Anakin's Fortress - Book II (temporary cover)

Fifty-two - Prerogative

People often say that power doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing—it's why we recommend it daily.
Year 14

———

Kat

That didn't go as planned. It went so much worse, actually. The beasts of the Wild Space planet had been Anakin's idea, but in all my research, no one ever mentioned their horrible, mind-numbing screams. They rattled my brain, disoriented me.

It takes every scrap of focus to block out the mere memory as I get to work on Anakin in the shuttle. Perhaps I'm still stuck in survival mode, for my hands do not betray the adrenaline pumping through my veins. My voice doesn't betray the leftover fear from the fight. I don't feel my minor wounds.

And once a trooper takes my place helping Anakin walk, I'm running down the halls and taking the steps two at a time. I go to the room they were to start setting up, sliding chairs and tables and equipment out of the way. Once the path to the bacta tank is clear, I order everyone out and turn to the two med droids.

I'm still working on them when the death trooper and medical trooper enter with him. They help me get him out of his suit and into the tank and only reveal a flash of hesitation when I tell them to leave and lock the room down. The droids get to hooking Anakin up and begin the scans.

So, I turn to the suit. A claw through his helmet had done far more than bloody his face—it shorted his suit, searing the connection between it and his body. Without it, I had no easy way to read his vitals, not so far from Mustafar. Traditional tests it is, then.

We should be out of the red, I know that much. Without the suit, my priority had been getting him in bacta. Now it's fixing the suit. As long as there is no internal bleeding, Anakin will need little intervention.

Hours go by, and I blame the echoing roar of the beasts for leaving me so...unaware. It feels like minutes, but when I finally close his suit and collapse into a chair, I realize Anakin has been in bacta for five hours. The suit will just have to wait until tomorrow, there might be no fixing it.

I barely have the strength to turn around to look at his stats.

My exhaustion vanishes as I comprehend what I'm seeing. He should be close to waking up, but his vitals have only minimally improved. Fear grips me as I take in his low blood pressure, his low oxygen levels, and the slow healing of his neck wound.

———

Kallus

I sit up in the medical cot before the holo of Yularen, still not fully back to normal.

"Well?" he pushes. Of course, I sent him a quick message before leaving Lothal, telling him I was going to search for Vader with Thrawn and Kat.

Does he know? Does he know the once-famous Skywalker is Darth Vader? Does he know the suit holds some sort of medical importance? Does he know that the woman who watches the dark lord's home is absolutely a threat?

"We found him."

"And?"

I shift to look out the small viewscreen at Lothal below. Kat once told me that everything about my life was carefully constructed. That Lothal was on Palpatine's list. Now look at it—military and construction vessels are everywhere, the complex growing by the day. It reminds me of a hive, all the pieces moving quickly and efficiently.

I don't underestimate Force users. I never have. But today, I learned it is much more than I could have imagined. The man terraformed the kriffing planet and fought like nothing I've ever seen. And Velez?