Star Wars: The Heir

Chapter Seven

Ophelia's eyes snapped open. She was in some type of tank, submerged in liquid. A respirator was attached over her mouth and nose, giving her oxygen. She could see blurry shapes of people standing outside the tank, but the tank was too foggy still to see anything else.

She pushed off of the bottom of the tank with her bare feet, her head popping up into a blindingly bright room.

She brought her right arm up instinctively to shield her eyes from the light. A babble of multiple voices filled her ears. Someone climbed up beside her, and gently removed the respirator from her face, unfastening the clasps at the back of her head.

She let her arm fall to her side, still squinting. The person who had taken her mask off turned around.

"Will you all be quiet? This is a med bay, not a battlefield!"

Ophelia rubbed her eyes, blinking, "What's going on?" As her sight cleared, she saw her family standing there with worried expressions, "And why are you all staring at me?"

The man standing beside her offered her a hand. She accepted it, and he hoisted her out of the tank and onto the ledge that he was standing on.

Her legs were wobbly, but she managed to stay upright. she climbed down the ladder to the floor. Her father caught her as her legs collapsed under her.

"Let's get you to a bed for now," he said, lifting her into his arms and carrying her to a nearby bed and setting her down.

"Is someone going to tell me why I was in a Bacta tank?" She asked, "And where exactly am I?"

The medic who had helped her out of the tank came over and checked her vitals, "You and another Mandalorian crashed into one of the docking bays here yesterday. You were in pretty rough shape."

"Here still doesn't tell me where I am." 

"This is Republic Outpost 5496 in the Outer Rim near Scalaria."

Ophelia's eyes widened as she remembered the day before, "I remember now..." She said slowly, "Nyrin and I were sent to get reinforcements because the fortress was being overrun by Clankers... Wait, is Nyrin okay?"

Nyrin stepped forwards into Ophelia's line of sight, "Yeah, I'm fine. You took the brunt of that heat seeking missile."

"Oh, that's good." Ophelia snuggled back into the bed, pulling the blankets over herself, "I'm going to sleep now." Within ten seconds she was snoring lightly.

*****

Ebin folded his arms, sighing, "I guess we aren't taking her anywhere yet."

Kix looked at him, inquiring, "How good are your medics at your fortress?"

"They're mostly field medics." Ebin admitted, "But I want to get Ophelia home as soon as possible."

"If you really want the best for your daughter, you'll leave her here with me." Kix replied firmly, folding his arms, "The medics at this station, including me, are well trained in situations like hers."

"How bad is she, exactly?" Lena barged into the conversation.

"The right side of her face is badly burned, and probably won't ever be normal again. Basically, her entire right side was burned, but I treated it with the Bacta, so it's looking much better now." The medic replied.

Lena nodded, "And what exactly do you have here that we can't provide to her at home?"

"No offense, but she's better off with no one to pressure her to recover more quickly. I know what you Mandalorians are like. You believe that walking off your injuries is the best thing for you. Here I can keep an eye on her burns and help her recover fully. Leave her with me for a week and then I'll get her back to you."

Ebin sighed, "I think it's the best thing for her, Lena. However, I have one condition. Nyrin has to stay here to watch over her. After all, he's the one who was supposed to keep her safe in the first place."

Lena harumphed, folding her arms. "Fine. We'll do it your way. But just this once."

Great, Nyrin thought, I'm getting blamed for Ophelia flying too recklessly and getting herself hurt.

"You all should clear out." Kix said, "Ophelia needs to sleep, and you having loud conversations in here won't help her."

"Well, we'd best be going then. General Kenobi, I hope it's okay that I'm leaving you with Nyrin for now?" Ebin said.

"Yes, that will be fine."

"We'll be back for you in a week." Ebin said, turning and walking out of the room with Lena and Erin.

Nyrin sighed, sitting down on the end of one of the beds. Cody patted him on the shoulder, "You can stay with me and the rest of the boys while you're here."

"Thanks, Cody."

"Come on, I'll show you to the barracks."