Empire Day ✓

Chapter 23 - The Great Negotiator

"Mommy, I can't feel Daddy anymore. Is he hiding from Master Yoda again?"

Padmé stroked Luke's head. "No, Honey. His heart stopped."

"I don't want him to die, Mommy. Do something." 

She knelt down and buried Luke's head in her shoulder as she watched through the observation window.

Master Yoda had left her side. The tiny Jedi Master waited for the compression cycle to proceed in the small transfer chamber.

The doctor ordered another charge with a curse. Padmé reached up to the speaker controls in the gallery and switched them off.

Anakin's torso jumped again. The heart monitor gave a solid tone as the line stayed smooth. The doctor ordered another charge. Still nothing. A medical droid moved to the container with the transplant organs as the first med tech set another charge.

Just as the doctor was about to cut into Anakin's chest, Obi-Wan said something. The doctor looked up at the monitor to see a steady line spiking every second.

Luke pulled away from Padmé and pointed through the glass. "Mommy, I feel him. He's alive!" 

The boy put his hands up against the glass wall that separated him from his father. He pressed his forehead against the glass, as his mother stood behind him, resting her hands on his shoulders. "Are they going to put him in the Bacta tank now?"

"I don't think so. He's not breathing on his own yet. I think they have to wait until they can take him off the regulator."  She pulled on a curl, twisting it in her fingers.

Master Yoda had finally made it through the compression cycling and stood next to Obi-Wan. The young man argued with the doctor about something, and then the Jedi Master said something else. 

"What are they saying?" Luke asked.

Padmé reached up to turn the speaker on again.

"Help him I can. Imperative it is that he breathe without the regulator. Do it again," Yoda said. "Powerful is the Force. With it, his lungs can I control for a short time."

A medical droid wiped the doctor's brow with gauze. "I am going on record that this I am doing this under protest." She said, "Remove the regulator."

After the droid disconnected the apparatus, Anakin's chest stilled. His heart monitor changed from a steady beat to an irregular, weak pulse.

Master Yoda closed his eyes and held his hands out. Anakin's chest rose and fell as he breathed. Five seconds later, another breath. After the third breath, Master Yoda opened his eyes and lowered his hands. Anakin's heart rate become steady and stronger. His chest rose and fell on its own.

"He's alive. He's breathing on his own," the doctor said in wonder. "Move him to the bed. Elevate his torso. I want a round-the-clock watch. After twenty-eight hours, we'll see if he's stable enough for Bacta. Master Yoda, Master Kenobi, thank you. Without your assistance, I don't think he would have made it.  I think he would have a better of chance of survival if he stayed in the trance."

"Understood, Doctor. Obi-Wan, to the ship take Padmé and Luke. With Anakin will I stay," Yoda said.

"Master Yoda, you are tired. I'll stay with him. You need  rest yourself. You will be no good to us dead."

Yoda crunched his forehead and eyes together, tilting his head, about to say something else, but he just nodded instead and hobbled to the decompression unit with the doctor.