The Perl-y Gates

[Connor Harrison]

Abandoned Imperial Outpost
Vaal, Vaal System​

The pain was better if he didn't move much. It had taken him a good few minutes to crawl up and sit against the cracked wall of the outpost where his body had impacted three times now. The healing had helped the hand and ribs, but not totally. He couldn't fly out of here so the ship would be collected later. Keira had gone, not that he cared an iota. What was tricky now about that rat was if she'd bring the Mandos back to clean up her mess, but knowing her she'd keep this between the two of them. Her pride was too important to run home crying. Same for Connor.

That's why he'd sent a message when she had left to Joza Perl. No, it wasn't fair to call on a pregnant woman, but he had nobody else. Kyra was away. The Heavenshield's were wrapped up with each other and the others were spread across the system. Matsu Xiangu had been an option, but she'd have probably left him to rot. Would she?

Joza was the best option and he wanted her here most.

"Joza, it's Connor." She'd hear the shallow breathing. "I'm sorry to.... bother you, but I need a little help. My ship went down on Vaal at the old Outpost, kind of need pick-up...Coordinates following. Thanks."

He gasped in pain as he signed off and winced. That was tough. Talking was certainly harder with a broken body. He glanced down at his chest and he was sure his arm was burnt and the bone was peeking from the rib. He glanced at the horrid indents on his right side. That was the least of his worries now.

He had to think of a good story to tell Joza if and when she arrived. Closing his eyes, he started to think.

[member="Joza Perl"]

 

[Joza Perl]

Joza had received Connor’s message early in the morning, Lianna time. She’d been eating breakfast, and a large one at that now that her ritual nausea had subsided and a healthy appetite had taken its place. Usually morning was miniscule affair, marked by a cup of stimcaf and maybe a piece of fruit if she bothered. But now her body was demanding carbs, fat and protein…something she gladly obliged.

Tapping at her datapad, she replayed his words over. His ship went down? Was he injured? His loss of breath did not go unnoticed, weighing heavily on her mind as her stomach twisted in concern. Something wasn’t right, but Joza would have time on the ride over to Vaal to conjure up her worries into something deeper. Drumming her fingers on the edge of the datapad, she pursed her lips before tapping a few spots rapidly. Reaching into the pocket of her sweatpants, she fished out a tiny comm and fitted it into her ear. Standing, she began to pile the eggs, potatoes and vegetables onto a flat pitta, speaking through a mouth of omelet. “Ivan, get the ship ready. We’re going to Vaal, I’ve just sent you the coordinates.”

“What? Why? What’s going on?” Obviously irritated at having his sleep interrupted, Ivan’s response was quick, snappy, and went unanswered.

--

Hours later, the small ship would drop down onto the planet’s surface. Joza gnawed at her lower lip, unsure of what she would find. Her own ship didn’t have a bacta tank, but she had several medkits and countless bacta patches on board. Perhaps she should have invested in one seeing as how some of her adventures had left her more bacta patch than woman.

Oh, chit.

Ivan lowered the ramp, and Joza darted down it as fast as she could manage. It was beginning to get a bit cumbersome to move—getting herself out of bed was starting to be a real challenge—but concern swelled inside her chest at the sight of Connor slumped against the old decrepit wall.

“Joza, wait!” Ivan sputtered, clearly irritated at the woman’s behavior despite the fact that he should have come to expect this by now. Her stomach may have grown, but pregnancy didn’t seem to slow the rambunctious Zeltron down much. Unfortunately, this left him with the task of unwilling baby sitter. Grumbling to himself, the Corellian man strapped a blaster rifle to his back before hurrying down the ramp on Joza’s heels.

“Oh no…” Kneeling by the injured man, the Zeltron’s eyes went wide as she tried to take in as much about his injures as she could, as quickly as she could. Legs twisted and broken, hand crushed, a multitude of other injuries and broken bones…this would certainly take more than a few bacta patches to fix. But what had happened? She wasn’t buying the ship story, but she wouldn’t push him for answers now. Maybe later, after he was settled on her ship and his injures has been assessed.

“It’s going to be alright, Connor.” Murmuring softly, her brow dipped in concern and for a moment she felt like crying. She brushed his hair back, fingers lingering against his scalp for a moment before she took his arm and slipped it around her shoulders. In an instant, Ivan was on his other side and shouldering most of the Jedi Master’s weight. “Joza, don’t.” He said softly, knowing that arguing would be futile. She relented, if only a little and allowed the pilot to bear the brunt of supporting the other man.

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Half-asleep, the sound of the ship overhead and thus landing brought Connor around, eyes opening slowly, trying to move little of his body in the process. He immediately felt the pain of the broken pains and cursed under his breath. Keeping his breathing slow and steady, he was greeted by Joza and a dashing young man whom he didn't know. Must be a pilot as she couldn't fly for toffee. All Connor could do was laugh a little at her reaction.

"Just a scratch...I'll be ok..." he wheezed.

And without protest, he was taken under the arms of Joza and her pilot and lifted, but he couldn't help letting out a sharp cry of pain, sucking in air through gritted teeth and groaning out the sensation that shot up his body. The natural reaction for anyone was to put ther feet down, but he couldn't move the left leg at all and the right was pretty dead from the knee down. What a sight.

"Wait wait wait..." he tensed his left hand watched his breathing, "ok, just go for it..."

As the trinity hobbled along away from the outpost, the broken and battered Jedi felt totally inept, exposed and useless.

"I'm sorry. Thank you both for coming....I'll sort everything out...I promise."

[member="Joza Perl"]

 

[Joza Perl]

Joza exhaled sharply through her nose as Connor cried out in pain as he was lifted. There would be no easy way to do this, and they couldn’t carry him any other way between them right now. So the trio made do, ambling their way to Joza’s small ship the best they could. The Zeltron didn’t even bother to hush Connor as he spoke, too hyper-focused on their task at hand.

“Easy…” Joza murmured, a bit of an edge to her voice as she and Ivan lowered the broken Jedi down onto the bed. Hissing through her teeth as she eased his weight off of her, all Joza could focus on were his injuries. Revenge and explanations would be had later, right now was seeing to it that they got Connor to a proper healer. Along with her abysmal piloting skills, she was also a rather poor healer. Well, she was—when she had the ability to heal. That had all but disappeared after Balmorra. The last person she had successfully healed had been…

“Voss. Now.” Her voice was softer than anticipated, having lost that commanding edge it usually had in dire situations. She was distracted, rummaging through a side compartment for supplies while Ivan stood and looked on, unsure of what to do. He was trained in basic first-aid, but still under the employ of Joza.

“Now.” She spat, a glower in her tone as she pulled away from the drawer with a medkit. The pilot turned on his heel, knowing better than to argue with her when there was a severely injured man in their care.

“By the Force, Connor…” His hand had been crushed, and his legs were a mangled mess. She couldn’t tell that he had a broken rib just by looking—but the way he had held himself and the shallow breaths spoke of more than simple exhaustion. Joza winced, unsure of where to start. She couldn’t heal, but she could set bones well enough. Still, it would be risky and wouldn’t do him much good right now. The best she could do was spread the bacta over the open scrapes and cuts and perhaps help alleviate the pain. “…who did this?”

Her voice was still soft, still focused on him. Anger simmered low in her chest, but she didn’t have the heart to feed it right now. Instead she made for the refresher quickly, returning with a warm cloth dampened with water. The bacta patches were in place, and Joza was surprised at how little she could do. Biting her lower lip, she gently cleaned the dirt from his face and down his neck, taking care to avoid the inflamed collarbone.

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

All he could do was let the two help him - move him, treat him, comfort him.

So embarrassing being this helpless.

Connor focused on his breathing most, with each inhale and exhale stabbing a pain through the broken bone. He watched Joza and her pilot scurry around after him as he lay on the bed motionless, bar a few slight shuffles of the upper body. The bacta was applied as was the warm water and gels.

"I did," he said, "by crashing my ship...and fell out. It's done now," he shot a crooked smile.

Knowing how feeble he sounded, he looked back at Joza for a moment and rested his un-broken hand on hers.

"Thank you for coming." He didn't want to lie to her. "And it was Keira Ticon...the Mando. I came here after their meeting....to try settle what happened....but it escalated. And we clashed. I came off worse...which is annoying, but she got a few....dents too." He squeezed her hand. "Don't tell anyone....please....I can't be the one pushing us to war with them...not after everything."

He shuffled his leg with the broken knee-cap and let out a cry of pain, hand digging into hers slightly.

"By the Force..." he oepened one eye and looked at her growing baby bump and smiled through the sweat and blood on his face dripping away from the water, "you're getting bigger...Miss Perl."

[member="Joza Perl"]

 

[Joza Perl]

Joza shot him a glance, brow half-cocked at the mention of his ship crashing. She hadn’t seen any debris, and if that were true he’d likely have more impact injuries along his face and chest. But she’d had little time to focus on where she’d found him, concentrating on extracting Connor instead.

“Keira?” She frowned, pulling the cloth away for a second. Relations with the Crusaders had been strained ever since the bombing of Korriban, most of it unnecessary. They seemed to be itching for war, using their concern over Charzon as a scapegoat to ignite conflict. But it was a delicate issue, one where Joza didn’t know where she stood. Her energy had been going towards her child and her business, honestly. Both of which were growing quite nicely.

She squeezed his hand back, gently. “Easy…” She murmured when he shifted, crying out in pain. “I won’t tell them what happened for the sake of the Silvers, but this looks more than a simple clash, Connor.” Her voice drifted, unsure of what to say. His hand was still in her own, and she dragged it towards her stomach, placing it palm down on her tummy. “It’s a boy,” From the way she smiled, he’d be able to tell that she was proud. Terrified, worried, but also excited.

“Try not to move too much.” She added, concern wiping her face once more. “I can’t heal you, but I might be able to help ease the pain.” She placed her free hand against the side of his face, initially unsure of where to touch him so that it would not hurt. Her breathing slowed, and she felt out his aura—trying to soothe the spikes of pain and agitation she felt. This was the first time she’d ever attempted Crucitorn on another person…besides inflicting pain. It was a skill that had been taught to her by Darth Ax’no, her Sith captor and slave master at one point. So far, she’d only used it’s soothing effects on herself.

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

All he could do was look at her, knowing she knew it was more than a clash, but not wanting to give more details. Less talk - more soothing. When she took her hand and placed it on her belly with the news, he smiled through the pain. A genuine smile for her - she was evidently proud and happy..

"He’ll grow...to be a real trooper, like his mother," he patted gently and lay his head back. "Connor is a good name."

Smiling, he relaxed back in the bed a little and didn’t flinch when she placed her hand on his face. He didn’t fight her aura that soaked through him and began a strange feeling inside he’d not felt before. It was how he imagined it felt to be healed, except there was no sensation of healing - it was just like warm water flowing over his skin, taking away the pain as it washed over his body.

Almost as if his whole body had gone numb.

"That’s nice....thank you...it's soothing. Helping."

Trying to fight sleeping, his body was heavy. He started to relax, hand on her tummy still.

"Thank you."

[member="Joza Perl"]

 

[Joza Perl]

Joza’s grin spread. “He will. And it is, but I’m not sure what I’d like to call him…I only found it that I wasn’t having a little girl a few days ago!” Mock pouting, Joza had hoped that her child would be a girl. It was a double edged sword; while she could dress a baby girl up in frills and bows, the child would likely inherit her troublemaking nature…well, that would suck regardless of gender. “But I don’t care as long as the baby’s healthy.” Rubbing a hand over her stomach, she smiled fondly.

As her crucitorn seemed to be working, her smiled turned a little sheepish. “Really? I’m glad…I can usually only use this on myself, but I’ve never tried it on another person. I wish I could actually, you know, heal you…”

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor smiled, taking his hand away from her tummy and placing it on his chest, doing what he could to acceleate the broken bone, or at least move it into place a little more to ease his breathing. Closing his eyes, he managed to keep from sleeping.

"He'll be healthy. Don't worry."

After a few minutes of silence, he oepened his eyes, wincing as he tried to move his broken hand but causing nothing but shooting pain. He sighed, frustrated by it all. By everything.

"This is what happens when alliances break I guess. And all over Korriban. I'm fed up of it. Of everything." He looked across at her. "Things are changing...out there. You have be be careful...and look after him, okay?"

There was so much he wanted to get off his chest - literally, as well as the broken bone - but he struggled to admit things even to himself. And especially now in his state, he'd have nothing but thinking time to process what was going on in the world.

[member="Joza Perl"]

 

[Joza Perl]

Joza watched Connor carefully, concern written into her features as his hand left her stomach and settled onto his chest. “I know…” Her voice trailed, coming out softer than she’d imagined it would. Barring any unseen complications, she’d been told that her pregnancy was progressing just fine. She’d been getting regular blood tests and exams, but in a few month there would be more and more. For a normal woman who didn’t throw herself into the front lines, this would likely be a stressful affair—Joza wasn’t sure what to make of it, or how she was even surviving. Nevertheless, she took it one day at a time.

She caught Connor’s eyes with her own as he opened them, and likely would have been able to feel his frustration without the use of the Force or her empathy. It hung in the air, heavy, between them. Two individuals, tired of finding enemies at every turn. And with a child in the mix on her end, a child sired by the enemy.

“I am too.” She was quiet, contemplative even. “I’m not sure what to do.” About what? Even she wasn’t sure. “Connor, if something were to happen to me, would you…would you look out for him?” Biting her lower lip, Joza was at odds with herself. She struggled to be completely independent, at times pushing away those who only sought to help as she despised being a burden. This was different. This wasn’t about her. This was about her unborn child who she already wanted to give the galaxy to. But if she had to, she would settle with seeing him protected.

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Meeting her eye, he offered a smile. A little smile, almost sorrowful for himself and the challenges they both had faced recently. It seemed that however much he wanted to care for her, destiny was always going to make it a little harder.

Settling his head back, relaxing and trying to remain still as an injection was administered into his wrist that he didn’t even notice due to his broken hand, he was more surprised than he looked at her request.

It wasn’t one he expected, that was for sure. Swallowing gently, he just looked at her.

"You want me to keep an eye out for him, when I can’t even keep an eye on myself? Good choice. "

It was a difficult situation.

"I…" he struggled to find the words, "…Joza, nothing is going to happen to you. We’re all here….to help you, and that will extend to your son. We’ll always have his best interest at heart should he be one of us, alright?"

With her links to the Mandalorian and Sith orders, he knew the child would have a wider support network than most, but he wasn’t going to go up against them for the son of a Sith. Joza would have Connor’s support as much as he could give, she’d know that.

[member="Joza Perl"]

 

[Joza Perl]

Joza tilted her head away, staring straight at the cold durasteel of the far wall as she absorbed his words. Was her request selfish? She bit her lip. This child inside her was like a parasite—slowly creeping into her mental faculties, occupying her mind more and more each week. At this point, all she wanted was to ensure that her son would be safe. The paternal half of his parentage could prove to be a challenge, but few knew of who had sired Baby Perl.

He was as much Perl as he was Kaze. She’d see him shielded from the Sith even if it killed her. Placing a hand at her stomach, she rubbed gently and looked down. Never had she imagined that she’d grow so protective over something where she’d rather sacrifice her own life than see him suffer for even a moment. Maternal love, as she’d come to learn, was a chilling force and ran deeper than anything she’d ever experienced.

Turning back to the injured Jedi, she had to arch a brow at his words. “Connor, you can’t say that. There’s a very real possibility that something could happen to me and you know it.” She pushed a hand through the hair at the crown of her head. “I asked you because I trust you but…maybe that was selfish of me to place yet another burden on your shoulders.”

Looking down at him, she searched his face for a few silent moments before her lips moved, slow and soft. “Something’s bothering you. Talk to me?”

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

What was bothering him? Everything was bothering him.

The fact he was laid up on a bunk with broken bones, looking like a crash-test dummy and knowing his ego had just been beaten was the tip of the iceberg.

Placing his hand on his chest, Connor fuelled as much of his healing ability to the rib-cage as he could, groaning and wincing as the bone structure accelerated a little, starting the fusing process slightly quicker ease the pressure on his lungs. It gave him a moment to think also, hating it when questions like this were asked. As anyone who knew him would expect, he was a bottle of fizz; bottling up the bubbles and the pressure until one day it would simply…pop.

There was the mounting pressure of the Mandalorian / Sith clans breathing down their neck regarding Charzon, awaiting trial. Nobody was listening to him, and in the same respect thought he and the Order was nothing but weak and foolish.

There was wellbeing for Kyra Sol, maimed and mutilated at the hands of Ignus who was now at the top of Connor’s hit-list.

There was the connection with Matsu Xiangu festering in his brain; the way he had acted, and why he had acted, for what reason?

There was Korriban itself; painting a dark cloud over the Order he had fought so hard for recently, and for what? What did he have to show for it? Nothing.

There was Aria Vale, excelling in her studies but questioning many things. How far did Connor want to go to teach her everything he himself knew.

There was Joza herself, getting closer to Connor in recent weeks and being there for him, and he had fought the urge to say or do anything for the very reason he had been adverse to getting close at all in the first place.

This was simply a time when Connor felt he had to be more than what he had been for the past decade. And part of him knew how he had to do it. Friendships were fraying, alliances weakening, enemies amassing.

He looked up at Joza after the thoughts raced through his mind, easing up on the pressure applied to his rib-cage and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Nothing is bothering me, I promise. Just sore."

[member="Joza Perl"]