Series: This is the second piece in the 'Coming to Their
Senses' series. The first piece is 'Not On Deaf Ears'.
Rating: G
Pairing: Q/O
Status: Complete
Archive: M_A
Spoilers: Not that I'm aware of...except for the story I wrote
before this one, if you haven't read it... : ) ::points reader
to the M_A site to find "Not On Deaf Ears"::
Summary: Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are rescued from a hostile planet
by Mace and Yoda. A guilt-ridden Mace faces his feelings with
some insight from Yoda. The four of them return to Coruscant
with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan in critical condition.
Series Summary: In "Not On Deaf Ears", Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were
stranded on a hostile planet. Qui-Gon was injured and Obi-Wan
all but destroyed his health attempting to keep Qui-Gon alive.
Obi-Wan collapsed just as Mace and Yoda arrived to rescue them.
Feedback: Please! When I don't hear from anyone, I get a
complex... : ) Flames, should you feel the need to send them,
will be cheerfully forwarded to the ferret, who will hunt down
all flamers and bite their ankles. Thank you!
Disclaimers: We all know who these characters belong to (Thank
you, Mr. Lucas!), so there's no question as to who's getting
all the credit, money, attention, etc. for these wonderful
Jedi. (Hint: It's not me...) Disappointing as that is, I'd just
like to borrow them to tell this story...
Inspiration: I am constantly inspired and motivated by my story
editor, Caly Rose. Thank you, Caly, for making me want to write
and for keeping me at it even when I sometimes seem to write
only a sentence an hour. : )
Thank yous: This story, I'm very happy to say, was followed and
edited step-by-step by Calysta Rose. We generally used irc to
hold our brainstorming/editing sessions, but email was in
there, too. Caly did a wonderful job commenting, suggesting
word changes and ideas, and helping me to make this the best
story it could be. I've never written a story before using a
'live beta/editor' and it's been a wonderful experience!
Look for Caly and I to be teaming up as writer/editor again in
the future. : ) Thank you for all your support, Caly!
You are just the best!
Thanks also: To everyone who wrote to say they enjoyed 'Not on
Deaf Ears'. The responses to that story were phenomenal and
there were so many detailed comments that really helped to
shape and mold this story...both into what it is and what it
will become. To Regs and kaly for agreeing to look this over
before its posting. I really appreciate your help, you guys!
Note: This story is a companion story to 'Not on Deaf Ears' and
will make little sense if you haven't read that first. There
are at least two more stories planned for this series.
Another note: italics represent thoughts.
"Pilot Nagursu!" Mace Windu shouted as he stormed to the front
of the small ship once again. "ETA!"
The pilot didn't turn around to meet the master's gaze as he
had the first ten times he'd answered the request. Instead, he
kept his eyes on the planet coming into view on the ship's
front screen.
"One hour, ten minutes, Sir," he answered, muttering, 'Only
five minutes later than the last time you asked,' under his
breath.
"Please keep me informed of our travel time," Mace growled as
he turned on his heel. "I will be...meditating."
As he listened to the footfalls echoing down the corridor, the
pilot seriously doubted the Jedi master's ability to meditate
in his current state.
Calm refused to settle over Mace; centering and meditation were
impossible.
"Help Qui-Gon, this behavior will not," Yoda said, not
unkindly, from his kneeling posture across the cabin. "Help,
you should, by focussing healing energies in the direction of
the planet. Know, you do, that thought energy can be very
powerful, even from a distance."
Properly put in his place, Mace stood, straightening his robes.
Although he couldn't see the planet from this angle, he sat by
the small oval portal anyway, staring out at the darkness and
stars.
Qui-Gon, my friend, I'm so very sorry, he thought,
closing his eyes. I know you disagree with many of the
things the Council stands for and supports...and now your life
may be in jeopardy due to those very structures. But I also
know that weighing the safety of thousands of lives against the
lives of just two people, you would have chosen the thousands
as well.
Mace sighed. Knowing something did not necessarily make it
easier to accept.
"Accept it, you must," Yoda murmured, easily reading Mace's
thoughts. "Accept and move on. The lives of the many we have
tended to. Now, the lives of two more have been placed in our
hands. Concentrate on that, you must."
"Yes, Master," Mace said with as much grace as he could muster.
Closing his eyes, he drew the Force around him and settled in
to reflect on Yoda's words.
Mace surfaced from his thoughts with a clearer mind, if not a
calmer spirit. He knew he would not be truly at ease until the
missing Jedi were on board and the ship was headed back to
Coruscant. There had already been too much time lost returning
Qui-Gon and his padawan to the Temple. They needed to be where
they could heal and become whole again, both mentally and
physically.
"Feel for him, you do," Yoda said, slowly covering the space
between them and approaching the portal. "A better friend than
Qui-Gon you have not had since you began training at the
Temple. Like a brother he has always been to you, hmmm?" Yoda's
eyes followed the stars as if he could read something written
in them. And perhaps he could.
A brother, indeed, Mace thought. Qui-Gon was closer to him than
his birth family, as was often the case with those who gave up
their families to train and become Jedi. And now his brother
was out in the desert somewhere, dying...
"Can you feel anything from them, Yoda? From Qui-Gon?" Mace
asked, staring at the bright streaks of light until he was
dizzy. He was concerned for both the Jedi, but could not help
the overpowering concern he felt for the man he had grown up
with.
Yoda's ears tipped downward. "Sense him, I can," he replied
sadly. "Great is his suffering." Yoda caught and held Mace's
haunted gaze. "Hurt, it does, to be here, with Qui-Gon there,
hmmm?"
Mace felt a shudder go through him as he nodded slowly in
agreement. "Yes. It does."
Mace was aware of the ship's descent even before the pilot
contacted him to announce their imminent arrival in orbit
around the planet.
"Touchdown estimated in sixteen minutes," Nagursu told them.
"Get as close to them as you can," Mace said. "I want to be
able to go down, get them out of there, bring them back to the
ship, and take off in a matter of minutes. Can you do that?"
"Yes, Sir," Nagursu answered, suddenly all business. "I'm a
career pilot, Sir. Flying into situations like this and flying
back out quickly and in one piece is my job. You can count on
me, Sir. Nagursu out."
"Three minutes to touchdown," Nagursu's voice broke through the
silence. "I should be able to set you down about two hundred
meters from their position. The terrain is dusty. Don't want to
risk landing too close and kicking up the loose sand."
"Understood," Mace said. "Master Yoda and I will join you
momentarily."
"Steady, their Force presence is," Yoda told Mace as they
hurried to the front of the ship.
"Steady? But I thought you said..."
"Steady it is," Yoda said, forehead furrowing. "But not strong.
No, not strong at all. Not..." Yoda stopped in mid-sentence--in
mid-stride--dropping the supply kit he held. It hit the deck
with a clang.
"Yoda? Yoda, what is it?" Mace was torn between rushing onward
and remaining with the elder master.
"Hurry, you must," Yoda muttered. "Hurry. They are suffering.
Suffering..." He paused, focussed inward. "He is dying," he
said as he came back to himself. The green face crumpled in
pain.
Mace had heard enough. Stooping down, he retrieved the fallen
medical supply kit and took off for the pilot's station at a
full run.
"You're with me!" he barked, as he reached the front of the
ship.
The startled pilot turned, a look of surprise clouding his
olive features. "Sir?"
"Put this ship down anywhere you can," Mace ordered him. "And
then you're with me. One of the Jedi is in trouble and you and
I will be the fastest on foot. Time is of the essence. Master
Yoda can monitor ship's systems until we return."
Nagursu threw the ship into landing mode, set it down as gently
as he could, and was out of his seat and on Mace's heels in
record time.
The bright sunlight was excruciating after the relative
darkness of the ship and the dry air made Mace's lungs burn.
How had Qui-Gon and his apprentice made it almost twenty-five
rotations here? Obi-Wan was used to such conditions, in
moderation, but Qui-Gon had never borne the heat well.
Stumbling on the uneven ground in his haste, Mace regained his
balance quickly and rushed in the direction of the two men. He
could hear Nagursu behind him, but his long legs and Jedi
reflexes made him faster and better-suited to running.
Scrambling to the top of a dune, Mace looked out over the
endless sand. In the distance, he could see the outline of
those he sought. Doubling his pace, he forged ahead. Their
rushed landing had put them almost twice as far away as the
original estimate, but it was worth it to be on solid ground
and making the retrieval at last.
Cloak swirling behind him in the sand, Mace closed the gap
between himself and the Jedi. I'm almost there, he
thought to Yoda. I can see them from here. Obi-Wan is
sitting up. That's a good sign.
Almost as soon as Mace had completed his thought, Obi-Wan was
down, taking Qui-Gon with him as he slumped to the ground.
They're both down! Mace thought desperately to Yoda. He
was at Obi-Wan's side now, pulling Qui-Gon from his arms.
Nagursu caught up, drenched with sweat and breathing heavily in
the oppressive heat.
"If you can manage that one," he gestured to Mace's grip on
Qui-Gon. "I can carry the other one."
Hurriedly, Mace nodded, grabbing Obi-Wan's cloak from the sand
and draping it over him as Nagursu lifted him off the ground.
Mace followed suit, hefting Qui-Gon over his shoulder, taking
off for the ship.
As the two men rushed in and the ship's hatch slid closed, Yoda
maneuvered the ship up off the desert floor. Contacting
Coruscant regarding their estimated time of arrival, he set the
ship to autopilot and made his way aft.
Mace and Nagursu had the Jedi laid out side by side on the bed
in the largest cabin on the ship. When he saw Yoda, the pilot
surrendered his job assisting Mace and eagerly returned to work
he was more suited for at navigation.
Silently, Mace handed Yoda a basin of warm water and a cloth.
Both Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had been stripped down to their
underclothes, torsos and legs a ghostly white in comparison to
sun-punished hands and faces. Intravenous tubing supplied both
men with the nutrients and liquids their systems craved;
oxygen-assist masks had been gently pulled over both sets of
noses and mouths.
"I've taken care of their most immediate needs," Mace told
Yoda, busying his hands by wringing out the sponge he was using
to wipe down Obi-Wan. "I will finish cleansing Padawan Kenobi,"
he said. "I thought you might want to tend Qui-Gon yourself."
The masters worked in silence, each lost in his own thoughts.
"Obi-Wan is going have need of the bacta tank," Mace said
quietly. "With damage this extensive, I'm not sure how he
managed to last as long as he did. Qui-Gon is as fit as a
marathon runner compared to him."
"Need rest, they both do," Yoda said, dipping his cloth into
the water. "Treatment, Qui-Gon will need, to repair his lungs.
Damaged, they are, from the Trellisian weapons. Feel it, I can.
Affecting his whole system, it is."
"Obi-Wan is suffering from extreme exhaustion and heat stroke,"
Mace told him. "He has severe skin and tissue damage from the
burning and blistering caused by over-exposure to the sun. And
those are just the things I can detect without having
sophisticated medical equipment. I suspect his lungs were
affected, too, if not from the weapons discharge then from the
prolonged time spent out in the swirling dust of the planet."
"Sleep, they will , until we reach Coruscant. Stay with them at
all times, one of us should."
"I have already taken the liberty of placing Obi-Wan into a
Force-induced slumber," Mace told Yoda. "I have no wish for him
to wake and begin to fret about things that can't be fixed
until we get to the Temple."
"No wish, have you, for the young one to wake and begin to
accuse you again of inattention to his master," Yoda said
knowingly.
"We're doing all we can!" Mace exclaimed indignantly.
Yoda snorted, delighting in neatly baiting the other master.
"Know that I do," Yoda said, the corners of his mouth
turning up. "Explaining it to a sick padawan is something
altogether different."
Mace sighed. He understood what the wizened master was saying.
Obi-Wan had been through more on this mission than many
padawans went through for their trials. It had been hard on
them all, waiting and wondering and unable to act, but the
apprentice had probably suffered more than any of them.
"Finished, I am," Yoda said, laying a wrinkled, green hand upon
his apprentice's cheek before walking sadly away.
After disposing of the basins and cloths, the two masters
checked in with the pilot and settled in to meditate on all
that had taken place. Silently, both willed the small ship to
get to Coruscant as quickly as possible.
With constant monitoring and careful watching-over, Qui-Gon and
Obi-Wan were no worse off when the ship set down on Coruscant.
But neither had they improved. That thought weighed heavily on
Mace's mind.
"Taken care of now, they will be," Yoda assured him. "And
survive they will. Skilled are the healers on Coruscant. Ask
for more, we could not."
And then the healers were aboard the ship, medical droids
behind them, monitoring, testing, touching, observing, and
finally taking Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan away to the temple's medical
facilities.
Mace stood in the ship's hatchway, looking out on the
procession of healers and droids heading for the medical bay.
Qui-Gon and his apprentice would be fine now, he told himself
over and over until he could almost believe it.
And if they're not, I don't know how I'll be able to live
with it. The thought left a bitter taste in Mace's mouth.
"Go, we must, to the Council," Yoda said from beside him,
interrupting his melancholy thoughts. "Anxious they will be to
know what has transpired."
The Council. It was always the Council.
"The Council first, then the healers," Yoda told him
sympathetically.
Yoda walked slowly down the boarding ramp ahead of Mace,
walking stick tapping out an uneven rhythm. "Come, let us make
our report and then move on to more important matters."
It was with a heavy heart that Mace followed Yoda down the ramp
and toward Council chambers.
Archive 