Redemption - A Star Wars Fanfic

Chapter 6

Jedi Padawan Healer Kirei Barizaan looked up in alarm as the door to the Temple medbay slid open, an ash-covered, panting Jedi Knight stumbling in with an unconscious young man limp in his arms. She instantly recognized the Knight from the holonetwork, Anakin Skywalker, one of the Republic's greatest war generals. All her training left her for a moment as she stood gaping in confusion. That was until the man in question snapped her out of her daze with a shout. "I think he's been electrocuted. And he may or may not have a concussion, but he passed out just a few minutes ago."

"Uh, right, bring him in, quickly," Kirei insisted, directing Anakin towards one of their empty rooms and preparing the machinery as the slack young man was gently lowered onto the soft medcot. She brought out a medscanner and quickly tapped the distress signal on the commlink attached to her hip to contact her Master, who was much more equipped to handle medical emergencies. As her commlink sat beeping in wait for a response, Kirei deftly ran the scanner up and down the prone form of the young blonde before reading the results. She bit her lip and quickly moved to a side table to collect the bacta medications. Just as she was beginning to fill up a syringe, and the stressed Force presence of Master Skywalker started to radiate into her thoughts, her Master walked in with a bag of medical supplies, his eyes wide at the scene before him.

"Kirei? What's going on?" He blinked to see Anakin standing by the medical cot, the young man looking like he had been plucked straight off a battlefield due to the amount of ash and soot coating his Jedi robes. "Knight Skywalker?"

"He's Force-sensitive, that's why I brought him here. He passed out after a confrontation with General Grievous just minutes ago. I already briefed your Padawan," Anakin explained, starting to grow chagrined at the fact that nothing was being done to help Luke.

"He has residual shock from prolonged exposure to electrocution, some tissue damage, a concussion, and severe fatigue, Master. I was going to give standard bacta treatment and allow him rest." The Padawan girl held up the syringe in her hand to demonstrate, smiling weakly in hope that she had impressed her Master.

Master Osh nodded with a sigh, setting his bag down and moving forward with a determined look. "Hook him up to the vital monitor, and open an IV line instead of the syringe," he smiled lightly, "But well done, Padawan."

Kirei beamed, and the two instantly set to work. Anakin watched warily from the corner, wringing his hands together tightly, yet confounded by his erratic emotions. He barely knew Luke, but that didn't mean he had wanted to see him hurt. After all, he had helped them on the Invisible Hand.

Shaking away his thoughts, Anakin told himself he was only worried because the young man still had a lot of questions to answer, and that he wouldn't be satisfied until he knew those answers.

He numbly plopped into a waiting chair, not realizing how tired he was himself. He had been fighting non-stop in the Outer Rim sieges without proper self care for months, and this was his first break in what felt like forever. His legs began to cramp up at the mere action of sitting, eliciting a low groan from his chest. But he forced himself instead to focus on the healers working on Luke, not his own ails.

Ani, I'm pregnant...

Oh, right. That.

Based on how long he had been gone, it was reasonable to assume that Padmé was a few months along in her term. Anakin desperately wished he could still be with her. He had so many questions to ask, particularly about how much care she was receiving. Her handmaidens without a doubt would've kept her pregnancy a secret and tended to her needs while he was away. They wouldn't have even asked who the father was; that's how much respect they held for their former queen. Anakin was more than grateful to them for that, because he knew taking Padmé to a regular medcenter would only raise questions about the identity of the father and put Padmé in a spotlight that she did not need, especially not while she was pregnant.