Private Dissecting Gizka

[Inanna Harth]

Medical Bay, Vonnuvi Jedi Enclave

"Today, we will dissect gizka," the Ithorian instructor announced. "This task must be handled with care..."

While he went over safety procedures, Inanna glanced toward the pile of dead gizka sealed in bags on the table at the far end of the classroom. She had seen her fair share of dead bodies, but rarely were they so... well-preserved. The room already reeked of embalming fluids and chemicals, and they hadn't even started yet.

Still, she was tentatively excited about it. She felt a little more confident about this whole becoming a healer thing, and getting to do hands-on work was better than sitting at a desk listening to a lecture or writing a paper.

"You will each have an assigned partner," the Ithorian continued. "As we are a relatively small class, students from Coruscant and Jakku will also be joining us. Just like in the field, you may find yourselves working with strangers. You must learn to communicate and cooperate together."

Right, she thought. Hopefully I won't end up partnered with a jerk...

Gatz Derrevar​

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Training Saber
Tag: Inanna Harth

The Vonnuvi Jedi Enclave was a wonderous place: a whole mobile base of operations for Jedi, packed full with opportunities to learn about the medical field. Gatz had been here less than half a day, but already he found that he preferred it to the Healing Halls back on Coruscant. He'd have to make time to thank Master Serys-Organa for allowing him the opportunity to visit and learn from her enclave.

That could come after class, though.

Their instructor was an Ithorian man, one who remarkably wore a translating collar so that he could be understood in Basic—something Gatz was glad for. He had assigned them the task of dissecting Gizka, some kind of alien pest that Gatz was unfamiliar with. There was a stack of the dead creatures sealed in bags in one corner of the room. Gatz might have found that a bit morbid, if not for the sheer number of bodies under his belt.

Oof. Now that was a morbid thought. He was here to be better. He had to remind himself of that.

Still, there were only so many Gizka. It was clear, even before their instructor made note of it, that they'd have to pair up. His partner in question was... uh...

Wow.

That was really the only appropriate description he could come up with. Saying anything else to describe her would have been waxing poetry, or just downright crude. And he was neither a literary genius, nor scum (anymore). So 'wow' would have to do.

"Inanna Harth?" Gatz asked, as he approached the amber-eyed woman, "Gatz Derrevar. Assuming I've got the right person, I think we're partners today."

 

[Inanna Harth]

Once the procedures had been fully explained, they were allowed to get started. Inanna went and grabbed a lab apron. She was in the process of tying it around her waist when she heard her name being called.

“Oh, hey, that’s me.” She turned around to face her partner. He was a young guy, probably in his twenties. A little old for a Padawan, but then she was one to talk. More interestingly, his was an unfamiliar face, which meant he was either new or one of the visitors from other Jedi enclaves.

Finished with tying her apron, she grabbed gloves and goggles. “Are you one of the Jedi from… Coruscant? Or Jakku?” she asked, moving out of the way so he could also get some protective gear.

Gatz Derrevar​

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Training Saber
Tag: Inanna Harth

Gatz snagged himself an apron and began to tie it on. He thought about making a joke, asking if the apron in question made his butt look big, but that was a little crude. Also they were here to learn, and dissect an actual animal, so maybe it was better to take things seriously. Which was a shame. It would have been a funny joke.

Sometimes Gatz missed the days when he didn't care about propriety, or being appropriate.

"I'm from Coruscant," Gatz answered easily, "I only recently returned to the Order."

And what a choice that had been. Good or bad, he wasn't really sure yet. All he knew was that he was wildly out of his element, relying on self-learning for the most part, and lacking anyone to ask the dozens of questions he had. Well... that really wasn't true. Valery and Briana were around if he needed them, but Gatz couldn't bring himself to bother them. Not with how busy they both were. And not after all they'd done for him.

They were sure to lecture him, once they found out he was struggling without asking for their help. But some things a man needed to solve on his own.

"What about you? Are you a member of the Enclave here?"

 

[Inanna Harth]

Her first guess had been right. But her Shi’idese senses, honed to pick up on minute differences in speech, couldn’t help but notice that he didn’t sound like your typical born-and-raised Coruscanti. There were pieces of a Mid-Rim accent in there. Nabooian, she thought.

But she didn’t want to grill him about his background too much. After all, they’d only just met, and they had a gizka to dissect.

"What about you? Are you a member of the Enclave here?"

“Yeah. Funny you should mention—I only came back to the Order recently too.” She picked up a tray full of surgical tools and carried it over to an exam table, adding almost under her breath, “Except I was probably absent for a lot longer than you were…”

The instructor had begun passing out the gizka; a few of the other students had already started their dissections. The chemical stench in the room became steadily more potent, and by the time their very own bag of dead amphibian was laid on the table before them, Inanna was starting to wish someone would open an air freshener. It wasn't overwhelming, and it would probably dissipate in time, but for the moment the classroom smelled like a mortuary.

“My husband is a Jedi Artisan,” she continued, trying to distract herself. “He teaches all the gearheads here at the Enclave how to build better lightsabers, among other things. I don’t know if I would’ve come back if it hadn’t been for him. I always considered my career as a Jedi a failure, but he convinced me to give it another chance.” Hesitating, she looked at Gatz, then gestured to the gizka. "Uh, would you like to do the honors?"

Gatz Derrevar​

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Training Lightsaber
Tag: Inanna Harth

If nothing else, Gatz felt something like kinship in hearing that he wasn't the only Padawan to leave and then return as an adult. And though he was curious to know just how long Inanna had been away from the Order, considering how young she looked, he was well acquainted with the pitfalls of asking a lady's age. He was foolish, but he wasn't an idiot.

Most days.

Learning that her husband was a Jedi Artisan piqued his interest. Learning that he helped people build lightsabers piqued it even more. Gatz had, embarrassingly enough, left the Order before his gathering as a Youngling. Then he'd returned as a Padawan, long after he should have had both a crystal and the knowledge to construct the tool of the Jedi. If he was here, at the Enclave...

Well, he could consider asking for help later. Right now, they were supposed to cut up the pest in front of them.

"Well, as another Jedi failure, it's nice to meet you Inanna." Gatz tugged on his gloves, "I had all but given up on being a Jedi myself. Then I met a few. And a few more. And eventually, I was constantly surrounded by them. I'm not sure if they meant to do it, at first... but they convinced me that this was worth another shot."

Maybe one day, he'd be able to express to Valery, Briana, Cora, and Master Serys-Organa in words what their faith and patience had done for him. But for now, his gratitude would remain silent.

Inanna asked if he wanted to take a crack at the gizka. She didn't seem squeamish, per se, but she was clearly hesitant. So Gatz shrugged, and began to unseal the bag the stupid thing was in. And boy, did the stench get worse. By the time Gatz had the thing out, and in front of him, his eyes were watering from just how strong the smell was.

"This smells worse than Nar Shaddaa. I didn't think that was possible."

 

[Inanna Harth]

It seemed she and Gatz were in a similar boat. Wild that they wound up partnered together out of everyone in the class, but maybe the Force worked in mysterious ways?...

Gatz opened the bag, releasing its stench. At his remark about the smell, she snorted. “What places on Narsh have you been to?” Sure the gizka reeked, but after having lived on Nar Shaddaa for about a year, the smuggler's moon stank much, much worse than this.

“Okay, first we need to make an incision,” she said, reading off of the checklist sent to her datapad. It outlined the steps and every organ they would have to find and identify. “I can do that.”

She picked up a scalpel and brought it over to the gizka. Now that she could see it up close, she realized they were kind of cute, despite being nasty rodents who ate ship wiring. She hesitated for a moment, then shrugged and made the first cut along its white belly…

Gatz Derrevar​

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Training Saber
Tag: Inanna Harth

Perhaps he had said too much, if Inanna was asking what he knew of Nar Shaddaa.

It wasn't that Gatz kept his past a secret. No point in doing that. But he also didn't make a point to advertise it, or broadcast it to the general public. So he felt stuck in a sort of limbo: trying to figure out how much to divulge, and how much to omit. He supposed he could also gloss over the question, or dismiss it, or give a false answer but...

Well, he was trying to be honest these days.

"I've been to most places on Nar Shaddaa," Gatz admitted, "even the lower levels. But I guess after living there for so long, I got used to the stench."

Inanna took the initiative with performing the dissection, which suited Gatz just fine. He'd created enough bodies. He wasn't looking to start cutting into them. So, instead, he took over looking at the datapad, so that he could guide his partner in their studies. He watched as she performed the first cut with steady hands that impressed him.

The smell got worse, of course, as she exposed its innards to open air.

"Okay..." Gatz mulled over the datapad, "first we're supposed to identify the heart and lungs. That shouldn't be too hard..."

 

[Inanna Harth]

“Mmm. I never quite got used to the smell, although I didn’t live there that long. A little less than a year before we moved.” She shrugged. “And maybe I’m biased, since the air pollution almost killed my daughter…”

She may have done a dissection at least once before, back in her adolescence. But it was so long ago she had forgotten what they even dissected. At some point, if she continued in the path of a healer, they’d probably have her dissect a sentient body. Well, she’d seen her share of corpses over the years, often in worse circumstances than the people who donated their bodies to science, so maybe it wouldn’t be too bad…

Putting the scalpel back on the tray, she exchanged it for a pair of forceps to better cut through the soft cartilage over the heart. Then she used her fingers to open the ribcage. She thought it would take some prying, and so exerted more force than necessary. There was a sickening crack of bone, and a chunk of rib broke off in her right hand. Inanna stared at it, blinking behind her glasses, then awkwardly set it on the tray next to the gizka. “I… didn’t mean to do that.”

The inside of the thoracic cavity was now exposed. Drained of blood, the tissues looked gray and lifeless. And slimy. She picked up the blunt probe, using it to carefully prod the various organs. “There’s the heart. And… I guess those are the lungs.” They were deflated and wrinkly. “What next?”

Gatz Derrevar​

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Training Saber
Tag: Inanna Harth

"It's just about the worst place to live," Gatz agreed, "you did a good thing for your daughter, getting her away from all that."

It wasn't like everyone on Nar Shaddaa was a criminal. There were plenty of good folk just trying to eke out a living. But there was no denying that getting into that kind of life was far easier to do on Nar Shaddaa. Sometimes the opportunity literally came knocking on the door. He knew that better than most people, unfortunately.

In terms of cutting open a weird frog, Inanna seemed to have plenty of experience. His hands were steady and all, but she actually seemed to be in her element. ...Until she broke one of its ribs. But to be fair, he probably would have yanked on the ribcage too. This was his first dissection as much as it was hers, even if he wasn't quite aware that she was as new to this as him.

"I… didn't mean to do that."

"Eh, he doesn't need it anymore."

The little body in front of them was cold and lifeless—obviously. But the lack of blood surprised him. Gatz hadn't been aware that these things had been drained before they were given to them. Though, upon reflection, it made sense. How were they supposed to learn where all the organs were, if the damn Gizka was a bleeding mess?

"Next is uh... gall bladder and stomach. Do alien frogs even have gall bladders?"

He supposed that they must.

 

[Inanna Harth]

It had been a necessary thing, getting Serena away from Narsh. As for the morality of it, even Inanna occasionally found herself wondering how many people they had doomed by leaving the smuggler’s moon behind. Moonlighter, the costumed vigilante who protected the innocent and sought justice for the evildoer, had disappeared along with his shapeshifting partner. She placed Serena’s health above the people’s safety, because of course she did. But sometimes, well… she thought about it.

Her distracted mind didn’t help matters with the gizka. After accidentally breaking off the rib, she tried to focus better.

“Gee, I sure hope so. I don’t want to be searching for an organ that isn’t there.” She continued to rummage around inside the gizka’s belly. “Would be wild if this one just happened to be born missing the parts we need to find…”

She found the stomach, which was fairly obvious in its placement: front and center. The gallbladder also stood out. “It’s green?” she asked, eyebrows rising. “Somehow, I both expected that and did not expect it.

“You know, you don’t sound like a Coruscanti native,” she noted. “Where are you really from?”

Gatz Derrevar​

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Training Saber
Tag: Inanna Harth

"...to be honest with you, it would be just my luck for us to get the one mutant Gizka that didn't have the required organs."

Maybe someday, his luck would turn around. Maybe he'd succeed, instead of fail. Help, instead of hurt. Save, instead of kill. That was the whole reason he was here, right? To see if he could follow in Master Serys-Organa's footsteps just a little bit. To see if he could solve problems without needing to point a gun at someone.

It was likely a doomed endeavor. The only thing he'd ever been good for was hurting others. But what point was there in returning to the Order if he wasn't going to try?

Turned out, their alien frog did have a gallbladder. So maybe his luck was coming around after all. Sure had taken its sweet time though. But his musings on that topic were interrupted, as Inanna asked him a question unrelated to their dissection.

"It's funny, actually," Gatz said quietly, "by all rights, I should have a Coruscanti accent. I was born on Naboo... but I spent the first nine years of my life in the Jedi Temple. I learned to talk in the creche. Hell, I probably did have a Coruscanti accent then."

Suddenly, the datapad in front of him no longer held his interest. He stared at it blankly, the images of his parents floating around in his head. Uncle Klein too. Memories of the times they'd spent together, even if not all of those times were good.

Memories were all he had of them now.

"Must have slowly picked up my native accent after I left the Order, and went back home to Naboo." Gatz sighed, "what about you? I can't imagine you were born here on the herdship. You don't look... Ithorian enough."

 

[Inanna Harth]

“I also have awful luck.”

But evidently not this time. So far the gizka specimen had all parts in their proper place.

“I’m usually able to pick up on where people are from just from hearing them talk, but you threw me for a loop. Sounds like you have a hybrid accent.” She smiled. “Naboo, huh? Been there once or twice. It’s beautiful.”

"What about you? I can't imagine you were born here on the herdship. You don't look... Ithorian enough."

“I could look more Ithorian if I wanted,” she said with a shrug and a little smirk. She did get some enjoyment out of surprising Humans and other species unused to her kind. “I was born and raised on Lao-mon, deep in the Unknown Regions. If I hadn’t been sent to the Jedi on Coruscant for training, I probably never would’ve left. But I’m not bitter about it anymore. I’m right where I ought to be.”

Gatz Derrevar​

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Training Saber
Tag: Inanna Harth

"Most beautiful planet I've ever been to. I mean, I'm biased but... I haven't found anything that compares quite yet."

If only it was still home. But it had ceased to be that long before he'd joined the Order. Now, home was... nowhere. Maybe the Temple on Coruscant, but even there Gatz didn't feel as though he belonged. He wasn't alone anymore, which was nice. His fellow Padawans were always around for a small chat. But... what was that phrase? 'Home is where the heart is?'

The people that had comprised his heart were dead. So the concept of a home... well, it was lost to him.

Inanna announced a revelation: that she could be an Ithorian if she wanted to. Or at least pass herself off as one. Gatz wasn't an expert on all the peoples in the galaxy, but he knew that there were very few that could alter their physical form in such a way. He started running through the list in his head, trying to come up with an answer.

"Uh, are you a Clawdite—"

But then she said she was from Lao-mon, a world Gatz was unfamiliar with off in the Unknown Regions. Clawdites were typically from Zolan, but then, many species were nomadic in nature, so she could theoretically be a Clawdite and be from anywhere. What was another race of shapeshifters he knew of? Gatz drew a blank.

"Gonna be honest, Clawdites are really the only shapeshifters I know of." Gatz admitted sheepishly, "but I've never heard of Lao-mon, so I assume that's an incorrect guess. What was your homeworld like?"

 

[Inanna Harth]

“Mmm, we almost went there on our honeymoon,” Inanna said. “But it seemed a little too cliche. Everyone wants to go to Naboo on their honeymoon. It might as well be the most romantic planet in the galaxy.”

"Uh, are you a Clawdite—"

Her eyebrows shot up, and she laughed a little. “No, not a Clawdite, thank the Force. Their shapeshifting is painful for them. I’m a Shi’ido.”

He had never heard of Lao-mon. That wasn’t too surprising. The Shi’ido tended to be rather obscure, since most of them never left their homeworld. “You call it Lao-mon, we call it Sh’shuun. It’s a jungle planet, full of dangerous predators. We evolved the ability to skinshift into other species so as to better our chances of survival. We can even trick other creatures into thinking we smell like them, no matter how sensitive their nose is.”

She could stand there and talk to him all day, but they did have an assignment to complete. Turning her attention back to the dissection, she asked, “What’s next?”

Gatz Derrevar​

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Training Saber
Tag: Inanna Harth

Well, she was right: everyone did want to holiday on Naboo. And it was a little cliche. But when the most populated planets in the galaxy were ecumenopolises, lacking almost all real greenery, he couldn't blame people for wanting to vacation to a place where they could see real trees and oceans. And dirt. Also animals. Gatz still remembered how much of a culture shock it had been, coming home to Naboo for the first time, after spending nine years in the Order.

He missed Naboo. But there was nothing for him there any longer.

"You guys should still go when you have the time. Theed is beautiful no matter what time of year it is."

Shi'ido was... a vaguely recognizable term for Gatz. He wasn't sure where he'd heard it before, and he certainly hadn't met one before Inanna—well, actually, perhaps he had but didn't know it. They were shapeshifters, after all. Lao-mon sounded like it... kinda sucked though. Gatz had spent a lot of time on New Cov, a jungle world, and it wasn't an environment he could appreciate. Too hot, too dangerous, too humid. But he'd keep that to himself.

He was an ass, but he knew when to bite his tongue.

Gatz looked back down at the datapad to answer Inanna's question. They'd done the heart, the liver, stomach, and gallbladder. That left only...

"Ah. Now we have to remove the stomach and digestive track."

 

[Inanna Harth]

Lao-mon was dangerous, but it was home. Perhaps she had made it sound too uncivilized. Not that she really cared what anyone thought of her planet—Cato hadn’t liked it much either the one time they visited, but she still married the man. Gatz didn’t say anything about it, so neither did she.

“Ah, now here’s where things get interesting.” She made sure the pan was within reach, then picked up the scalpel. The sharp blade cut through the soft internal organs easily enough, but there were various membranes and connective tissue she had to slice away like a machete cutting a path through thick jungle. The veins were particularly difficult—the embalmer had filled them with a waxy substance to make them stand out, but the wax had hardened and was particularly thick in certain areas. She found it easier to use scissors on them.

At last, she removed the stomach and laid it in the metal pan. “Oh shoot, were we supposed to take the stomach and the digestive tract out all together?” As in, still attached. Of course she only thought to ask after the fact.

Gatz Derrevar​

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Training Saber
Tag: Inanna Harth

Maybe Gatz should have been a little worried at the idea of Inanna finding cutting out organs interesting. But he'd spent most of his adult life around murderers and thieves, so really, a little interest in the idea of a dissection wasn't all that concerning. So long as he wasn't the one on the table. If that came to pass, then maybe he would spare a little time to be properly worried.

She seemed adept enough at what she was doing. Gatz had steady hands, but he wasn't sure he'd be as confident in cutting through membranes and tissue the way she was. It wasn't long before she deposited the stomach of the weird frog onto the metal pan. And then asked a question that Gatz didn't have an answer to.

He looked back down at the datapad.

"Uh... well, the instructions aren't as specific as maybe they should be?" He offered, "it just says to remove the stomach and digestive track, but it doesn't really say if they were supposed to be removed together or separately."

Gatz looked around at their peers, all progressing along the dissection at a variety of rates.

"But that guy over there is literally stabbing his gizka, so I think we're in the clear either way."

 

[Inanna Harth]

Raising an eyebrow at their stab-happy peer, Inanna shrugged and raised her hand.

The instructor came over. “Yes?”

“Are we supposed to remove the stomach and digestive tract separately, or all as one piece?”

“I don’t really care,” the Ithorian said, before marching over to put an end to the stabbing.

“Well, guess that answers that.” Inanna spared a glance at the removed stomach, then frowned. Something spilling out the organ caught her eye. It looked a little like a clear plastic bag. “Uh, one second…”

She used the scalpel to slice open the stomach. There was indeed a bag inside, stuffed to the brim with a powdered substance. “Is that… spice?” she whispered.

Gatz Derrevar​

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Ship: The Red Night
Weapons: Training Saber
Tag: Inanna Harth

Inanna flagged down their instructor, to get a little clarification about whether or not they'd screwed up. But, as it turned out, their instructor didn't give a damn! Gatz almost snorted at that, but the guy repeatedly stabbing his gizka had him a little worried, and he kept most of his attention on that. That was a sociopath, and he'd dealt with enough of those for one lifetime.

Thankfully, as uninterested as the Ithorian was, he still seemed to want to stop the weirdo who found enjoyment in stabbing an alien frog.

"Well. Full marks then?"

But whatever further joke Gatz would have made was interrupted, as his dissection partner cut open the frog's stomach. He almost protested... until he saw what was spilling out. Gatz groaned. It seemed that spice followed him everywhere, even in the heart of Master Serys-Organa's enclave.

"Yeah," Gatz confirmed with a sigh, matching Inanna's whisper, "that's spice. I could even tell you the quality if I unsealed that bag... but it's better that we not."

He'd thought his days of coming across spice were over, after he'd given up smuggling. But Gatz should have known better. His luck was too poor to ever truly escape reminders of the man he'd been before. His time in Hutt space would haunt him until the end of his days. Maybe that was a good thing though: guilt was what kept him on the straight and narrow path.

"Give me a moment. I'll go grab the instructor. Hopefully he's already confiscated that weirdo's scalpel."