21 BBY
9 Months After Geonosis
.oOo.
He quietly closed the door, but before he could turn the lights on, he laid on the floor...
Unconscious.
.oOo.
Aayla flicked the switch from stun to shoot before checking the room for the chip. Under the rug, behind the portrait of Prince Yogan. Who needs a portrait of themself in their own office? She check the desk drawers, in the flowers, and in the small framed picture on his desk. Where could it be? Aayla had one last idea of where it could be: in the chair cushion. She inspected the cushion and noticed a small scut that had been stitched together. She cut it with a small blade she had strapped to Bly's DC-17. She dug her finger around in the stuffing until she hit something hard. "Ah ha!" She grabbed the small chip and put it in the pocket of her sleeve.
Just as she did that, she sensed Yogan coming back to consciousness. She rushed to his side immediately. "Prince, please wake up! Please! Somebody help!"
"What, what happened?" Prince Yogan spoke as he woke up.
"Oh, Prince! You're awake! Something happened. It was dark, I couldn't see! Then you were on the floor unconscious!" Aayla shed a tear to hold up her act. She was quite the actress.
"Oh, Senator. Don't worry about me. Shall we get back?"
"Of course, Prince."
.oOo.
"Did you get it?"
"Yeah."
"Hidden?"
"Yep."
A young seperatist senator walked up to Aayla and Bly. "Senator Kno! So nice to meet you!"
"Senator Atell! So good to meet you, as well!" Aayla shook hands with the green-skinned woman, who proceeded to grab Aayla's hand and drag her across the room. Like any good undercover husband, Bly followed.
"Since you're new to our cause, I'll introduce you to some of the others." Voe Atell shoved through other senators to a group of senators standing in a circle. "Senators, this is Senator Kno." She gestured towards Aayla, who smiled. "Deami, this is Senator Rimbaud, Senator Lawise, and Senator Bonteri."
Aayla shook hands with each of the senators and joined in their conversation. She had studied every planet, senator, and anything else she could find about the seperatist alliance before the mission, which made this conversation easier.
Their conversation continued for another twenty minutes until Aayla felt a tremor in the Force. Thinking it was nothing, she pushed it aside.
A minute later, she felt it again, but stronger. Something bad was going to happen. And soon. Aayla snapped her head in Bly's direction. They locked eyes immediately.
Aayla's arms shot up and all the guests flew to the other side of the ball room just as the extravagant wall behind Aayla exploded. She felt a huge weight press her down to the ground. Then she felt nothing. Everything went black. She laid under the rubble unconscious.
Screams filled the hall as guests ran towards the exit. Bly quickly stood and ran towards the burning rubble. He saw a small blue hand sticking out from under a large chunk of wall.
"Aayla!" Bly sprinted to the rubble and made a plan to get Aayla out from under it. He tilted the wall up and wedged it in place with a different part of the broken wall. Carefully, he slid his arms under Aayla and lifted her up, just as the Simocadian guards ran in.
"Jedi!" One guest shouted.
The guards started shooting at Bly. He cautiously ran through the rubble and onto the collapsing porch. Before jumping, he grabbed Aayla tighter to protect her. He landed on the hard ground, serving as Aayla's cushion. Since guards were still shooting at him, he started sprinting towards the woods.
Hiking up the mountains proved more difficult than Bly thought it would be. He had been hiking all night, with Aayla still sleeping in his arms. Everything Aayla had said about Simocadia was true, it was a beautiful planet. Bly could see the sunrise on the horizon as it painted the sky shades of pink and orange. "You would love this view."
Bly walked through the mountain forest for another couple hours until he found a small cave near the top of the heavily forested mountain. The cave had a clearing that would allow him to watch the sunrise and sunset, just like Aayla liked to do. He gently set Aayla on the soft grass inside the cave and sat next to her, exhausted, but unable to sleep.
.oOo.
Aayla woke up to the feeling of sharp pains throughout her body. She groaned in pain as her eyes opened and closed again due to the bright sun light.
Bly quickly ran over to the now awake Twi'lek. "Aayla. Thank the force you're awake. Are you okay?"
"I-" Aayla looked confused. "What happened? Everything hurts." Her eyes scanned the small cave. "And where are we?"
"You don't remember anything?"
"Remember what?" Aayla tried to block the sunlight with her hand but she couldn't move her arm. "Kriff." She hissed as her arm hit the ground.
"Aayla, who am I?"
"Bly." Aayla smiled.
"Okay. What battalion am I in?"
"Mine." Aayla smiled again.
"And which one is yours?"
Aayla thought for a second before she answered. "The 327th. Why are there so many questions?"
Bly grabbed Aayla's small hand and wiped the dried blood off of it.
"Do you know where we are?"
"We're on a seppie planet. It's like Somocedy. No, Semikar. No, I'm gonna get this. Hold on. Ummm... Simocadia!"
Bly sighed in relief that she remembered something. No concussion.
"Bly?"
"Yeah?"
"Why does everything hurt?" Aayla stared blankly at the ceiling, but Bly could see the pain in her eyes.
"You got caught under a wall that exploded."
"Oh. Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm okay."
"That's good. I would be sad if you got hurt."
Aayla smiled as a purple bug flew above her with its iridescent wings glowing.
Bly chuckled.
Aayla reached towards the bug but her arm fell down to the ground. "It hurts."
"I'm sorry." Bly said as he tore the sleeve off of his suit and ripped it into strips of fabric. "I'm so sorry." He grabbed a stick that was next to him and tied it to Aayla's arm as he wrapped it up. "I'm putting your arm in a splint until we can get to Sid, okay?"
"Mmhmm. Just make it stop hurting, please."
"I'll be right back, okay."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
Bly walked out of the cave and sat on the cold ground. He grabbed the hidden comm in his suit pocket and activated it.
"Sid? Sid, come in. It's Bly."
Bly waited for a minute until he heard static on the comm.
"Sid here. Everything okay commander? This is the emergency channel."
"Sid listen, I need help. Aayla's hurt and probably has a concussion and multiple broken bones. We're stranded on Simocadia. Send someone to come get us. And quick. I don't know how long Aayla can last without a medbay."
"Transmit your coordinates, Vod. And keep the General awake if you think she has a concussion. Just got you coordinates. We can't be there for two days, but we'll leave now. Stay safe. I'll keep this comm on me at all times."
The static came again and Bly walked back in the cave to find a sleeping Aayla.
Bly sat down next to her and grabbed her hand. "Aayla? Aayla you have to get up."
Aayla's eyes fluttered open. "No. I just want to sleep."
"I know, but you have to stay awake."
"Why?"
"Just stay awake, okay?"
"Please no. I just wanna sleep. It doesn't hurt as much when I sleep."
"I know. I'm sorry. Sid says to stay awake."
"Sid's here?"
"No. I talked to him on the emergency comm."
"Oh. Can I sleep now?"
"Nice try, but no."
"Please."
"I'll make you a deal. Once you see Sid here you can sleep as long as you want, but you have to stay awake until then. Deal?"
"Deal." Aayla laid on the ground and played with Bly's fingers in her hand. Bly didn't mind since he knew she was awake. If he was telling the truth, he liked it. "It's cold here."
Bly immediately set Aayla's hand down gently and took off his suit jacket. He carefully helped Aayla sit up and put it on her, making sure ber un-splinted arm was covered with the one sleeve that was left.
"Thanks, but you'll be cold."
"I'll be fine. I still have my shirt, your dress is practically in shreds."
"Oh." Aayla tried to lay back down but was couldn't bend her arm to lower herself down. "Bly, I can't lay down. I want to lay down and sleep."
"I know. You have to stay awake though."
"Can I lay down?"
"Compromise?"
Fifteen minutes later, Bly was leaning against the rock wall of the cave with Aayla's back against his chest. With nothing else to do to keep Aayla awake, Bly let her play with his fingers again. Eventually, Aayla stopped and just held his hand.
"Why did we come here?"
"To get an information chip."
Aayla was quiet for a minute until she gasped. "I got that!"
"I know you did."
"Do I still have it?"
"I didn't check. Want me to?"
Aayla slowly nodded.
Bly found the hidden zipper in the sleeve of Aayla's gown and unzipped it. He felt around the small pouch until he felt a small piece of metal.
"You still have it! Do you still have your lightsaber? And my DCs?"
"I dunno. What's a DC?" Aayla resumed playing with Bly's fingers.
"That's my blaster."
"Cool."
Aayla and Bly spent all day talking about small things, which was mostly Bly answering Aayla's questions.
The sun was setting and Aayla was adamant about wanting to sleep. Her feet had fallen asleep, so she decided she should too. Instead, she moved her leg because she wasn't allowed to sleep.
"Oww! Bly it hurts! It hurts so bad. Make it stop. Please. Please make it stop. It hurts." Tears we're threatening to run down Aayla's face.
"Where does it hurt?"
"Everywhere."
"Where does is hurt the most right now?"
"My leg. Just make it stop. Please." She cried weakly.
Bly leaned Aayla against the rock and moved down by Aayla's feet.
Bly grabbed the hem of her dress and hesitated.
"Aayla, I have to move your dress a little to see what's wrong. Is that okay?"
"Yeah, just make it stop hurting."
Bly lifted the gown's skirt and set it down above Aayla's knee.
Holy kriff. Sid get here fast.
"I'm gonna need that jacket back."
"Why?"
"I need to wrap up your leg."
"What happened?"
"Probably best I don't tell you right now."
"Why?" Aayla struggled to get the suit jacket off. "I need help."
Bly helped Aayla get the jacket off and immediately ripped it up to bandage her leg. He carefully wrapped Aayla's burnt and bloody leg up, making sure to cover all of her injuries. Bly had almost finished wrapping up her leg with a splint when Aayla spoke up.
"It's cold again."
"I'll be there in one minute. Does you leg still hurt?"
"Yeah. Not as much though."
Bly noticed a little yellow marking on Aayla's ankle and studied it before wrapping it up. He smiled and fixed her dress skirt to act as a blanket for Aayla's legs. He once again found himself acting as Aayla's pillow, which he didn't mind.
"How bad was it?" Aayla asked.
"Pretty bad."
"How bad?"
"Nothing that can't be healed." Bly reassured her.
"You make a good heater, Bly. You're really warm."
"I'm glad I could help." He smiled.
"Are you tired?"
"Yeah."
Aayla grinned. "What if we both sleep?"
"You can't sleep and you know it."
"But I want to sleep."
"I know. I do too."
Slowly but surely, night became the morning. Aayla turned her head towards the opening of the cave to watch the sunrise.
"Can we go watch it?"
"Wouldn't you get hurt getting there?"
"But I would be awake. I'm about to fall asleep."
"I see what you did there. Sneaky." Bly laughed as he helped Aayla to the front of the cave.
The pair sat on the grass at the mouth of the cave and watched the sun rise.
"I want to watch the sun rise every morning."
"Maybe one day you can, but that's a lot of getting up early."
"It's worth it."
Bly smiled. He wasn't sure if Aayla couldn't feel the pain or forgot about it, but either way he was happy that his cyar'ika wasn't hurting.
.oOo.
Aayla and Bly sat on the grass for hours after sun rise just watching nature.
"I remember something!" Her face lit up when she said this.
"What?"
"You taught me how to dance!" Aayla's face became sad again when she came to another realization. "I don't remember how to dance. I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I wouldn't expect you to."
"Reno and Caro taught you!" Her face was happy again because she remembers a detail from the last few days.
"They did."
"But Reno doesn't seem like he knows how to dance."
"He has a soft side. I don't think you've ever seen it."
"Huh."
"He gets really protective too."
"Huh."
"Ya know, he's a complete di'kut most of the time, but he's one of the best Vod I could ask for."
"What about Caro?"
"Caro was... the exception. He was the best."
"I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry too."
"I'm hungry." Aayla complained.
"I'll find us something to eat."
"Thanks. You're the best. You're always there, whenever I need you."
"I'm happy to be."
.oOo.
Hi readers!! I am so sorry it took me a whole week to update this chapter! My week was pretty busy so I just never had a chance to post it.
Anyways, the next few chapters are pretty good... so I hope you enjoy this one!