Private A Broken Relic

[Acaadi]

It was all overwhelming. Every one of his senses screamed for his attention as he tried to wrangle with what was going on. More water found its way down to patter upon them, more artificial light too. He took that as a good sign.

The pain shooting up and down his arm wasn't going to stop. It only grew as the pressure was relieved. Acaadi tried to counter balance that with his jedi training. Slow and deliberate, he repeated a mantra inside his own head and slowly expelled the pain from his circle of awareness. Beyond a pain of glass it continued to hammer, but it was no longer demanding most of his concentration.

"Can you move?" He asked, each word spoken as slowly and clearly as he could manage. He needed to try and anchor her back to the present. It had to be the trauma of a past crash sending her into a panic.

There were more voices and he barely made out what they said. They didn't sound dangerous.

Part of him realised this was going to be awkward and might effect the mission. They were going to be found in scrap metal being held up by an invisible force. That was a problem to solve another time.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I was scared. I didn't hurt you did I?" Her words were quick, looking at him before trying to feel the area around them through the force. Her connection faltered under her effort, a weight settling on her mind as her shoulders slumped.

She hiccupped a breath as he asked her if she could move. A sound between a laugh and crying as she tried to push herself closer to someone she had nearly lost in the chaos of whatever had happened.

"Not well. But. I can scoot. You? Are you alright?" She finally replied. Still trying to comfort her own mind as exhaustion slowly settled on her like a blanket. She felt tired beyond her limit, the surprise of wielding the force in such a way beyond her typical capabilities. There was a seeping pain in her leg, but she was focusing on Acaadi.

It wasn't long before hands got close enough to them to start pulling apart the debris on top of them, another set of voices were dictating how to extract them properly as Phalsi lifted her head enough to spy the bodies that were moving around them. The white and red blend of vests pushing between the jumpsuits of the dock workers.

 

[Acaadi]

"You didn't hurt me, the torpedo did that," he replied. He certainly didn't go as far as laughter and he sucked in a breath over his teeth as soon as he finished speaking. He didn't find anything funny about this, but he tried to take the edge off the situation.

Acaadi didn't think he was particularly brave. It was an odd thing facing his fears. At times they overwhelmed him, but there were a few occasions in his life where he had stood his ground. Even if those times he hadn't had much of an option. He had held off a force of Bryn long enough for aid to come once. That had seemed brave afterwards. Flying a starfighter in battle no longer felt brave. It was just...sonething he was used to.

He hadn't felt very brave in the face of possibly losing her. Running towards the danger hadn't been difficult, but the idea of watching her go in a fiery explosion had shocked him to his core.

"We're here!" he coughed as loud as he could. If his arm was broken they Phalsi wasn't going to be coming out of this unscathed. They needed treatment.

Awkward explanations would follow, he was sure. Pieces of debris were lifted one at a time.

"Check them over quick," said one of the crew, as another crawled towards them. "It's too dangerous here. We need to get them out."

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

"Torpedo..." Seemingly mystified by the word, she stared at him. Her face dropping as realization slowly came forward in place of the fog that had muddled her thinking. The thoughts of water and drowning a far flung thing now. She blinked, a slow anger bubbling up as she looked at him sharply.

"The captain...and...then you..." a calm cold crept in as she pieced together the shards that had previously eluded her. The events having gone over the panicked mind as fear had taken hold before he had helped bring her back down. "You should have got clear."

A hand touched her leg as she cried and winced. Instinct making her tug on the leg as the previous pain was eclipsed with trying to draw her leg closer.

"Miss. Don't move that leg. It's...it's tangled." A voice called into them.

"Yeah..." A hissing breath came back as her chest heaved. "That's. That's great. Get him out first." She snapped, muscles tight as she tried to brace herself against the pain.

---

Bodies hustled and words were thrown back and forth as the woman stood by the office door. The activity around the wreckage had provided ample distraction as she shook her head and entered the office.

A datastick slid into the terminal, deft hands silently accessing the system and taking note of the bay where the attack had taken place. A brow arched at the information the manager had pulled up. A frown creasing her otherwise plain features.

---

The groan of heavy equipment widened the small crawlspace after the first body had exited. Heads peeked in and scooted in jacks and other tools. Scooting along carefully and taking careful measure of the crawlspace.

"We are getting you out. We gotta make sure it doesn't cave in though." One spoke as the sound of hydraulics filled the cavern.

It was a hurried but careful pace. The crawl of more equipment being brought in to brace the space eventually finding their rescuers pulling on the pair. A sharp word and a point down revealed a piece of something wrapped around Phalsi's hip and and edge dangerously close to her calf.

"Get. Him. Out. First." She hissed against the burning pain that crept up from her foot and into her hip and side.

---

---

Brazen child.

A mental flicker of annoyance at the use of lofty power. She would speak to the girls handler about discretion. Pulling up the screen once more as it had been, she removed the copied data and slipped back out and into the crowd exiting the docks.

Mimicking the nervous energy about those scampering to get free of the equipment coming in, the woman returned to her waiting Mistryl Sister's.

 

[Acaadi]

He had half a mind to protest, to insist that Phalsi was removed first. His concentration was stretched too thin to argue. As blood returned to his arm he was trying desperately not to retch. As they prised the metal apart he was preparing the Force to protect them if the struts collapsed.

Hands were all over him. Pressing, grasping, tugging. He hissed in pain and tightened the grip with his good hand to Phalsi. They carefully drew him away.

He turned to face her as they picked him up. There was no trolley. Strong hands carrying him away from the wreckage.

Acaadi was placed on a trolley outside the wreck. Paramedics checking him over. They gave him a sedative. He refused to be loaded onto an airspeeder until he saw Phalsi being carried out. Then he let the sedatives take him.

---

"You understand that I don't normally question your methods. That I trust you with the task. But this..."

The Jedi shadow slowly turned the datapad around. Scenes from the afternoon played out, the freighter still burning.

"Was not my team. The two following the trail won't find enough to make them a problem. Even if they did, he is one of ours. I wouldn't show such disrespect as to use...explosives.

"Fell?"

The datapad changed. An internal memo. The prisoner had died suddenly. Heart failure.

"Such a delicate matter. We were focused on that task and not watching Acaadi." Delicate was an understatement. To preserve a secret they had murdered an emberlene citizen on his own world. An allied world. "The mystrals might know more about the attack, but we are trying to feign disinterest to the point of letting an inexperienced knight handle matters..."

The older Jedi shadow seemed slightly more as ease. He drummed his fingers once on the table.

"I had assumed Fell to be released deliberately to cause friction, but then why use such...overt means to dissuade young Acaadi and his mystral friend."

"It doesn't make much sense to me. I'm observing from a distance. Too many of her people around them right now. With luck they might try and kill them again and we can find out what the play is here."

"I feel like we're being tested, played with. Someone knows what we did on Jedha and is using it. I just can't see what for."

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

The feeling of his hand leaving hers wasn't enjoyable as she watched him be carried out of the wreckage. Two more bodies stepped inside as the sound of metal being ground away filled her ears. The sudden movement in her leg causing a cry of pain as more piled in to carry her out. Placed upon a stretcher, she caught sight of Acaadi finally relaxing as they administered sedatives to her.

The spiral into sleep was not comfortable, the pain in her left side from toe to hip slowly fading as she slipped into sleep.

---

The Sisters stared silently at the data being presented. Unknowns all around them. Shadows lingering on the edge of their senses that they could not sniff out. Too much freedom with what perhaps should have been a force wielders task to begin with. All suspicions raised by the most senior members that had been ignored by the younger voices among them.

And now they paid the price for their ambitions.

The master had died suddenly. In their home. On his planet. Under their scrutiny. The older faces were stoic, not betraying a sign of their feelings as those unable to school their frustrations fumed behind their hands at the table. The meeting had been called quickly after the pairs tail had returned. Pulling the information that had been requested before also noting the progress and tactics of their young flower.

A duality to her tactic that many had differing opinions on.

Old tactics and ways versus those of a growing galaxy. Caution versus action. Always a give and take with the meetings that ended in someone's frustrations in some manner.

The sat around the table once more, the visual of the attack on the freighter freeze framed before them all.

"We must reach out to the jedi about this matter. This has gone beyond simple kidnapping."

"They aren't interested in the matter."

"The man died in our care, under security. Someone used something we are not familiar with. We must-"

"They sent a knight to deal with this matter, why-"

"What have we learned in our time of existence, dear sisters?" An elder spoke sharply as the room fell silent. Eyes switched to the woman, uncomfortable shifting and mumbling taking hold before complete silence reigned. "We have learned those who are not interested, are invested. There is more here than simple issues. Something is lurking beneath and hidden from view. The Shadows are not committed like we are, that we can see. But they have their magics to fall back on. To trick the mind, to hide in plain sight."

"Then we bring them-"

"No. We play the game. We bait the hunters. See who they go after. Make it so." The assembly was dismissed, those gathered moving their separate places before orders for Acaadi and Phalsi came down.

---

The pair would arrive in a private hospital with minimal guards save for those in disguise. Separate rooms though on the same floor for the time being. Phalsi was still out, her leg wrapped completely as nurses kept an eye on the large gauze wrapping the ran from hip to knee. Acaadi strapped with a bacta cast in his room down the way. In between the nurses and doctors seemed calm, relaxed even.

 

[Acaadi]

Acaadi was feeling deeply wretched, if a little relieved at how lightly they had come out of the affair all things considered.

He had reached out to sense danger before the torpedo had been fired and had come up short in sensing the threat. If he had, he could have kept them from stepping onto the ship at all.

He had written up his report, but there was no reply from the Jedi Master he had been reporting to. He didn't have a mind for subterfuge. His report had been accurate to the word and he hoped there were others who could figure out what was going on.

Whilst he didn't have a mind for subterfuge, he had a notion to carry out a single act of infiltration. Sensing that the coast was clear, he reached out to silence the alarms on the monitors and then unstrapped them from himself.

He made for the door, shouldering through it with his left. He didn't have long, padding down the corridor quickly. He knocked as loudly as he dared on the door to the room she was in. There was no answer.

Acaadi slipped inside. She was unminded, but also fast out. Phalsi looked comfortable at least. That was, he reflected, probably the drugs. Acaadi settled down in the chair beside her bed.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

No alarms were tripped as Acaadi slipped away from his bed. The coast clear as he snuck inside her room. The window was open slightly, fresh air cooling the room.

The monitor slowly chirped with steady vital signs as it seemed that she was sleeping for the moment. The slow rise and fall of the blankets confirming it as a deeper breath formed. Quicker chirps were had before they calmed, eyes fluttering as she struggeled to focus on the room.

Blue eyes searched the room in a bleary, half lidded stare before settling on him. A weak smile forming before her arm lifted slightly his direction. Languid and heavy, it barely shifted the blanket that covered all but her wrapped leg and bare collar.

"Hey." She croaked before smacking her lips. "Drink?"

It looked as though she had barely moved, her searching gaze making the rest of her head catch up to the turtle paced search for water. The effort was tremendous for her however, body sluggish and unresponsive. She wasn't entirely sure how she felt about her current state.

 

[Acaadi]

He had seen so many people suffer serious injuries. He was trying to move past blaming himself for everyone who got hurt fighting beside him, even if he would still obsess about whether he could have seen the danger coming.

That didn't stop him from experiencing a strange cocktail of feelings as she reached for him. He was glad to see her smiling, relieved to see her awake. It was an uncomfortable kind of hurting to see that she had taken the brunt of the damage, to see her barely being able to lift an arm.

He stood to reach for a trolley on wheels that had a jug of water on it. It seemed as if this might have been

"I'll get you some cold and fresh later," Acaadi said as he poured a cup. He suspected going out to ask would lead to him being ushered back to his own room. He gingerly passed her the cup and managed to refrain from asking how she was feeling.

"Good to see you awake," he said softly.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

The world was strangely muted at the moment, the force she had passively felt through her a distant feeling. A quiet hum at arms length as she watched him look around and move.

He brought a cup back, her hand slow to grasp it. Everything took more effort than she felt she had to get.

"Thanks." She muttered, leaning into the cup and sipping. She craved the drink, liquid touching her throat and quenching the drought she hadn't realized was there. Reminding herself to keep it slow, keeping herself from sputtering on the drink.

The cup slowly found a home on the side table as she carefully adjusted herself and let herself wake up a bit more. There had been voices, people, alarms before the world had gone dark.

And Acaadi had been-

"You alright?" The words tumbled out, the look around the room shifting to him as she took in the featured of his face. Letting her eyes wander down his neck in slow assessing measure before falling to his arm.

"You're hurt. Feth!" Her face dropped to something of anger, hand sluggishly swiping at stray hairs. A sigh permeated the quiet as she blinked and looked back to him. "That the worst of it?"

 

[Acaadi]

"That's the worst of it and I've had worse before," he replied. He managed a fairly weak smile.

"You...kind of took the worst of it. Just had my arm pinned behind your back when it all came down."

Acaadi knew that without the Force they would probably have been burned away or been crushed completely. The way they had collided either of them could have ended up taking the brunt of the impact.

"How are you feeling? Well, I know its not going to be great but..."

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

His words and the weak smile did little to reassure a woozy mind. A labored breath as she tried to sit more upright in the bed making her yelp in surprise.

A small but sharp ping on her medical screen sounded drawing her attention briefly before turning back to him.

"Ah. Explains why my leg hurts. Nothing else though? Just your arm?" She probed. It was worry that danced in her words instead of accusatory anger. Concern colored her emotions, open once more to him as she sat there.

She took a steadying breath, examine the IV in her arm and the gauze on her leg with a small wiggle of her head. A measuring of herself and what hurt it the moment. She couldn't feel everything below the hip, at least not well.

There was a cautious and exploratory, though successful, wiggle of her toes that assured her they were just dulled senses rather than a loss.

"I ache. Not the good kind. My leg hurts. I think something stabbed me. Back feels like I took a good beating. Little disoriented." She gave what she could, glancing to the machine by her bed. "I think I'm on pain meds though. So hard telling."

"You're spot on actually." A feminine voice came from the doorway, silently opened and not betraying the nurse that had poked her head in. Uncannily quiet for a civilian. "If not for that spinal implant you might have lost some functionality below your stomach though."

She gave a warm smile to the pair, lingering on Acaadi with a look that held amusement.

"I see your friend already found you. Both feeling well enough then." She concluded before continuing. "Is there anyone you would like to call or reach out to? You've been in a news making accident, though your names weren't broadcas. Might be well advised to make contact if anyone needs to know."

 

[Acaadi]

"Ah. Explains why my leg hurts. Nothing else though? Just your arm?"

"Mostly just the arm..." Acaadi replied, giving a shallow shrug. "...what's a few ribs between friends."

Acaadi shrank a little into the chair at the sight of the authority figured he thought he had dodged. He might have focused on trying to make apologies but the mention of a spinal implant.

"I would er..." Acaadi said, turning towards Phalsi. There were people he wanted to contact, but no one had told she had been close to paralysis. Looking at Phalsi whilst trying not to hold back a look of abject fear wasn't going to help her at all.

"...I should talk to my parents when I can."

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

She nodded to his comment before her attention shifted to the authority figure. The mention of her spinal implant and the rather life saving effect it had making her jaw drop.

"P-pardon me!?" She snapped, the woman seeming unperturbed by the sudden rise in tone.

"I about lose my- and you ju-!?" Flabbergasted, she held her palm open and pointed to the woman before looking back to Acaadi as if his presence would make it better. Her eyes dropped to the hands that settled in her lap, wide at the discovery as she leaned backward. The urge to sleep and not exist for a while became strong as she processed the information.

"Traumatic events as they are, we figured it would be best to share that when you were awake. We had to put you under for removing the metal embedded in your leg. The shearing left debris and...well. There will be a process of recuperation while the muscle regrows under bacta treatments." She explained quietly.

Phalsi blinked, lips becoming thin as she nodded. Looking to Acaadi with a weak smile.

"Go make your calls. I gotta...figure all this out." She spoke quietly, already prepared for bad news.

 

[Acaadi]

Acaadi turned from Phalsi to the nurse and back again. He hadn't realised that he was going to insert himself into the moment she heard about the extent of the damage.

"Yeah..." he went, looking towards the door. He stood up.

Acaadi did a slight indecisive shuffle. When he turned towards Phalsi he regretted that she saw that.

Turning towards Phalsi, ignoring the woman at the door, he very gingerly leaned forwards to embrace her. Most of his weight rested on his elbows on either side of her. He reached out through the Force too, not doing more than gently brushing up against the defensive walls he assumed had formed around her.

"I can stay a bit longer...or go if you want," he whispered.

 

[Acaadi]

Accidental double post.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

She didn't put much into his indecisive shuffle, not exactly feeling like laughing or chastising the one person that mattered to her most. She'd protected him as best she could. Thankful at least that some brash past decision had been worth the trouble.

The woman waited patiently but cleared the doorway as she turned her gaze to the hall. The illusion of privacy given for the moment.

She welcomed the contact he offered, her guard up but gently greeting the contact as she tried to not cry as she hugged him. She wanted to be in her apartment. Wanted to just sit and exist with him again as she tried to be mindful of his arm.

"Go make your calls and come back. If I have to, I'll kick the nurse in the shin and we can hobble our way out." She tried to laugh away the forming tears in a not so quiet whisper. She sniffled, helping him back up as she smiled and waited for him to go.

 

[Acaadi]

"We'll inflict violence on the nurse if we have to," he tried to joke back, "but I don't think you're going to want to stay put a little while longer."

He knew that he wanted to leave and that she would want to get out of here to. It was an unpleasant place. No comfort, just the smell of disinfectant and the distant sound of medical monitoring devices. It made him feel a little more responsible to admit that they - she - needed to rest up.

Acaadi hadn't spoken to his parents in weeks. They were going to be thrilled that he dialled them only after getting seriously injured.

They would ask what he might be doing next, but they had become accustomed to not knowing where he was sent by the Order. This time even he didn't know. Would others be sent out to Attahox to pick up the loose threads in their stead? He genuinely didn't know.

 

[Phalsi Drynchen]

Even with the sting of waterworks, she still managed a small chuckle at the admission. Giving him a nod of agreement.

"Yeah. Probably wouldn't help getting out of here any quicker." She nodded her head while she spoke, never making an effort to stop the motion as the nods became little more than head bobbing. "Go make your calls. I'll. I'll be here."

She let her hand open, but didn't slip her hand from his until he left. Stealing glances as he walked out as the Nurse held the door open for Acaadi to pass through while Phalsi fidgeted with her blankets. Once he was outside, the door would close slowly behind the woman.

"Would you like the prognosis, or news from the sisters?" She spoke quietly, drawing close enough to speak without those outside hearing.

Dull gray eyes shifted with a mixture of contempt and sorrow as the woman drew back the blanket to examine her leg. The gauze was carefully peeled back, the wound worse than she figured as her hand flew to her mouth to temper her stomach.

"Prognosis then." The nurse frowned, dabbing at the edges of the skin with a fresh swab. "You'll be down for a few months at least requiring near constant bacta injections and patches to...hopefully regrow all the muscle you lost."

"Lost? I got stuck with metal, not cut." She snapped with a sharp hiss at the sudden burn of the next swab.

"Heated and shorn metal. Would have preferred a cut rather than your being stuck with a hot poker the size of your head. Short of having you under surgery for days on end to pick the pieces out and straightening the cooked parts, we removed the affected tissue." The woman explained as she drew up a chair. Sitting down near eye level to examine the wound better.

"So I'm. I'm just missing a chunk of muscle now?" Phalsi snorted, getting a nod from the other woman. "Awesome."

"The scarring should be minimal after it is completely healed. So long as the leg isn't used to much." Came a further explanation, paired with a look that made the jedi gaze out the window rather than attempt to meet the steely gaze.

"So I guess no running across rooftops or other daring shenanigans, huh?" She jokingly rasped. A sharp hiss of pain quickly replacing the sassy tone as gauze was slowly replaced and wrapped.

"You shouldn't even be standing on it to go to the bathroom if we are being completely honest." Phalsi grimaced at the woman's words before a sigh was given. "But I doubt you've so little pride to let yourself be tended in such a way. Meaning it will be a long scar on your leg, requiring a brace for an equally long while."

Phalsi scratched her chin, glancing at the door. Even without looking up the sharp tone explained what the nurse had seen while finishing the tight wrap.

"And he'll be better well before you. And how you handled him, he'll be needing both arms to mind you. Now then. Onto other business."

 

[Acaadi]

Acaadi had winced with his father picked up the phone. He didn't have a datapad to check the current timezone where his family lived on. He had hoped to catch his mother before or after work. She fussed an awful lot less about this kind of thing. She was more pragmatic, whilst his father was more empathetic and spiritual.

"No dad, there wasn't anyone else who could have done this but..."

"We we weren't expecting someone to try and blow us up and..."

Acaadi held the phone a little further from his ear. This was going to be one of those conversation where he managed to get a few words in between questions and guidance from his father. Then there was always the inevitable...

"You'll get to meet her soon Dad...no I don't know what soon means. But I might come home for a bit in a few weeks when I'm good to travel. Would that...be alright?"