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Chapter Thirty Six “Docking
Sequence has begun, prepare the air-lock.”
Jae-Lee
Reklaw hears the words of Master Mussiri over the ship’s comm system, and he
begins his trip from the med-bay (where he has been residing since even before
Nija came aboard) to the docking bay air-lock door. He
has the oddest sense that things are just not right, and so he hurries his
steps. Not knowing what it is that
is causing this sensation, but knowing that something is definitely brewing.
He
makes it there just as The Burn passes by the transparisteel window of
the air-lock door. Seeing his
beloved craft in one piece, once again, makes his heart jump up into his throat.
But quickly he regains the sense of dread that seems to permeate
everything for him right now. Seeing
the green light flash on the air-lock, Jae begins to pull open the door.
Having a great deal of difficulty at first, Jae changes positions and
finds the task a little easier. Suddenly,
he realizes that Mees is not on the other side of the door making his life just
as miserable as he did to her when he was on that side.
This is cause for some worry, since Jae has never known Mees to pass up
an opportunity to rib him about anything. But
of course, he was beginning to learn that he knew very little about the young
woman whom he had once considered his only family.
Still consider! Nothing can be so bad as to keep me from believing
that. Finally
maneuvering the door enough to get the seal to break, Jae can hear the air being
exchanged between the two rooms once more and the door begins to slide open on
its own now. Looking
up from his task, Jae can see Mees standing at the door, her arm resting on
doorway, and her head hung down, as if in deep thought.
She gets ready to move through the door, not even seeing Jae standing in
her way as they collide. Jumping
back like a feral felinoid, Meesahran is shocked to find Jae standing there. “Oh,
sorry. I wasn’t paying
attention.” She tries to move past him, but Jae will have none of it. “Hey,
where do you think you’re going? We
have some things to clear up before this ship goes anywhere.”
Jae tries being very firm with his friend. “What
is there to clear up? You’re taking off as soon as you re-fuel and we’re going
to Chandrila. Pretty cut and dry if
you ask me.” Mees begins to walk
down the corridor, but Jae reaches out and grabs her by the arm, trying to keep
her in conversation. Without
warning, Meesahran spins around, pinning him to the corridor wall with one hand
in his chest and with the other grappling his throat.
“I said not to do that, got it?” Her biting words coming through hard
clenched teeth. Jae
tries to nod his head in affirmation, but with her hand planted firmly into his
gullet, it makes that a dangerous proposition. Catching
movement in the corridor from the corner of her eye, Meesahran releases him from
her grasp and walks away, as Xana begins to move towards the scene from the
other end of the corridor. “This
isn’t over, Mees. You’re gonna
hear me out if it’s the last thing I do!”
Croaking the words as he rubs
the
reddened area of his neck, “And it just might be.” “Might
be what?” Jae spins around to
find Xana right next to him, not having sensed her approach. “Oh,
nothing, I hope.” He says looking
down the corridor where Mees had once been.
“Say, where’d you come from?” “I
thought I would see if you needed any help with air-lock door.
I remembered it being something of a chore.
However, it would appear that timing is my contribution to this event.” Looking at his neck and the hand shaped red marks upon it,
“Are you all right? And do not
try to tell me that was simply horsing around.
I have seen that look on Meesahran’s face in the past, and it was never
in jest.” She brushes her fingers
across his neck in a gentle pass. “To
be honest, I have no idea what that was about, except maybe she thinks I’m
deserting her or something. I wasn’t even going to leave yet, but she seems to want me
gone now.” Jae shakes his head in
confusion and to make sure his neck was not broken. However, as he does so he
notices a warm and wet trickle on the back of his neck.
Xana
sees it at the same time, “Oh my goodness, you are bleeding.
Please turn around and let me look at it.”
Jae does as ordered and can now feel the buzzing in his ears from the
pain in his head. Xana proceeds to
pull his hair away from the affected
area,
“It appears as though the skin around your wound has split.
I am afraid you will need to have this tended to, Master Reklaw.
We should get you to the med-bay. I
am certain there are proper instruments for dealing with this right away.”
Xana takes his hand and leads him from the docking bay corridor towards
the med-bay. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Walking
into the med-bay Jae-Lee is a swirl of emotions. Although he tries to hide it,
Xana can sense his torment. Upon entering the room, she immediately goes to the
supply cabinet for the needed equipment. Holding
the back of his head, Jae sits down on the bunk, just as Xana approaches him
with a suture tray. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
Jae looks a little worried as she takes out the curved needle. “Of
course I do. Now turn around, please, Master Reklaw,” the smile on her face
betrays her serious composure. Looking
questionably at the tray, then at the blood on his hand, fresh from his wound,
he turns slowly. Wincing, "Just how bad is it?" Furrowing
her brow as she pulls the hair away from the gaping hole in the back of his
head, “Bad enough to require several sutures, I am afraid…
Do you wish to have something for the pain, Master Reklaw?” Now
THAT’S a toughie!
"Well… How about something mild for the surface? I don’t want to be
knocked out, though. I'll be fine with a local." She
peers over his shoulder, looking him directly in the eye, “If you are
certain?” Seeing his firm resolve
there in those crystal blue eyes, Xana returns to her task.
“First I will irrigate the wound.
This may hurt for a bit, but the anesthetic is in the rinse.” Seeing
her warm smile, he tries to return it. "Do your worst." The
rinse stings a little, at first, but the pain brings back the memory of how he
ended up bleeding again. "Mees is sure jumpy lately, huh?"
Sensing a touch that far into the skull feels... eerie. Trying
desperately not to react to the ministrations of this lovely young woman, Jae
sits in silent, macho agony as Xana stitches up his head.
“There, not too bad I hope…” She finishes up the last of the
sutures and returns the instruments to their proper places, “I suppose it
would depend on what you consider lately. Meesahran
has been like that since she was- ... I
would have to say sixteen or seventeen years of age.
Yes, I believe that was when she stayed with us for a time during her
recovery.” Xana returns to her
tidying up, paying no attention to the astonished look on Jae’s face. "Recovery?"
A feeling of dread creeps over him. "From what?" As
she turns to answer him, she realizes that she may have said something that she
should not have said. “Oh, my-…
Perhaps I should not have mentioned it.
I only assumed that since you were such good friends that she-…
Well, that she would have told you about it.” Trying to recover her composure, Xana turns back around to
the instrument tray on the counter. Reaching
out and almost falling off the bunk in the process, Jae puts his hand on her
shoulder. Not grabbing and not forceful in any way, but not a loose grip either.
"Wait..." Turning half way around Xana looks into the eyes of the
pleading man. His concern is genuine and more than obvious. "Please…”
He asks, “What happened?" His
words and his eyes, the desperation she finds in them, begs her to reveal the
truth to this kind hearted man. “I
just do not know if it is right for me betray this apparent confidence.”
She knows that Meesahran never told her to keep silent, but Xana also
knows the pain that her dear friend endured all those years ago, and the change
she underwent following that episode. And
his awareness of that could only help to heal those old wounds, would it not? "I
only want to help. I mean.... I've never seen her like this. It was nothing at
first, but now she seems like she’s on the edge all the time. This time, she
actually hurt me. Physically." Jae seems to consider that for a moment.
A thought had just struck him for the first time. "That’s never
happened. Not out of anger." His face grows even more serious. "I need
to know." The
sheer anguish in this man’s eyes has melted her resolve.
Slumping her shoulders slightly, as though a great weight has been placed
there, she begins, “You must understand, I only know about her condition after
the incident. I was never told the
reasons for her injuries. My brother felt it would be improper to expose me to
that information. After all, I was
only thirteen at the time.” Xana
looks for reassurance in Reklaw’s eyes and finds it there and in his words. "Anything
you can tell me. Anything at all will help me get a grip on this stuff."
With his words, she takes a seat on the bunk next him. Breathing
deeply, as though she had to be reminded to do so, she goes on, “She was with
us for six standard months. I was
charged with helping to care for her, along with Master Mussiri.
It was Master Mussiri who brought her to us.” Jae's
mind swirls with questions but his first concern is Mees and. He takes Xana’s
hand in his, “What happened for her to need that much recovery?” “Oh,
my… The injuries were so extensive and there were so very many.
Her legs were broken numerous times and in hideous ways, she had terrible
lacerations and contusions over her entire body, all of her ribs were broken and
one lung had been punctured. From
the appearance of the wound, it actually looked to have been done deliberately.
As though someone had forced a jagged instrument into her chest to expose
the lung.” Xana shakes her head,
trying to remove the mental images that are pouring in from her memories. “I’m
amazed she could have survived all of that.”
Jae takes his hands away from Xana and tries to find something else to do
with them, as he lowers his head, trying not to look into Xana’s painful gaze.
Xana,
feeling his pain, reaches over and lays a gentle hand upon the side of his head,
“I wish I could say that was all, but the worst of it was the fact that it
seemed as though someone or something had tried to split her two.”
Suddenly, Jae’s head pops up and the bewildered and horrified
expression on his face causes Xana even more pain as she explains.
“Her pelvis was fractured in multiple places and nearly torn from her
back. She was unable to even move
for more than a month, and it took her nearly four months to be able to walk
again.” Xana waits for the
man’s reaction to this latest revelation. He
turns to face the wall in front of them and stares off into nothingness.
His mind a jumble with all of the possibilities this information provides
him, and knowing that there is only one answer.
Torture and maybe… No,
I can’t think that right now. Not
that… His body, slowly adjusting to the news his mind is processing,
begins to tremble and his eyes start to well up with unshed tears.
Then he drops his head and the trembling reaches a visible intensity. Seeing
this incredibly strong man reduced to a quivering mass, Xana reaches out to him,
placing her arms around his shoulders and holding him to her.
Trying desperately to comfort him in some way, she begins to practice the
soothing tones that Meesahran had shown her all those years ago.
Softly humming, and stroking his back, Xana slowly begins to let a bit of
her own peace ebb into the wake of his presence. Jae-Lee
Reklaw begins to fall deeper and deeper into his own despair. How could I
have left her there? Why didn’t she call out to me?
I could have heard her call from anywhere, I just know it. But as he
begins to be consumed with grief and guilt, he suddenly feels a warmth.
A warmth that has been missing from his life for longer than he can
remember. Its feeling is soothing,
and calming. Allowing him to get a
hold of himself, while he struggles to regain his focus yet again. “When
you maintain your focus, Son. When
you’re at peace. Then you will
know the truth.” With
those words echoing in his head, Jae can once again see through his pain.
The trembling stops, and he straightens up once more.
Turning to face the young woman at his side, “Thank you, Xana.
Your honesty and openness have given me a new perspective on what needs
to be done. I
do have one question though. You said Master Mussiri brought her to you. Do you
know him well?”
“No,
but a mutual friend told the Master of our relationship with Meesahran and that
we owed her a debt. From what I
could gather, it was Master Mussiri who found Meesahran when she was injured. I do not know how or why, but only that he found her through
some kind of bond they share because of their abilities. It seems that all adepts are capable of this bond.”
She looks into Jae’s eyes trying to get some kind of confirmation from
him. "Yes,
that’s true." He looks confidently at her, unashamed but not knowing if
she understands his answer, and what he is about to say. "That’s one of
the things that helped Mees and I work together so well." He swallows.
"We shared that bond." Xana
seems somewhat surprised, but not completely. With a look more confused than
surprised, she asks, "You follow the Will as Master Mussiri does?" He
stands to leave the room and placing a hand upon Xana's shoulder, "Thank
you again, Xana. I appreciate your
honesty more than I can explain. I only wish others could have been as
honest with me. If you don’t mind, I would suggest you stay here for now. I
think the Rancor fodder is about to hit the oscillator, and you'll be much safer
in here than in Mees' quarters." “Give
me wha-…” His words are interrupted by her lips gingerly pressing into his
own. Soon, the shock wears off, and
he returns the kiss. When she finally pulls away, Jae is speechless and
completely breathless. “I
grew tired of waiting for you to get around to it again, and since you are
marching off into certain doom, I felt the necessity to have it now.”
Her coy smile causes him to blush more deeply than he ever has before. “Umm,
I sort of have a confession to mak-…” She
puts a finger on his lips to silence him. “Shhhh,
we will have time to discuss it later. I
promise.” And she pushes him out
of the med-bay, closing the door between them and falling back into the closed
door. Biting
her lip as she sighs the deepest sigh of her life.
Hugging her arms about her, she chances just the smallest squeal of
delight. Falling
back against the far wall from the door, Jae-Lee lets out the breath he has been
holding since their lips parted. “If
that’s what I can’t remember, then damn my mind to hell!” Waiting there a moment longer, Jae girds himself up for the battle that is about to ensue. “Well, it’s now or never.” Might as well meet my certain death with a smile on my face. Creator: PtrsonsZOO (Jennifer) & arrowheadpodracer (Josh)
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