Ghosts

[Jacen Voidstalker]

Damn but his shoulder hurt still. Just the damp air in the surface biome in the morning was causing him discomfort. Perhaps he would need to go and see Adele or Avalore about getting it looked at. The medical droids had finished with him, but he was certain there was some deep tissue damage or perhaps the ligaments were a mess.

Placing one hand one his chest near the shoulder he spun the arm around as he walked. One of the padawans gave him an odd looks as he went. Jacen raised an eyebrow and the boy scurried off.

Omai had given him a token mission to get him back into the field. One of the darkside ziggurats they had purged from the Final Order was to be checked out. The locals had been complaining of strange sounds through the night and lights in the sky. Probably nothing worth bothering with.

Jacen walked through the surface biome where a number of novices were practising basic saber form. [member="Cole Katarn"] was supposed to be here somewhere.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

"Keller, keep your saber up. This ain't a dance lesson." a voice could be overheard as Jacen walked up to the training field. Cole wasn't a little youngling anymore or a padawan underneath a Master, he was a Knight and that meant he had his own responsibilities. Rhen was accomodating in how those responsibilities were expressed though, and after some thought the young Jedi Knight had decided to help with the weekly training sessions of the older Padawans. The ones that would be going through the Jedi Trials soon and had to be prepared for them in the months before.

"Dzi, I have an idea. Why don't we pretend you are wielding the deadliest weapon in the galaxy. A weapon that can cut through virtually anything and will cut off your head if you don't wield it with tact."

Cole seemed to ponder that for a while.

"Oh, right. You are wielding that. So stop gawking at Ela and pay attention to your footwork."

A few more shouts were exchanged between the other pupils and him. Remarks, some tips here and there, a few rare praises when someone really deserved it, all in all a fairly standard training session in the Jedi Enclave on Sullust. They were the New Jedi Order, after all, pretty militant and all that.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Cole Katarn"]

Jacen crossed his arms over his chest as he stood a distance behind Katarn. Keller, a student he knew well, gave him a look that said: What?

Jacen growers and arced an eyebrow in an expression that said: You know what.. The Padawan returned to his forms with renewed vigor, eyes pointedly not deviating from a point on the horizon.

Without interfering, the Marshal simply observed. Inside his own mind he turned towards the sharp pain in his shoulder. He pictured it as a bright, burning star. Slowly, he quenched it's flame until it was a dark cinder. The pain slowly faded.

"Knight Katarn, a moment?" he called as the session came to an end, a friendly smile on his face.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

Katarn wasn't a prodigy in the Force. He knew of some that would have been able to keenly sense the arrival of the Jedi Marshal, some of them maybe even in his little group of trainees, but there was no sudden beacon in the darkness that heralded Voidstalker's arrival to the training fields. No keen hum within the Force that forewarned him of scrutiny or anything of the kind. But Cole did know that something had changed, the moment Jacen arrived.

Simple observation. The moment the Marshal arrived behind him the trainees straightened out just a touch, their movements invigorated themselves involuntarily, their focus increased - as if an authority higher than himself had graced them with its presence. So it was that Cole wasn't even remotely surprised when a voice called out the moment the lesson ended.

Ah.

Katarn nodded to a couple of students leaving, before turning around to greet the Jedi Marshal.

"Marshal Voidstalker, an honor." Cole offered without much hesitation, before walking over to the waiting Jedi Master.

"What can I do for you?" the pronounced Corellian 'twang' dissipated into only a sliver of its form. It was still there in hints, but much less noticable now that Jacen was here.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Cole Katarn"]

"Pleasure to meet you Cole," Jacen said, offering his hand once more of the students has dissipated. "I need an able body, basically. Darkside ziggurat left by the Final Order has got a few locals spooked. We cleared it out a while back but we just need to go and check it out," he explained with brevity.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

Why me? His first instinct was to question, but over and over Cole had been told that questioning your superiors wasn't the way to go in most situations. Definitely wasn't the way to go in this one.

"We expecting any trouble?"

If they did he'd need time to get some gear together. Armor, maybe a reliable blaster, things like that.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Cole Katarn"]

That gave Jacen pause. "I'd say no, but that doesn't rule out the possibility that we missed something. Might be some latent sensitives simply picking up the aura of the place. Might be some adepts scurried back in and starting playing with crap we missed," Jacen said with a shrug. He half closed his eyes and winced at the pain in his shoulder.

"First point of call is to drop in on the locals in robes an' all. Just reassurance that we care etc. See what we can find out."

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

"Alright then." Cole replied with a shrug, before attaching the saber to his belt and gesturing for Jacen to walk with him. The grimace of pain and the clutch to the shoulder was not left unnoticed though, and the young Jedi furrowed his brow in something that came close to concern - if it was for the 'mission' or for the man? Difficult to say.

"You should get that looked at, Marshal. If we do get in a fight, it won't be pretty with a shoulder wound."

That was talking from experience. A few years back he had hurt his shoulder in a fight, afterwards instead of having it checked out Cole just ignored the pain and kept pressing on with the mission at hand.

By the time that he did have it checked out it was already too late. They fixed it up as well as they could, but without a very expensive and invasive operation that would replace most of the muscle tissue? It would always be a crutch for him. The Force staved off some of the pain during combat, of course.

But you couldn't always count on that, he also knew from experience.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Cole Katarn"]

"I'm afraid I have had it looked at," he said with a small chuckle. "This is just one of those long term niggles that'll either stay with me forever, or need some serious surgery to sort out."

If he left it a few weeks it probably would settle down to a dull pain he could ignore. Then again, these strange disturbances might actually be the result of some of the scattered Final Order's acolytes returning, or worse yet some One Sith.

"Tell you what we'll pop past a Jedi healer on the way. Who did you train under by the way Cole?"

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

Cole nodded. A Healer could maybe do the trick - they were a rare breed these days as far as he knew, most Jedi preferred to stand on the frontlines and bring the fight directly to the Sith (or whatever else was threatening the Galactic Alliance). They had plenty of soldiers, not enough healers in his opinion. Perhaps because healing wasn't exactly a flashy occupation that most sentients knew from the HoloVids, he didn't know.

Not that he could really judge them for it either. Wasn't like he was pulling on the healer robes to help his fellow sentients out.

"Sounds good, lead the way." while walking the inevitable questions came.

Not surprising, but Cole had hoped to avoid most of that. No such luck it seemed. Currently he was in talks with Truden to get her to teach 'em some minor stuff - mostly that same healing gig, he wasn't particularly good at it, but it could mean the difference between life or death for members of his squad. A quick healing patch in the middle of a skirmish could stave off infections and even close life-threatening wounds. Vital when they wanted to preserve as much lives as possible.

But that wasn't his question. He wanted to know who trained him in the past, the young Jedi surpressed a grimace.

"Quinn Katarn, my... father. He was a friend of Grand Marshal Rhen." Quinn had been a respected Jedi Master, level-headed and dignified. The fact that he had chosen to settle down and marry had been cause for some raised eyebrows amidst the Old Guard of the Jedi Order - probably one of the few reasons he had never been raised to the Council back in the day.

"He was killed in one of the last campaigns against the Final Order."

Impassive expression followed.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Cole Katarn"]

"I'm sorry to hear that Cole," Jacen replied earnestly. "But at least the Final Order have been scattered to the winds. We still haven't found the last of them, but they were doing terrible, terrible things to the people on any planet they went to.

"Anyway, go get whatever gear you want to and meet me at the docking bay in...lets say two hours. We'll be stopping by Sulon on the way there."



Jacen was dressed in simple robes as he manoeuvred the shuttle to land on the wide open field. Last time he'd got confused and landed on the wrong field. Gabriel had not been amused.

"Right come on then," he called to Cole as he flicked off the main systems and removed the crypto key that activated the shuttle. "[member="Avalore Eden"] leads the circle of healers. Seemed a bit much to bother her for a hurry shoulder, but I haven't come past the homestead in a few weeks," he said. He meandered up the garden path, formal robes fluttering the the breeze in his wake and went to knock on the door.

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"] | [member="Avalore Eden"]

Vanguard armor underneath regular Jedi robes, a heavy blaster manufactured by Blas-Tech in the holster, a lightsaber attached to an utility belt, that was the extent of Cole's gear. Some might have thought that the Vanguard was a bit too much, that for a simple reconnaissance mission you could just come in with the robes. But Katarn had a different opinion, one where it didn't mattered if some would view it as overkill if it meant that you were prepared.

Better have it and not need it, then get shot in the chest with shotgun while only wearing robes.

That was his own philosophy, at least. They'd first have to visit the healer to check up on Jacen's shoulder though, and probably check in with the locals first - that would be a simple robes affair. Wouldn't want to make them too worried for nothing after all.

"Noted." Cole remarked without much else.

The Katarn Homestead... supposedly. Cole's branch of the family had been living on Corellia even before the Gulag plague, so for him this wasn't home - it was just a place with his last name attached to it.

 

[Avalore Eden]

"Master Vodemalker," came the underwhelmed synthetic voice of Dick the D3PO Protocol Droid at the garden door, "what a...surprise."

"Dick?" that was Avalore from the family room, "Who is it?"

"Master Vulpaster," replied Dick with a jerky turn, "...and company."

"Oooh!" said Avalore over the sound of baby Armaud loudly churbling, "It's Mr. Jacen! Let him in, Dick!"

"As you wish," said Dick, stepping back and waving the pair in, a steely glint to his backlight gaze.


Avalore was on the floor at the middle of a large oriental rug with the twins and a litter of hand-cut wooden blocks and other various shapes strewn about. Armaud stacked blocks with wobbly hands and Destin gave a screech of laughter as he knocked it over. The twins looked up at the sounds of footsteps, but as with most young babies the attention span wasn't really there.

"Come in, come in!" she smiled from where she sat. No Healer robes today - she was off duty, as it were. No guests, no pressing patients in the medical bay. Today she was simply a mother.

[member="Cole Katarn"] [member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Cole Katarn"] [member="Avalore Eden"]

"Hello Avalore," Jacen said with a broad smile. "Hello boys," he added, dropping down onto his haunches. "I swear, I am going to find a techie and hardwire that droid to never respond to 'dick' again. I can't take it any more. I can't," he said, now grinning. He picked up a block and passed it to Arnaud, whose tongue was poking out with concentration. He could see the patience in Destin's eyes as he waited for it to reach a suitable height again.

"Oh sorry, manners. This is Knight Cole Katarn. I'm afraid we're just stopping by on the way out. We're on assignment and...well...I've got a hurty shoulder and was wondering if you could take a look?"

 

[Avalore Eden]

"You leave that droid alone, Jacen," Avalore gave him a sharp glance, "he's the only Dick I have around here most of the time."

The Healer gave a wane smirk, brown eyes passing back to the other fellow as he was introduced and uttered a friendly greeting. Always good to meet another Jedi, though this one seemed more a quiet sort. Just as well - between the twins and the Marsha with the hurty shoulder, she had plenty enough to deal with on her own.

"Hurty shoulder? Alright, let me get these two into their pen. Go have a seat at the kitchen table. Shirt off, you know the drill, Cole-" a grunt as she got to her feet and scooped up Armaud, "are you hurty as well? Hungry? Thirsty? Just make yourself at home."

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"] [member="Cole Katarn"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Avalore Eden"] | [member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

A lot of things happened, but Cole opted to ignore all of them. Clearly he was intruding on a situation that had nothing to do with him, the familiarity, the children, the brightness and warmth... it was clear he did not belong here at all. But a duty was a duty, and so he stood rigid besides the wall.

His view was aimed at infinity out to the window.

When the healer mentioned his name, those blues faced her, before shaking a no.

"Not necessary, Master Healer. I am in good health and content." his tone was respectful and neutral.

After a while he'd lean a bit against the wall. His eyes closed and Cole focused to the inside, trying to analyze this distraught feeling that was radiating from a pit inside of his stomach.

It was not pleasant.

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Avalore Eden"] [member="Cole Katarn"]

Jacen met Avalore's gaze. His eyes narrowed. Without looking away he said: "Dick, I can't concentrate with you standing up. Would you mind sitting down please?"

Touche. But the war was not over.

Jacen sat down and did as he was instructed. "I'm afraid it's not a simple one," he explained. "Nearly had it tipped out of the socket by a Vong this time, but it got stabbed a few months back. However I think this is the joint. Medical droids said they could do surgey, but it'd be three months out. It's one of those long term niggles that aches right in the joint."

 

[Avalore Eden]

Dick said something about Jacen not being a very good Jedi if his concentration relied upon whether or not droids sat or stood.

Avalore witheld a snort of laughter, gently placed Armaud into the playpen and moved to pick up Destin who eagerly smiled and reached for her. That's right, momma's boy. "You remember Mr. Jacen and his shiny buttons," she said, turning to let Destin get a good look at the Jedi, "turns out the buttons don't make the Jedi."

A smirk, she kissed the green baby on the side of his head, nuzzled him a bit and then set him down next to his brother. Took a moment to disentangle herself from him - Destin would much rather be in her arms than anywhere else, as she had come to find, while his brother was content to be left to his own devices - but she managed to distract him by adding a few blocks to the pen.

"Sounds like you should opt for the surgery," said the Healer as she tied her hair back, "torn tendons and ligaments aren't something I can fix in one sitting. Several, maybe, with time off and therapeutic exercises, but I'm sure that's not an option--good gravy," a slight pause in her step as her eyes landed on the shirtless man. Why did she do this to herself?

Avalore cleared her throat, forcing her mind into Healer mode, and approached to take a look. There were a few visible scars - mostly healed, likely at the hands of another Healer, but other than that no noticeable injuries of the flesh or muscle. Had to be ligament. Instructing Jacen to sit squarely and face forward, Avalore took hold of his arm by the wrist and elbow, straightening it down first and then slowly pulling it up and out, then down again and forward and up as far as he could to test the range of motion, telling him to indicate when the pain hit the worst.

She did this again - range of motion with resistance. As expected this gave stronger results.

"This is your saber arm, isn't it?" a frown, Ava let his arm hang at his side and began performing pressure tests along the joint with her fingers. This was a bit more difficult for a man with such a well-muscled physique, but would at least help her pin-point the best area to administer healing efforts.

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]

 

[Jacen Voidstalker]

[member="Cole Katarn"] [member="Avalore Eden"]

"Yep, lots of that hurts," he agreed. The wince now permanently etched into his features. It was a long way from the worst pain he'd suffered, just mild discomfort. Though when it had gone out and back with resistance that had been pretty unpleasant.

"And I know, I probably should have the survey. One of the older Knights had to have the shoulder in his bone shaved last month. Shaved. Those are two words I don't like hearing together. He brought pictures too," Jacen said, making a face.

"But like you said, saber arm. If I take the surgery it means medical droids followed by at least two months off. Wish I could afford that right now," he sighed. "Anything you can do to ease the discomfort for now? This is just supposed to be a routine run to reassure some spooked locals near on of the darkside temples we cleared, but knowing my luck..." he said with a sigh as she continued digging her fingers into his arm.

 

[Avalore Eden]

Avalore held fast as her fingers pressed firmly in along the line of muscle beneath his collar bone, at the point where shoulder joined chest. It had elicited a particularly stingy wince from the man and, she noted, was the source of major strain for the ligaments of his shoulder. She pressed the flat of her other palm against the back of his shoulder, following the curve of blade and employed forward pressure to curl the joint inwards.

The fingers dictating the pressure point firmly remained in place, likely causing further pain.

"Hold still."

The Healer closed her eyes and concentrated, focusing her own control of the Force through her hands. The palm at his shoulder blade grew warm. She could sense the damaged tissue within as if spying the gleam of a lighthouse through the fog. A dull, aching beacon that flared with the man's heartbeat.

"You have...a lot of built up scar tissue," she said quietly, still concentrating, meditating, "that will require surgical removal or breaking down for me to properly and fully heal the torn ligament. I can't do that for you now. It would take me at least half a dozen sessions to get to that point. What I can do is heal the resilient fibers and strengthen the ones around it ... it won't take away the pain but it will give you better use of your arm, temporarily. It's better for you to feel the pain, Jacen," she opened her eyes and looked down at him, "without it, you won't know when you're pushing yourself too far. If you fully tear that ligament, you'll be off for even longer and then surgery might not even be able to completely fix your shoulder."

Jacen received the same thin-lipped expression Avalore gave to Gabriel every time the man complained about his back after another outting for the Order.

"I'll only do it if you promise to take it easy, let Cole be the hero and get the surgery when you come back. I'll even keep you here for recovery and speed things along."

[member="Jacen Voidstalker"]
[member="Cole Katarn"]