A few Days Off 4

Bacta is a disgusting, viscous substance that combines alazhi and kavam bacterial particles mixed in ambori, the fluid one is dumped into when one is submerged in a bacta tank. It is like being submerged in a thin, gelatinous clear soup which closely resembles erskj, a favourite side dish of the Hutts. No one is certain why this combination of ambori and the two bacterial agents holds such astounding healing properties but one thing is for certain the galaxy would be a whole different place without it.

Until I had fought and nearly lost the Rite of Tet’, a challenge to the death combat match, I had never been in a tank before. I had never needed to be treated for anything that severe. The worst that had happened to me as a kid was some hefty scrapes and bruises, a seriously broken heart and a bad bout with Tourning’s fever. After my first experience with the full immersion into a tank I swore I’d never ever allow myself to be put in one again. It was a disgusting, fairly humiliating and on the whole unpleasant procedure. Disgusting because bacta smells like rotting sugar fruits on a hot day and the smell clings to your skin for days sometimes weeks afterwards. It’s humiliating because you hang in this clear tank mostly naked and you look like a dying bloated Hutt, and disgusting because the stuff gets everywhere, and I do mean everywhere, plus once you are taken out of the tank they scrape and siphon the excess bacta off your body so that it can be run through a cleaning agent and recycled. Bacta was a precious commodity and very expensive.

I had heard some spacers say that when one was in a full immersion tank one dreamed strange and amazing dreams. For me, at least with my first tank experience, that was not the case. I had been a difficult patient when it came to this particular treatment and for most of the time they had to keep me sedated or else I tried with every ounce of strength I had to fight my way out of the tank. The sensation of drowning, despite the air mask, was just too much for me to deal.

This time was a little different. This time I knew I wouldn’t drown and the level of sedation was kept light, just enough to ward of that look of panic I would get in my eyes when I woke up in the tank every now and then. I was aware of what was going on, to a certain extent. I was aware of the people in the room, I could see movement but I could not make out any detail if I opened my eyes. It was like trying to peer through fog for the most part. Unless someone spoke directly into the comm-link to the tank I was in I could not hear anyone or anything. Sometimes people would talk to me via the comm but I couldn’t answer them and no one expected me to. On the whole it was mostly about hanging, suspended in a stinky, sticky, gooey fluid until what ever was wrong was healed. I should have been grateful to sleep through most of it, and I would have felt this way had it not been for the terrible, haunting dreams.

I was only half awake when they took me out, cleaned off most of the goo and put me back into some sort of real clothing that didn’t resemble the galaxy’s ugliest underwear. I remember voices whispering and some pain but mostly I seemed to hover somewhere between total unconsciousness and being awake. I had vague recollections of Thrawn sitting by my side, his gentle fingers fastening my pendant around my neck, but these memories had a surreal dream like quality to them. When I finally did surface for real I felt as though I had been asleep for years.

I opened my eyes slowly and took stock of my surroundings. It took me a few moments to realise I was not in the medical clinic anymore. The first thing I thing I realised was that I was home. The second thing I noticed was the painting that hung on the wall in the place where the Isone Medeglia Tatooine piece used to be was incredibly beautiful and unlike anything I had ever seen before. Sunlight poured through the bedroom window and I could hear someone moving around in the kitchen. A glance at the small chrono on Thrawn’s side of the bed told me it was late in the afternoon. I got up slowly because while I felt fine, my legs still wobbled a little. I grabbed my favourite robe and wrapped it around me, then went into the kitchen.

“Lei’lei, you’re up. How do you feel?” asked my uncle when he saw me.

“Zte’sa, what are you doing here?” I asked, completely taken by surprise. He was the very last person I had been expecting to see.

“Making tea, do you feel up to drinking some?”

I nodded and watched with bewilderment as he pottered around Thrawn’s kitchen as though he had lived in the flat his entire life. When he was done and had tea things on a tray he carried them, with me in tow, to the living room. I sat curled up on the couch and took the cup of tea he handed me and sipped it gratefully.

“How do you feel?” he asked me again.

“A little shaky, but otherwise surprisingly okay. What happened?” I asked. “Where’s Thrawn? Why are you here?”

“Well, firstly, the Admiral was called off world yesterday. He should be back late tomorrow evening. I am here to look after you and as for what happened….” He drew a deep breath, “well that might take a few moments.”

“Well, I guess I am not going anywhere.” I said.

He smiled. “No, you are grounded until the Admiral gets back.” He said.

“How long was I out for?” I asked.

“You spent close to twenty hours in the bacta tank, then about six hours at the clinic under observation and the rest of the time you were here, sleeping.”

“It feels like weeks.” I told him frowning.

He nodded. “Yes, well tank immersion has a habit of twisting time perception. Once the Doctor had the antidote to the poison you were dosed with your recovery was rapid.”

“Poison? I thought the sedative Jyrki used was harmless?”

He nodded. “It was, but the blade he used to deliver the sedative was not so harmless.” He said. “He used an Anzat assassin’s blade called a Scha’ad’uk. These weapons are ancient, not used all that often any more so I am at a loss as to why he would have chosen it. The only thing I can think of was that he had to act fast and that it was perhaps something he had on hand. The problem was not the sedative he had chosen, it was the residue left in the blade’s reservoir from a previous use.”

I sighed. “You’re telling me that all of this was an accident?”

“He was trying to abduct you not kill you, lei’lei. If that had been the case he would not be trying to secure you with sedatives and hired help.”

“What was the poison then?”

“It was a very powerful venom found in the Uspa snakes on Anzat.” He said. “Once the Doctor and his team figured this out they were able to give you an antidote that worked and the turn around in your condition was amazing. The bacta healed the secondary infection in your shoulder and helped to speed up the recovery. You slept through most of it; I suspect your own body was doing a lot of its own healing, something that might be attributed to your ability to use the Force. You have a very strong will to live, although it was touch and go for a couple of hours.”

I sat back against the couch and huddled with my knees tucked to my chest. My uncle refilled the cup of tea and for a moment we were silent.

“So, what are you doing here? Does papa know what happened?” I asked.

My uncle smiled at my questions. “As soon as you described the knife to me and that you were feeling so sick I suspected there might be more at stake than just a reaction to sedatives. You didn’t look so well and I have seen Uspa venom at work before. I hired a ship and came straight to Coruscant; en route I got in touch with the Admiral to tell him my own suspicions. He confirmed them via comm and I was able to give them more information on the actual venom and exactly what anti toxin to use. By the time I arrived they had already sorted most of it out. After they got you out of the bacta tank, Thrawn suggested that you might be happier recovering at home since there was nothing more that could be done at the clinic other than wait for you to wake up, which you did. After six hours of observation he brought you here. He asked that I remain to look after you because he was called off world for work shortly after bring you back and he didn’t want to leave you in the care of someone he did not trust.” He said. “I spoke to Kit this morning to tell him you’d be fine. He wasn’t too impressed with what happened I can tell you. Thrawn had him notified of the situation when they put you in the bacta tank and he would have been here as soon as he could have but I told him to wait.”

“Why?”

Uncle Vahlek gave me a smile. “Your father has some outstanding violations with Coruscant Customs. Setting foot on the planet would have been a bad idea for him. Had your condition not improved so dramatically I would have found a way to get him on planet, but as it was …” I sensed a hint of something not quite true about this statement but let it slide. I didn’t really want to consider the possibility of my father being arrested by the Empire. “He was worried sick though, so you might want to message him when you feel up to it.” He continued. “I understood from the Admiral that you were on holiday when this all began. He asked me to tell you that he requested a few additional days off for you from Vader.”

“Not much of a holiday.” I said with a frown.

He nodded. “No, I suppose not.”

“Did they catch Jyrki?” I asked after a long silence.

Uncle Vahlek shook his head. “Not yet.”

I just sighed and huddled into myself even more and sipped my tea. Unspoken questions and issues hung in the air heavily. Jyrki was not a good subject of conversation for either of us and I was in no real mood to pursue it.

“Are you hungry?” My uncle asked after a moment.

“A little.”

“Good, I’ll make some food. You need to eat.”

“How long will that take?” I asked.

“Depends, why?”

“I want a bath, I still stink of bacta.” I told him wrinkling my nose.

“Yes, you do. I have something that will help with that.” He said getting up and vanishing down the hall to the spare room. When he returned he handed me a small bottle of a violent green looking liquid.

“A few drops in the bath water and it will take away the bacta residue and smell. It’s nei’tka algae from Zabrak. It works very well.”

“Thanks.” I said.

“I’ll have food ready in about forty five minutes if that’s enough time?”

I nodded and got up to head to the ‘fresher off the master bedroom but before I did I turned to look at my uncle. For a moment our eyes met and a million things I wanted to say to him flashed through my brain. Instead of blurting them all out I said, “I’m glad you’re here.” Which was the truth.

Before he could answer I turned away and left the living room to run my bath. I still had so many questions about what had happened but they could wait. For the moment I was content just to be home, safe and not heaving my guts up.