It wasn't yet time to hook Vestara up to the drug drip yet, but she could still hook her up to the water. "You may feel a small prick." Cilghal warned.
The healer counted to 3, and inserted the pipe into Vestara's arm. Vestara's body was in too much pain to notice. She felt herself barely conscious. Her pain was causing so much fatigue, yet she couldn't even get to sleep. She felt like she could fall asleep at any second. Everything hurt. Cilghal sensed her discomfort. "Don't worry Jedi Khai, it won't be much longer now. The machines just need to get to work, and then you'll go under." She assured.
As Ben and Luke walked through the town they were in, they saw some Ur-Yuuzhan Vong children playing with a ball of sorts. Luke couldn't help but smile fondly. The sight reminded him of when his own son was much younger. Ben couldn't help but smile fondly too. It also reminded him of when he was much younger, and it made him hopeful for when he'd eventually have a little one running around, and would call him, "dad".
Ben was snapped out of his thoughts when the ball suddenly hit his boot. He turned around. The children looked at him nervously. Ben didn't sense any fear from them. Rather, he sensed a cautious wonder from them, as to what he would do.
He calmly knelt down, and picked up the ball. One of the children got brave, and nervously walked up to him. Ben looked at the child calmly, and handed her the ball. She eyed it for a second, and carefully grabbed it with both hands. Once Ben was certain that she had established a firm grip, he let go. She went back to the other children, and the Skywalkers continued their walk.
Ben glanced at his dad. Luke had a small smile. Ben couldn't help but smile a little too. They eventually met up with Danni. "We have good news about the lab's location. We believe that we know where it is." She explained. Luke and Ben went in to hear out the plan.
"Lamnol and Lemne will have guards posted at every entrance. Luckily, Harrar already has the numbers to raid, and we're going to bring more." Sau placed what looked like needles on the desk. Ben was convinced that he could see the biotic being move. "These are tipped with a toxin that will neutralize their nervous system. Great for infiltration operations, but not great for the initial assault." Everyone understood that it was for the raid on the lab itself.
Jako placed down a fleshy container and a fleshly sack. "The container is for the sample of the tumor. The sack is to keep the container safe from breaching, and releasing the tumor."
"Since we only have information from the plague we experienced," Nas explained, "We don't know how contagious this new one is, or how it's transmitted. But these are the best we've got." Luke immediately recognized the gnulliths that Nas set down. They worked by forcing a breathing tube into the wearer's throat, and breathing for them. "We apologize for any potential contaminations due to an unforeseen matter." Nas added. He didn't have an entire idea on what would happen, or if there were other pathogenic weapons his brothers had.
With the materials and supplies discussed, they now needed to discuss how they would break in with Harrar's group.
Cilghal moved breathing tubes carefully down Vestara's throat. "These will put oxygen into you while you're out." She explained.
It had been a while, but the machines had finally taken over when her body would usually work. Now it was only a matter of minutes until she was asleep. For however long, she didn't know. She began feeling the breathing tubes vibrate. Oxygen was being fed into her.
Cilghal sighed, and pricked Vestara's other arm with the drip that would supply the drugs to her. "You'll be under soon." She said.
Vestara began feeling more fatigued within a minute. Her eyes grew heavy. She thought back on her late mother. Her only and closest source of love and nurturing. Well, as loving and nurturing went in a Sith society.
She thought of her father. He was always proud of her accomplishments. She excelled in all that she did. He taught her much of what she knew, while further training under Lady Rhea came later. She remembered his full turn, and how he gave up everything to follow Abeloth. It broke her heart deeply when he stated that he no longer thought of her as his daughter.
She thought of Luke. He was once her captor, and now her master. For a long time, he held a deep disdain for her because she was a Sith. However, he was closer to an actual loving father than her real father was. Even when he disliked her, he still cared for her. And now he was off risking his life to rescue hers and other of those who got infected by this illness, and those who might contract it later.
She thought of Ben. His ridiculous boyish face. He was the first to outwardly show genuine care for her. He wasn't very good-looking, but she fell in love with him regardless. She imagined his ridiculous grin that he claimed was attractive, but she really just wanted to smack clean off of him. Nevertheless, she felt sorrow without him being here to hold her hand, even if she would barely feel it anyway.
A tear rolled down her cheek.
As the Skywalkers listened and gave input on the raiding plan that was being devised, a disturbance in the Force was felt. Ben felt Vestara's presence in the Force weaken, but not disappear. He immediately hung his head. Luke looked at his son somberly, and placed his hand on his back. "You felt it too." Luke wasn't asking. Ben silently nodded, as tears began trickling down his cheeks. "I'm very sorry." Danni said.