Across the Stars (Draiya, Morgan)

[Ndonsa]

Draiya had been talking about something called "kwi-seen" as they walked through the crowds for the second time, it was something to do with food, but Ndonsa was not listening. She was trying to concentrate on their path, and on remaining in the calm of the Force. For so many beings to just accept that they were floating in a vast nothing, contained in a metal box, no matter how big it was, was difficult to understand. She was determined to become as accustomed to it as they were.

Conversation lagged when the Kufu did not reply to a question, and Knight Evanar's demeanor began to change. Ndonsa sensed attention on them at the same time as Draiya turned to look behind them, and then the girl ducked. Ndonsa felt danger coming quickly, and stepped to the side as Morgan threw himself in front of the darts.

"Get security!" he yelled, his voice booming as two cloaked beings pushed through the crowd. Ndonsa's ears flattened, unwilling to leave the Knight's side, but Draiya reacted quickly, slipping out of sight in the crowd that was beginning to realize something was happening. Morgan took a knife through the palm as his reactions slowed, and Ndonsa threw her paw forward, pressing the air into a hard ball and slamming it into the second attacker, knocking them backward off their feet.

[Untaaura Verratoa]

Seconds later, a trio of Jaani'sarri marines were closing in on the fracas. They shoved away the few rubberneckers who wouldn't clear the lane. The leading two Cizerack troopers drew shock batons from thigh scabbards, snapping the telescoping cudgels into a deployed position with a crackle of energy. A quick moment to assess the situation showed a wounded humanoid being defended by a smaller, agitated, and hirsute alien creature. Opposite these, two hooded men seemed to fit the description of the perpetrators. One of the men lay momentarily sprawled on the deck. The other seemed to still pose a threat.

As one of the marines moved in to pin the prone man to the ground and apply stun cuffs, the other two closed distance on the remaining perpetrator.

"Put jyourr weapon down now!"

[Draiya Naaianeya]

She'd come back with the marines, having reluctantly done Master Evanar's bidding. Why did they need the help of others here? Couldn't the Jedi help themselves. Draiya returned just in time to see Ndonsa apparently echoing her unspoken sentiments, handily unseating one of the shrouded assailants. She didn't get to dwell on the observation for long before the nearest Jaani'sarr brusquely pushed her out of the way to get into the action. The Syragori padawan bristled. She had her reasons to be standoffish around the felinoid enforcers, but it couldn't be helped.

There were alternatives to fighting, however. Draiya let the marines pass, then closed ranks with her fellow Padawan. Squaring to the danger, Draiya took a step back, kneeling by Master Evanar's body. Not dead. She could clearly see his life energy, though there was a torpor to what she felt. She quickly inspected his hand where he'd taken the shot, finding an embedded dart. The Padawan drew it out, examining the make before tucking it into one of the storage compartments on her tunic's belt.

"I could rreally use yourr help herre, masterr." she said to no one in particular, invoking her own mentor longingly. There was no better healer in the Jedi Order, and she'd certainly know what to do.

"Ndonsa, Masterr Evanarr needs a doctorr."

[Morgan Evanar]

The assailant simply smiled while they backed away to the railing.

"Put jit down!" There was a crack of bone or tooth that broke, and they swallowed the liquid that flowed out before tossing themselves over the railing. Foamy spittle trailed in the air, and then splashed the lowest deck of the promenade when the emergency tractor system slowed the body's descent to a dull, soft thud. Another figure below immediately swarmed the body and removed several items, including the projector gauntlet, and then disappeared into the crowd below.

"Sha'shaa forrda." One of the marines muttered when they looked at the body below.

"Hje's been poisoned! He needs a doctor! Help me!" Draiya pulled at Morgan's inert body. The 120 kilos of him mostly stayed put.

"Kosa!" She yelled, and this seemed to snap the Jaanni'saari back into focus. The picked up Morgan with a bit more than the expected effort while one raised the comm for a medical emergency. A minute later they were met by a team of medics with stretcher.

"What've we got? Blade wound on one hand and a wound on the palm."

"Poison dart. I've got jit here."

"Patient is male, human, roughly two meters..." One of the medics pried an eyelid open and shined a light while another put a hand on Morgan's carotid artery.

"No heartbeat, definitely not breathing."

"Unresponsive."

"I have the dart. It's poison."

"Okay kid. Stay with us."

When they got to the infirmary, they quickly moved Morgan to a trauma room. Ndonsa and Draiya were mostly ignored while Morgan was intubated and his heart artificially stimulated.

[Vek Vek]

"Twenty cc's adrenaline. Thirty cc's promalezan."

Vek leaned over the patient, peeling back one of Morgan's eyelids to shine a pen light. The iris did not contract. The nurse attending him shook her head, stepping back.

"I've got his vein but I can't get a stick for intra-V."

The Durwi leaned up, nictating membranes wiping over his eyes quickly.

"Not in medical school anymore. Adapt and overcome. Use double aught biopsy needle."

The nurse sighed, annoyed she didn't think of that herself. She quickly threaded the stronger needle on, pushing it against Morgan's arm with effort. The skin finally gave way, and she secured the line.

"Chromatography suggests neurotoxin, derivation of compounds found in Rishi lichen. Synaptic pathways should be corrupted, but electrostimulation positive. Interesting."

At least the patient was breathing and pumping blood with outside help. It still didn't explain how little damage was done.

"Doctor, I ran his chit, we've got a chart on the patient."

Vek stood upright, his mood brightening.

"Fortuitous. May answer many questions."

"Subject is one Evanar, Morgan. Alliance Naval Service. Born Nar Shaddaa."

The nurse paused, raising an eyebrow.

"Says here that Mr. Evanar has a history of extensive biological augmentation. Dermal graphene weave, metabolic acceleration..."

"Curious and ethically questionable. Still would not explain neurotoxin inefficacy. Myolin sheathing undamaged. Subject responsive to direct electrical stimulation."

To emphasize, Vek applied a dermal stimulator clamp to the patient's shoulder, and the muscles instantly tensed until removed.

[Morgan Evanar]

Morgan's eyes ripped open and he looked around frantic. It took his mind several seconds to process that he was in a Kolto tank. The intubation tube had been removed and the hole in his neck patched. He could feel the breath mask around his face, the nutrition line in his arm, and the waste removal system cinched around his legs and waist. He experimentally moved his limbs.


Left leg, knee, foot - check. Right, check. Right shoulder, elbow, wrist, hand. Slight pain in the palm. Fingers: check. Left shoulder, elbow, wrist, hand. Morgan gasped. Sithspit! Fucking sithspit that hurt. He didn't try the left fingers, and remembered the blade ripping through flesh and carbon fiber reinforced bone.


The Kolto tank gave everything a blurred, hazy quality and he could only make out shapes and colors.


"He's awake."

[Untaaura Verratoa]

"Good."

Major Verratoa's ears triangulated forward on instinct, relaxing slightly as she watched the human twitch and shift in the kolto soup. Watching someone go through the tank was always an unsettling experience to her, so Untaaura averted her eyes a moment later. With a bad enough injury, you never forgot the experience of a dip. The phantom taste of bacta never failed to bring a dose of psychosomatic nausea.

"When wjill he be out?"

"Within the hour, I'd say. Give or take. We're still not completely certain if there's any nervous system trauma."

Verratoa gave a curt nod to the nurse.

"Let me know when he'ss able to sspeak. jI want hjiss sstatement."

Blue eyes followed along to the pair of gathered Jedi Padawans. They narrowed with scrutiny.

"Padawan...Ndonssa? Come wjith me."

[Ndonsa]

The room they had been pushed into to wait while Knight Evanar had been rushed away by the doctors was ...bland. Ndonsa had spent an hour pacing until Draiya had begged her to stop, and then at least another hour sitting in a chair designed to make sleep impossible by its uncomfortable shape. The two padawans were spending the last time part arguing about whether or not they should return to the ship or rent a room of some kind on the station, when a droid had entered the waiting area to escort them in to see Morgan.

The healing room was similar to what the Jedi had on Ossus, but more compact. Ndonsa had never seen a person dipped in the healing goop in a tank before, though she had been told of it's miraculous properties. Seeing the Jedi Knight in such a state caused Draiya to momentarily look away, but Ndonsa stared curiously. One of the uniformed security from the station was there as well, and the female called her aside.

Ndonsa gave Draiya a nod. "The ship, if I do not return." She followed the cat-like being out of the humid room.

[Morgan Evanar]

He knew he was still on Jovan, and there were no restraints. He could leave any time. Morgan wouldn't, though. It would destroy the implication that he was just a member of the Alliance Navy, and not a Jedi. If his theory was correct, if this group knew he was a Jedi, that would put him in further danger. And he had minimal evidence for any of it, beyond the three attacks he'd witness or cleaned up after.

Three figures entered the room. The reddish brown blur was Ndonsa, and the other short blur was Draiya. The other was a Cizerack with a nameplate that read "Verratoa". He noted the emblems and plaques on the Marine.

He waved his right hand slowly in the viscous thick liquid, mindful that his left was a messy bundle of damaged tissue and pain.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Draiya pressed a palm to the glass of the tank, her eyes slowly fluttering closed. It was easy to feel Master Evanar's presence through the force, but in this proximity it dulled everything else in the room. The Syragori sensed anticipation, pain, but also an analytical awareness that she'd long-ago learned was as signature to Morgan as genetic code. Feeling that familiarity, Draiya drew her consciousness and awareness along the leylines connecting her to him.

I am with you, Master, she communicated without speaking, slowly opening her eyes when she was confident that they could share in this exchange.

The doctors say you've been poisoned.

[Morgan Evanar]

Morgan floated mute for several moments before anything beyond raw contemplation was obvious.


Yes. The response came matter-of-fact. While this sort of communication came naturally for many Jedi, his nature made it difficult. Or he had not figured out how to get to wherever it was that most other Jedi were. He gradually re-digested several important facts. The first was that he should probably be dead or comatose, and that he should eventually find out why he wasn't dead or still comatose. He wondered how physiologically human he was. He decided that when he could, this medical incident would be scrubbed.


There were people using ner-do-wells for both financial gain and as increasingly less clumsy false flags as Force Users. These false flags were specifically designed to be trial balloons with multiple bonuses of upsetting unsympathetic populace to the Jedi by implying Jedi were responsible. This group were willing to both kill and die for this cause. This group had extensive or at least well placed resources. He did not know their motivations or structure beyond being antagonistic to the Jedi.


All Jedi are in danger. He added. It was a thought borne of calculation but there were undercurrents of concern and slight frustration.

[Draiya Naaianeya]

Draiya took in Master Evanar's projected thoughts. For a moment, she offered no response, instead reflecting on what painfully little she knew. A conspiracy to turn the court of opinion against the Jedi by framing them for certain rotten deeds. It made sense when assembled as a small basket of facts, but there was still so much painfully beyond her grasp.

And now this. Master Evanar lucky to be alive, and two padawans on a space station and in their fair share of trouble, if that disinformation continued.

What can I do, master?"

[Untaaura Verratoa]

In the other room...

Untaaura made use of an empty examination room, gesturing to a nearby stool for Ndonsa to sit. Closing the door behind her, the Major slid her cap off her neat shock of blonde hair, tucking it under her arm.

"jI rrememberr jyou. Frrom Osssuss, jyess?"

Not that she needed the Nehantite to confirm that, but it helped to find common ground to begin their conversation. The diminuitive Cizerack didn't sit, but instead leaned against the examination table with her white-gloved hands clasped in front of her.

[Morgan Evanar]

Go back to Ossus with Ndonsa. It was more of a sigh than anything else. This back and forth was giving him a bit of a headache from the concentration he required.

Draiya was a bright, capable young woman but he wasn't aware of any particular danger when he brought two Padawans to Jovan for offworld expertise. In theory, it had been a milk run. He had been fortunate that Jovan's engineering staff was very knowledgeable and that the next step had been revealed to him. He just needed to follow the money. And then something. He'd figure it out when he got there.

Share my notes with the council. He added. I'll send them once I'm out of this contraption.

It would have been irresponsible to leave the Jedi blind or unaware of a dangerous threat looming. Maybe one of the other Jedi knew something about this he didn't.

You did good today.

[Ndonsa]

Ndonsa followed the Cizerack officer for a short time, but her patience ran out as the female seemed intent on separating her from her companions and little else. She stopped in a hallway, one leg back slightly and her paw going up for a spear shaft that should have been on her back but was actually on their ship, very far away.

"What do you want?" Her eyes narrowed.