Capítulo 254: Long Road to Recovery
I don't own Star wars.
…I felt weightless… calm. But I don't remember how I got here… for that matter where was I?... I hear voices. Languages I don't recognize… but even then I heard some I did.
'Turn around Kal.'
'It's not time for you yet. I order you to turn around… soldier.'
…Boomer?... Boss?
'Don't let Critcher get away with it Kane.'
KATE?... didn't you shoot me? I… remember you shooting me… I was SHOT.
"Son…" I glanced around, realizing for the first time the empty void I was in. It was infinitely littered with tiny lights flicking uncountably in the night sky like stars… a Shistavaanan suddenly stood before me, ethereal but whole… He rested his clawed hands on my shoulders and I felt comforted. Relieved. "Go back." He ordered firmly.
"HWaaah!" I gasped, opening my eyes and thrashing in my bed. I was in a bed? I was alive? I glanced blearily around but my eyes weren't focusing-"AAARGH!" I howled at the pain in my chest, it burned! It stung!
"Stop! STOOOP. Inject bacta-anesthetic!" there was a needle in my neck, and suddenly it soothed my rage, my pain… a woman I don't recognize stood over, me, shining a light into my eyes. "Kallus? Kallus?" she spoke calmly, "Breathe. Take a breath…" she held the breathing mask to my face as Oxygen rushed into my lungs. "It's alright. BREATHE."
"Haah. HAAH." I inhaled sharply, as my eyes finally focused on the green woman.
"…Alright… calm. Speak to me." She said, shining the light. "How do you feel?"
"…Pained…" I replied raspily as she nodded.
"Good. That means your alive. What do you remember? What's the last thing you remember?"
My vision cleared revealing her in a doctor's coat. I think she was a falleen. A Falleen doctor? That sounds familiar. But the first memory I had… was of KATE. "My friend shot me…" I said softly, sadly…
"Mmn." She replied, "Good. Further back? Anything?"
"…My Uncle Aiden… he came to help me."
"What's the name of your Cipher friend?" she asked calmly.
"…Ori-" I paused then glared up at her. "Who are you?"
"Doctor Xalbaia, retired." She noted, "I friend of the family. You're uncle brought you here after you took a sniper bolt to the chest." She stared down at me, pulling the light away. "You're a tough little buck. You also died once or twice on my operating table, so I'm checking to see if your brain functions are still intact."
"I died?"
"You SHOULD be dead." She replied correctly. "But you're not. Mostly thanks to me, bacta, a highly functional droid operating desk…" she listed off the reasons. "Don't move." She said, holding me down by the shoulders. "…Follow my finger." She moved her hand side to side, my eyes following it, then she pointed down to my chest…
…That's a lot of metal.
"…I had to fit you for a cybernetic replacement, about 5% of your chest has been replaced and regrown." She noted dismissively as I gasped at the reveal of my metal body. "A few ribs had been vaporize, a chunk of your lung… you're lucky." She noted, "And fascinating I won't lie."
"…She missed then. She doesn't miss." I replied, calming myself down quickly.
"With proper care and future surgery, we'll have your body looking like nothing is out of place. You'll be as good as new-STOP!" she pushed me back down, "I do not care HOW tough you think you are. You're not just getting up after surgery. Because I'm not putting your limp ass back into bed." She added as I sighed.
"I need to kill Critcher." I replied, "And I need to help KATE." I declared, "He's controlling her."
Xalbaia stared at me, then sighed. Pulling a chair to me bedside and sitting down. "He is controlling her. But not in the way you think. She's a CROW now."
I stared at her, "…What's a CROW?" I asked confused as she took a patient breath.
"Do you know what a decraniated is?" she asked.
"A what?" I replied as she sniffed and nodded.
"That's good I guess, you don't need the nightmares." She crossed her fingers. "A CROW, is a Cybernetically-Retrofitted-Organic-Weapon." She said, "Usually… but not always, a recently deceased body is… retrofitted… to function as shock-troops." She tapped her head, "Generally anything related to a personality or free will is stripped from their mind and replaced with computational software. Combat Skills, muscle-memory, and anything related to how good a soldier was at killing in life is maintained. Your friend isn't your friend… she's just a killing puppet."
"She's… not KATE?"
"Here ability to shoot you was." She replied patiently, "The rest of her not so much… no memory, no personality. She might not even have a voice. A CROW is a killing machine, designed to kill, fight, die…" she stared at me. "…If its any consolation the fact that she was turned into a CROW at all is a Highlight of her abilities."
"Why?"
"I don't know if you noticed but there are not a lot of CROWS out there. They cost a significant sum of money, and only the best Cybernetic doctors are even capable of making them function. They're not as cost-effective as just training a bunch of fools to hold guns and charge an entrenched position. It's cheaper." She replied frankly, "But a CROW is at least worth the cost in the right scenarios and usually not all of them are the same. What works for one CROW won't for another… apparently you now have a Sniping CROW to worry about."
"I can't fix her…" I said as Xalabia shook her head.
"…No. Even if they did keep around her brain matter after carving it out it wouldn't be as simple as stuffing it back into her skull. She's gone. She's only a killing puppet now. You on the other hand are not dead and that is a feat." She sighed, "You need rest, relaxation, and most importantly you need to not die because I don't want to deal with your mother." I lay back in my bed. "You also can't stay here. Because I do not want you here." She added bluntly as I closed my eyes.
"…Great bedside manner." I mumbled as she shrugged.
"I'm a scientist mostly. But I do have numerous medical degrees…" she grabbed a nearby device. "I'm going to put you to sleep Kallus, you'll wake up in a few hours. But you seriously need rest or your new body parts will rip themselves apart. They need to settle." She injected me with more anesthetic. I opened my mouth to respond… but it quickly closed and everything was a haze.
...
"Well he's alive." Xalbaia declared to the crew in her dining room, eating her food and solemnly sulking about. "But I cannot stress enough how he needs to rest, and most importantly CAN'T STAY HERE." She glared at Aiden who was absently drinking her Corellian whiskey. He froze with the glass halfway to her mouth. "Stop drinking my whiskey."
"I'll send you more." He replied. "…So what do we do doctor?"
"Take him someplace he can rest, recover, and potentially not get shot at for a little while. He's going to need some serious physical therapy after at least a WEEK of rest." She then turned to Oriana. "Do you have a bacta tank on that clunker?"
"Yes." Oriana replied with a tentative sigh of relief, "We do."
"A two to three-hour dip every day will hasten the recovery. After a week, once an hour after strenuous exercise to prevent excessive atrophy. Until he's back to his peak performance, whatever that is." Lala raised her hand, "NO sex during the first week."
"What? I wasn't going to ask that." she replied indignantly. As Xalbaia raised a non-existant eyebrow.
"Really? You're a Zeltron and he's a Kane. I just assumed you'd be a sex-crazed little minx."
"Well, I am. But I wasn't going to ask that." she replied. "Also that might be racist."
"I don't know it sounds about right." Mumbled Aiden with a soft smile into his glass.
"Well what were you going to ask then?" Xalbaia replied as Lala hesitated, then.
"Doooo we owe you for the cybernetics?" she asked as Xalbaia scoffed.
"Not really. Those were just parts I had lying around and I don't really get a lot of visitors apart from family. "We were just lucky there were compatible with him. He's a big boy…" she sat down. "Now. You all can stay for the night, and my droids will help you get him on your ship. But I want you gone."
"Seriously?" Aiden replied. "What do you have a date?" Xalbaia glared at him.
"Yes as a matter of fact." She replied as Aiden paused.
"Ooooh… anyone I know?"
"No." she replied abruptly.
"So where are we going to go?" Nerri asked Oriana who was thoughtfully thinking in her seat.
"I don't know. Coruscant?"
"Well, I thought it was obvious." Aiden mumbled, "Plenty of room at the old homestead." He replied, standing up from his seat. Oriana stared at him.
"What? No… what about Kal's banishment?"
"I'm pretty sure any and all bets were off once he was shot by his dead friend…" Aiden mumbled dejectedly. "As far as anyone knows Kal is dead, and you all are just coming to my home so that you can grieve his loss. We'll invite Kavila, and make it a big surprise when we tell her he's NOT dead." He grinned, "I'm sure that'll turn out well."
"Really?" Oriana mumbled in response.
"No. But it'll give out sleeping doggy a chance to see his mother again and that might soften the blows I'm already feeling on my face." he replied. "I'll call the wives and let them know we're coming." He said already walking off as Oriana rubbed her face in exasperation.
Nerri frowned after Aiden before turning her attention back to Oriana, "…I'm sure it sounds like a better offer than it seems."
"Well we couldn't go before because Kal was in hiding, but now that he's 'dead' I guess that's good for us." She sighed, "Who's going to believe he survived a sniper shot to the chest?"
"I don't believe it and we've been here the whole time." Lala replied, "He's a tough boy…"
"He's always been tough." Oriana mumbled, "Ever since we were kids being trained by our parents… well, parents and aunt." Oriana frowned, "…Damn it. Everything is just so fucked…"
"It's not so bad." Mumbled Nerri, "Kal is alive and healing, that is more than could be expected all things considered." She stood up, "I will tend to the ship and prep the bacta tank with Rattletrap."
"Chart a course for Luna IV while you're at it." Oriana declared standing up, "I'm going to go see him."
"He's asleep." Noted Xalbaia, "Do not wake him." she added as Oriana stepped out and towards the operating room, leaving Xalbaia with Lala who gazed at the older woman interestedly as Xalbaia sniffed. "Why do you seem so familiar?"
"My Mother is Lacroix Lacine." She replied as Xalbaia flinched.
"…Aiden's half-sister?"
"Oh yeah." She smiled as Xalbaia's eyes narrowed.
"…And I am under the impression that you are sleeping with Kallus?"
"I am."
"…Ah…" she stared at Lala unsettlingly, then shook her head. "I am exceptionally happy I am not a psychologist… I think. It's been a while since I've actually checked what I am a doctor off."
"You know we're not related right? It's actually a very simple-"
"I honestly don't care. He's a Kane, he can and will fuck whoever he damn well pleases… except me. I'm pretty off limits." She frowned, "…Seriously don't have sex with him."
"I won't!" Lala pouted, "Geeze! Racist… what about blowjobs?"
"…Blowjobs might be okay-…" she paused, "…I find myself saying that far too often when it comes to the Kanes and the Firemane Family."
End.
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