Heart To Heart To Heart

[Prennis Keeoli]

/ [member="Darben Skirae"] | [member="Stardust Australis Skirae"] \​

†††​

As she entered, Aes'ona pulled her surgical mask off one of her ears. She remained silent as she closed the door behind her but, after turned to face Darben and promised him, "We'll all be okay. We just need to stay calm." She spoke quietly but sternly, in case B1 had been equipt with an ultra-sensitive microphone for hearing, which he probably had.

The doctor paused momentarily to bite her lip. The situation was not a good one. Her plan was worse. They would only have one shot at it. Swallowing a lump that had formed in her throat, she asked, "And you need to trust me. Can you do that?"

As she waited for his answer, she prepared to shush him should he raise his voice in frustration or fear.

 

[Darben Skirae]

Darben Skirae took a deep breath, ready for some really bad news. She seemed calm and collected. And he tried to do the same. She was speaking quietly, and what other reason would there be except for the imminent threat that must have been around. Once she asked him to trust her, he nodded. He trusted her with [member="Stardust Australis Skirae"]'s life already, he could trust her with his own as well. But what was the plan she had in mind? That he was most curious about, and hopeful about as well.

Carefully, he revealed the blaster. "What do you need from me?" he asked, just as quietly, but his voice quivered from fear and pain. "You can't explain the situation, can you?" That was something he was hopeful for as well, but he also knew that if [member="Dr. Aes'ona Terrani"] told him the situation, he might just panic.

 

[Stardust Solus Skirae]

She felt so much worry then fear. Eyes opened to watch the room as she spotted the doctor then the droid as it watched her something wasnt righr the force was telling her something was near something was coming

Looking towards her right arm she looked back to the only entrance, she slowly transformed her right arm into the gun mode and then looked normal as she inhaled and exhaled

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

/ [member="Darben Skirae"] | [member="Stardust Australis Skirae"] \​

†††​

Slowly, Aes'ona extend her hand out. She couldn't stop how it shook slightly, but spoke with the confidence not conveyed by her body language, "Give me the blaster." As she took it, lifted up the side of her scrubs and tucked the weapon into the side of her belt where it was easily concealed by the cloth as she put it back. "I think that droid is compromised." After a pause, Aes'ona speculated, "She's someone important, isn't she? And not just to you."

As they spoke, B1 had moved to the oxygen apparatus. Sure enough, he had picked up every word spoken in the next room. They were on to him, so it was now or never.

"Just a little bit of gas," the voice of his saboteur was stored in his databanks. "I call it Queen-No-More." A pause to laugh followed. The man had clearly found the pet name for his deadly concoction hilarious. "All you have to do is administer a little of it."

Every single medical protocol, as none of them had been overwritten by the man's hack, in B1 told him to abort. Certainly, what the droid was doing knowingly endangered the life of his patient. But his core function to serve organics told him to obey his temporary master.

The distinctive, though not loud, humming, not unlike a fan, reverberated from the droid's head as his servos began to overheat, trying to compute their conflicting missions. After standing still for a moment, B1's motherboard had come to a conclusion: the override and his core function trumped all other protocols, no matter how important.

A small injector deployed from his right arm as he bent down to inject the gaseous mixture into Stardust's oxygen supply.

Coincidentally, Aes'ona had glanced over from Darben and out of the window at just the right time. "Woah, woah, wai--! " Her exclamation was cut off as she rushed out the door.

 

[Darben Skirae]

Darben sighed, and slowly put his hand out and then handed the blaster over to her. As she spoke, he grew worried and his legs shook. "Assassination attempt, do you think?" it was very troubling. "I will get guards in here, hopefully to track down whomever is responsi-"

He looked past her, and then saw the droid acting strange. Just as [member="Dr. Aes'ona Terrani"] did so. He was quick with her, rushing for the door and opening it for her. Only thing they could do was to, "Blast it! Now!" His tone was urgent for her to make a move, and he knew getting in the way would only end with two corpses rather than none. All their fates rested in the doctors hands now.

[member="Stardust Australis Skirae"]

 

[Stardust Solus Skirae]

[member="Darben Skirae"] [member="Dr. Aes'ona Terrani"]

Eyes shot open, she looked over barely hearing the urgent calls of darben, eyes turned towards the droid as she moved her right arm and used the force to grab the droids arm and she slowly sat up ignoring the pain as she stared into its photoreceptors as she raised her right arm and placed it right agaisnt his head

you cant kill me

Trigger was pulled and she fired, then leveled it as it would fall as she fired again and again 29 more times until her clip clicked as she took a deep breath, then laid back again heartrate had skyrocketed

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

/ [member="Darben Skirae"] | [member="Stardust Australis Skirae"] \​

†††​

She whipped out the holdout blaster and had it aimed in B1's general direction before the wounded Twi'lek beat her to it. Aes'ona stepped back after dropping the gun, both scared and shocked as bolt after bolt discharged from Stardust's mechanized arm. Somehow, though, she kept from screaming. When Stardust had emptied her clip, the doctor threw a frightful glance over to Darben.

There wasn't time to stand frozen for long, though. A hiss began to fill the room, quiet at first but, steadily, it gained volume.

Aes'ona knew that sound. Filled with a renewed sense of urgency, Aes'ona looked front. Balance, not the oxygen...! she thought, cursing her luck as she saw that her fear was reality. She hurried over to the apparatus and examined it, her fear becoming only slightly lessened when she saw that a melted bolt hole had only pierced the tank and not the pipes themselves. It would still be difficult to fix in time, but not as impossible as it would be had the bolt strayed only a few centimeters higher.

"I need help," she called as she ran past Darben into yet another room: the pump room. She wasn't familiar with the layout of this hospital, but what she needed should have been there.

"I'm looking for a replacement oxygen tank. It's a long, thin cylinder with green paint around the top."

 

[Darben Skirae]

Darben saw shots fired. The droid fell. And yet, nothing had come from the blaster but rather, his wife's mechanical arm. B1 fell to the ground, and Darben just stood there, just as shocked as [member="Dr. Aes'ona Terrani"]. And then he heard the hiss, but didn't know what it was. Not till he heard Aes'ona curse and run to...the oxygen tank. Now, panic really set in. He went to his wife's side, begging her to stay with him, hoping that his friend would save her. And then, his aid was needed and Darben followed quickly after her.

He looked around, and perhaps was in too much haste in his panic. But he found it, and went quickly to her. "Here! Quickly, we have to save her!" Already he had tears but he wasn't letting that stop him from saving his wife [member="Stardust Australis Skirae"].

 

[Stardust Solus Skirae]

[member="Darben Skirae"] [member="Dr. Aes'ona Terrani"]

Stardust took another breath and gasped, ahe cpuldnt gey the air she needed, gripping the bed she closed her eyes and shook her head as she felt the fear around her. Her aura stared extending further around the hospital no doubt anyone could feel a sense of urgency now

cant kill me...cant kill me...

Stardust repeated as she tried setting up yet she couldnt she felt way to heavy and went back down a bit rough as she gripped hard enough to leave a imprint in the bed

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

/ [member="Stardust Australis Skirae"] | [member="Darben Skirae"] \​

†††​

The doctor ran ahead and knelt down in front of Stardust's oxygen apparatus. She began unscrewing the nozzle of the compromised tank and, with some difficulty, hauled it away. "Set it there," she directed Darben, meaning to put the new tank in place of the old.

When he did, she connected it up to the apparatus, quickly stood, and began fiddling with the outlet dials to account for the change in pressure.

She didn't have to look up. She heard Stardust's vitals up on the hover monitor stabilize.

Aes'ona stepped back and hid her face in the crook of her elbow shortly, to avoid desterilizing her hands, overwhelmingly relieved. But she didn't remain that way for long. One problem solved, but another to go.

Lifting her head and turning to her old friend, she asked, "How squeamish are you?" She cast a glance down at the bolt hole-ridden body of the medical droid. "I need an assistant."

 

[Darben Skirae]

Darben Skirae could only watch as [member="Dr. Aes'ona Terrani"] dealt with the issue of the oxygen tank. In fear, in shock of it all. He moved forward to place the tank in, then stepped back to let her continue her work. Watched as she attached the new breath of life to his wife. And then, finally he let out a breath of his own that he had been holding back, in a sigh of relief hearing her vitals go back up. Slowly, he stroked at Stardust's forehead, smiling lightly. She was alive.

Looking up to the doctor, Darben had suspected he may need to help. "I can hold myself together." She didn't even need to ask as he went to get some gloves of his own, and a face mask. The face mask was a bit hard to tie around, with the burns on his neck that went around the side. Then he came back, ready.

[member="Stardust Australis Skirae"]

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

/ [member="Darben Skirae"] | [member="Stardust Australis Skirae"] \​

†††​

Aes'ona gave Darben a small, sympathetic smile. She didn't have the be in the First Order Security Bureau to see how much he loved Stardust, but the doctor also could gauge how much physical pain of his own he was in. She should have been asking the minister to rest, not to play assistant.

But what other choice did she have? To page some idle resident? Yes, because that worked out so well last time...

It took nearly two hours for Aes'ona to complete work on Stardust, after which time she asked the husband to watch over her as she left to wash her surgical implements in scrub room. As she went through the motions, she allowed herself to dissociate. Not only was she very tired both mentally and physically, but she finally had a quiet moment to ask herself what she was doing. So what was she doing? She had told the Grand Admiral, point blank, on Atrisia that she was going to stop this--stop associating with non-First Imperials. Yet, here she was, fixing up a friend of a friend, both with a faction that wasn't her own. The whole situation, though it had been much more serious up until just a few minutes ago, reminded her of how she had first met Mariya.

Aes'ona sighed and then rolled her eyes at herself. No, no, stop it, she thought. It was wrong, all of it. She couldn't keep doing this. Her naivety hadn't yet, but it would get her killed one of these days. A grand example lay in the next room over: Aes'ona knew nothing more about her Twi'lek patient than she was Darben's wife and apparently had a blaster for an arm. The doctor realized that she was dreading the moment that Stardust's strength would begin to return. In no way did she wish her dead, but rather she was unsure what would happen afterward.

And, Aes'ona assumed her, wrongfully or rightfully, to be Commenori just like Darben. News of the assault on the First Order embassy clouded the good doctor's mind. Even if the factions weren't technically at war, she could not ignore current and unfolding events.

 

[Stardust Solus Skirae]

[member="Dr. Aes'ona Terrani"] [member="Darben Skirae"]

She had relaxed and was asleep once more. Hours had passed, then another before stars eyes opened to the world being blinded by the light in her eyes shaking her head and lifting a arm to block the light out.

where...am i...

She mumbled, looking around and to the floor she saw the droid and everything clicked within her mind as she nodded her head then looked towards darben....where was the other at? The doctor one she didn't recognize...

darben...dear...can you get the doctor for me...the kne who worked on me please

 

[Darben Skirae]

Darben Skirae had helped through the whole situation. Growing worried over time, every now and then. He was not experienced in this, and yet he followed Aes'ona's directions to the letter. It was all in the hopes of bringing his wife back. And even if he struggled to help here and there and worried more and more, they pulled through. Sighing with relief, he sat down and waited for her to come back to him. There he waited, eyes red by now. He hadn't washed his hands yet, even though he should but he wanted to be there for when she woke up. And there he was, when she awoke. As soon as [member="Stardust Australis Skirae"] was up and he was right there by her side.

"Star? You are in the hospital, you were...you were hurt. Bad." Then he heard her words asking for the doctor. And he grew worried. Darben recalled something about her, the doctor. Through their messages a time ago...he recalled she was with the First Order. And with his gaze, he begged to Star to remain calm. "Yes...I will get her" and with that he stood to get the doctor. He went out of the secured area, and stood by the door, looking to [member="Dr. Aes'ona Terrani"].

"Terrani? Stardust, she wishes to speak with you..." His voice held some worry still. "Thank you...for all of this."

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

/ [member="Darben Skirae"] | [member="Stardust Australis Skirae"] \​

†††​

Aes'ona gave a small yelp as Darben began to speak, the sudden voice startling her. She dropped a scalpel and she somehow avoided cutting herself on it as she jerked her hand up to her mouth to silence herself. "Oh no, Darben," she began, turning to face him. "I'm sorry. O-of course. It's my job..."

She furrowed her brow, confused at how he referred to her. For a fraction of a second, she saw herself back on the FIV Malice, talking to an officer that only knew her by the family name.

After she collected herself, she followed him back out into the operation room to see what Star needed.

 

[Stardust Solus Skirae]

[member="Dr. Aes'ona Terrani"] [member="Darben Skirae"]

She took a breath, it hurt a lot still to breath deeply however she sighed and laid back. Last she remembered from the battle she made it to darben then, everything just faded away a giant blur besides waking up that one time where she shot the droid.

The sound of a door opening reached her, her eyes turned towards the doctor. She could see her better now setting in silence for but a minute before stardust sat up

you must be the doctor that saved my life....thank you....I owe a lot however that can be taken care of at a later date in time yes? For now I'm curious about you...your not the normal doctor around here

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

/ [member="Stardust Australis Skirae"] | [member="Darben Skirae"] \​

†††​

As Star spoke, Aes'ona reached up to let her hair down. Her hastily-made ponytail had been causing quite the headache.

"You're very welcome, but you don't owe me anything. I'm more than happy just to see that the surgery was successful." With that, she threw a warm smile Darben's way. "Truth be told, you should really be thanking your husband. He was a great help."

"Uhh," she began, unsure what to say. Ceritnaly, honesty was the best policy here--well, honesty without oversharing. "No, I'm not. Darben called me in. " More prodding was sure to come, but, for now, until she was asked to elaborate, the doctor would simply leave it at that. It was better than being caught in an elaborate lie later.

 

[Stardust Solus Skirae]

[member="Dr. Aes'ona Terrani"]

mmmmmm....your not from here even I can feel you do not look imahalyan to me at all which now makes me more curious...

She looked to darben catching his look, that just confirmed it since he was telling her to be calm, eyes with a clam fire turned towards her once more as she landed forward a bit

so tell me who you are then...as I can see we are in quite a secure place

 

[Prennis Keeoli]

/ [member="Stardust Australis Skirae"] \​

†††​

Following a quiet sigh, the doctor introduced, "Aes'ona Terrani. I'm from Dosuun. But I mean you no harm."

Another look over to Darben, this time full of apprehension. Looking back at Star, Aes'ona slumped her shoulder and shoved her hands into her scrub pockets, trying to make herself seem small and even more unthreatening than she already looked. "I'm a doctor with the First, uh, Order. I...just came to help. I'll leave now if you want me to."

 

[Stardust Solus Skirae]

[member="Dr. Aes'ona Terrani"]

Im queen Stardust Australis Skirae born on naboo....

Formal greetings, stardust watched her get a bit smaller and her eyes narrowed before she relaxed and adjusted the bed so she was resting against it yet stil setting up enough to speak and she nodded

first order...no no you can stay as it stabds... we are unsure on the first order but you are a friend I can assume otherwise you'd not be here...and neither would I