[Dark Nest] - 3(90)

“Just how volatile is this nanotech?” a deep Duros voice asked from somewhere to her right. “Is it going to turn our StealthXs into dirt right under us?”

“Only if you let it escape the stasis jars,” Cilghal replied. Her voice and the Duros’ sounded somewhat muffled.

“Even then, you would have plenty of time to go EV before the damage grew critical.”

The brightness overhead came into focus, and Mara recognized it as the softly lit whiteness of an infirmary ship ceiling. It took her a moment to understand why she was here, then she turned her head and saw the tangle of IV lines hooked into her arm and she remembered: the shatter gun pellet that ripped through her vac suit and abdomen. It had destroyed one of her kidneys, and no healing trance could repair that.

The huge head of her Bith physician, Ogo Buugi, appeared above her. “Good, you’re awake. How are you feeling?”

“Hararrg oooo aiiig meeeffffing?” Mara croaked. It was supposed to have been How do you think I’m feeling? but her throat was as dry as a Tatooine swamp and her tongue was too heavy to lift. “Ooggaf.”

Buugi nodded approvingly, his smile half hidden by the epidermal folds hanging from his cheeks. “Good. That’s what I was hoping.”

Mara considered using the Force to slam him against the ceiling.

“The operation went very well-no complications at

all,”

Buugi continued. “We already have a new kidney growing in the cloning tank. We’ll insert it in a couple of weeks, and in a month you’ll be ready to start your rehabilitation.”

“A month?” Mara cried. “Are you a doctor or a-“

“Better let me take over, Doctor Buugi.” Jacen appeared at Mara’s bedside, seated in a hoverchair with a drainage bag hanging from his side. “Aunt Mara can be a little testy right after she wakes up.”

Buugi smiled more noticeably and nodded. “So I see.” He placed a delicate, long-fingered hand on Mara’s forearm, then said, “You need to be patient with this. Even a Jedi can’t grow a new kidney overnight.”

“Thanks for the advice, Doctor,” Mara answered, softening her tone. “And thanks for patching me up.” Mara waited for Buugi to leave, then turned to Jacen. “Shouldn’t you be in a bacta tank?”

“With the Killiks still holding Thyferra, the fleet is running short on bacta,” Jacen explained, moving his chair closer to her bedside. “I’m out of action for a couple of weeks anyway, so I thought I’d save it for someone who doesn’t have a healing trance.”

Mara nodded her approval. “Good idea-very thoughtful.” She pointed at the drainage bag hanging from his side. “How is it?”

“Inconvenient,” Jacen said. “I’ve got holes in three different organs, and I can’t move well enough to fight until I fix them.”

“I know the feeling,” Mara said. She reached for his arm and winced at the dull ache that the effort sent shooting through her lower back. “Thanks, Jacen. She would have gotten me.”

“She nearly did,” Jacen said. “If you hadn’t been so fast with that blaster, neither one of us would be here.”

“All the same.” Mara squeezed his arm, then asked, “Do we know what happened to her?”

Jacen’s expression turned sober. “Pellaeon’s intelligence staff has been reviewing the battle y]vids. A skiff left Gorog just before we blew it. Nobody challenged it-nobody even seemed to see it, including the combat controllers.”

Mara had a sinking feeling. “Lomi Plo.”

“That’s what Uncle Luke thinks.”

Mara used the Force to operate the bed controls and raise her upper body. The shift of position sent another dull ache through her lower back, but she pushed the pain aside and looked out the door into the infirmary lobby, where Luke was meeting with Cilghal and the other Masters. “And he’s sticking to his plan?”

Jacen nodded.

“Who’s taking our places?”

“No one,” Jacen said, a slight frown betraying his disapproval. “Cilghal offered to lead a team herself so that Kyp, er, Master Durron could back Luke up, but Uncle Luke wouldn’t hear of it. According to the intelligence maps that Juun and Tarfang left, the collection teams only need to harvest nanotech from fifteen different environments inside the nebula, but they’re going to have to seed more than a thousand worlds in the Colony. Tresina Lobi is out of action with some crash burns, and Uncle Luke didn’t want to take another Master off the dispersal teams. He thinks it’s the nanotech environmental systems that will keep the Killiks in checkin the long run, anyway.”