FORSAKEN - Target: Zero

CHAPTER FIFTY

A semi-naked Syrran floated inside a bacta tank with a respirator fixed around his nose and mouth. The lightsaber wounds on his chest, leg, and back had been mechnostapled shut, while the bruises all over his body had all but disappeared. The Chiss had spent a day in the tank to be healed. A constant at his side, Elynn sat by him, playing a simple melancholic tune her Master had taught her on the hallikset, while Jarriss checked vitals.

"How much longer?" Theleema entered the sickbay.

"He's almost done," Jarriss said. "The wound on his chest would have sent him to the Force had it cut deeper."

"How are you doing Eels?" Theleema caressed her hair. "Did you get some sleep?"

"Yeah," she said. "I just didn't want him to be alone."

"Thanks." Jarriss had been the one who slept next door by his patient throughout his treatment.

"You know what I mean."

Getting Syrran out of the bacta tank, Jarriss checked his wounds and removed the mechnostaples. Fortunately, Syrran had healed well and he didn't seem to sustain any permanent damage.

"How do you feel?" Theleema sat next to him and touched his face.

"Like I was run over by a bantha, but I'll live," Syrran said.

"That's a pretty good assessment of your injuries," Jarriss said.

Theleema placed her hand on the scar on Syrran's chest. "Just a few more things we can chat about." She winked at him.

"Alright, you two," Elynn said. "Don't make me stick my head in the bacta tank."

"Thank you for keeping me company, Eels," Syrran said.

"Hey, there's a shortage of Jedi Masters in the galaxy. I have to take care of mine."

"Did we find out what the device in the hyperdrive was?" Syrran said.

"Go said it was an interdiction field generator. It creates an artificial gravity well that prevents ships from entering hyperspace."

"It looks like the Empire knew we were coming by the time we'd landed on Coruscant," Theleema said. "Though Virra has no idea how."

"There are things we need to talk about," Jarriss said. "We've been waiting for you to recover to do so."

"Then, let me jump into the shower so we can get to it." Syrran got up. "Because, afterwards, I'd like to take a long nap."

Later, Ilum and Elynn played dejarik in the lounge. Chak-Chak cleaned her paws, lazing about on Elynn's lap. Addia and Gorin played music in the common deck, Theleema meditated in her cabin, while Syrran slept. She floated in the air with a bowl on the floor. The dirt it carried hovered in front of her surrounded by magickal ichor, taking different shapes as she trained herself to control the element. Virra called Jarriss into her quarters to show him something.

"Don't let this be the end of the Jedi," said Shaak Ti's holographic avatar above her holocron before vanishing. The device deactivated and landed on Jarriss' hand.

"She's very wise," said Jarriss, smiling. Touched by being seeing his late master again. "And always eager to pass her knowledge to the next generation. Thank you for keeping this safe, Virra. You have no idea what this means to me."

"You don't have to thank me," Virra said. "It was Master Ti who saved me, not the other way around. I wouldn't have survived as an Inquisitor or made it out of the dark side, if it wasn't for her. In a very real way, she was like a second Master to me."