The Weaving Force: Chapter 65 (Patreon)

Chapter 65

Vicky:

“Easy… easy… There! Hold it there.”

The shouts were nearly drowned out by the klaxons of safety alarms, grinding of construction equipment and the sheer cacophony of hundreds of men and women working round the clock across what seemed like the entirety of the city of Coronet.

Vicky floated above the din, descending quickly as she spotted who she was looking for.

The rescue workers pulled the man and woman free from the crushing mass of duracrete. The slab of sheer rock settling back down with a gentle crackle of grinding stones.

“Iskt, Decimus.”

Both boys startled turning towards her with wide eyes.

“Miss Victoria!” Decimus cried, the young, green skinned twilek boy was covered in a layer of dust, filth and grime. Sweat tracks could be seen in the dirty remains- Iskt being trandoshan, didn’t sweat, the grime and dust had built up across his body and clothes- making her wonder just how long both boys had been out here.

“What are you doing here!?” She demanded as her feet touched down on the ruins of the building, walking closer to them.

“We wanted to help.” Decimus answered, not quite defiant but rather speaking like it should be obvious.

“We can help.” Iskt said, much more softly, but much more firmly.

Vicky shook her head, making it to both boys before she placed her hands on their shoulders to pull them away.

“You’re both far too young to be involved in something like this!” She knew that better than most. This time. This time they pulled out seemingly two living whole people. Vicky knew for her own account that was a rarity. Bodies charred black, or broken until they were little more than mulched meat,, impaled by rebar, crushed skulls, decomposing remains.

No. This was not a place for two ten year olds regardless of how much they could help.

Decimus pulled free of her grip, wiggling out of it as she let him yank his arm free, lest she hurt him. “We’re not young enough to not get shot at!” He answered heatedly. “So we’re not young enough for this!”

Iskt didn’t quite agree verbally, but she knew by the way he looked away from them both he likely agreed.

Vicky opened her mouth, breathing before she sighed, rubbing at her forehead and wincing just a bit as the action made a sliver of pain roll through the shifting skin of her eye socket, now patched and concealed by a medical eyepatch she was hiding only through the liberal application of her long hair falling over said eye.

She knelt down, grateful that she’d worn some armored boots and knee pads as she rested her knees on the shattered concrete.

“Listen to me.” She softened her voice and the boy immediately lowered his head, no doubt trying to hold back his emotions. “What happened was horrible… and all of you handled yourselves better than anyone could have asked of you-” She could conceded that. “But just because you had to do that once doesn’t mean you should be forcing yourselves to do it over and over again. Would Taylor want you out here?”

The last question seemed to break through their stubbornness, Iskt’s reptilian eyes flicking over to her.

“Is Miss Taylor awake yet?” He asked, a distressed trill in his throat.

Vicky allowed herself to sigh. “Not yet sweetie. Soon.” She stood. “But come on. You wouldn’t want her to worry about you, and she will be worried when she hears you two were out here.” No, she wasn’t above guilting them.

Both boys looked sufficiently downcast at that, enough so that she was confident in the likelihood that she wouldn’t find them out here again without them at least asking for permission first.

“Come on.” She said, standing up again before adjusting herself to grasp them by the forearms. They got the hint soon enough, hanging on tight as she floated off the ground and back towards the temple.

It was the fastest way back but it was also the worst, in a sense.

There was no hiding the horror from up here.

Smoke and concrete dust still choked the air. The ruins of the city surrounding the temple grounds were laid out across the whole landscape like a pockmarked graveyard.

The buildings nearest to the temple had collapsed, as had those near the spot where she herself had been targeted for an orbital bombardment. The fires had managed to reach a main fuel line somewhere to the east, and though the blaze was controlled, it was still raging fiercely, casting black smoke into the skies. Rescue craft and drones, zipped through the skies, flying ambulances blaring their sirens in a perpetual klaxon of noise as they kept moving to and fro between the disaster zone and the nearest hospital or medical camp.

She didn’t know what the latest reports said. Frankly, she stopped checking after the casualty numbers had climbed into the thousands and the injured into the hundreds of thousands.

Supposedly, Cor-sec and Duros fireteams were still finding pockets of droids here and there. B-1’s holed up in collapsed sewer tunnels, droidekas awaiting orders in broom closets. Even super battle droids reactivating from ‘rest mode’ as they sensed movement and continued the fight.

Before long, the temple came into view. Like the world around them, it too wore the scars of the recent battle. Even though the shield had protected it from the orbital strike that didn’t change what had happened. Blaster scoring, shattered concrete from explosives, even the corpses of droids hadn’t been fully cleared out yet, gathering in a pile of twisted steel and broken metal by the edge of the courtyard to be picked up… whenever they got around to it and had less pressing concerns.

And as if to contrast the the image of the mangled droids, even now the funeral pyres were being built on the other side of the plaza. Rows upon rows of wood and cloth being laid out by the Jedi; Both Corellian and Corruscanti

Frankly, Vicky didn’t know where all the wood had come from. They certainly didn’t have it all lying around. But it seems they were determined to give their fallen a funeral worthyof their traditions because they were quite literally moving mountains to get it all done by tomorrow afternoon.

The day after that was for the clones.

The dead troopers had been another horrid sight. The Temple had a morgue, but nothing that could handle this many dead. Nothing that could store thousands upon thousands of corpses.

So they’d been laid out. As respectfully as possible… but still just laid out. The Duros had come to collect the dead, store them on the morgues and medical bays of their ships for the time being.

Right now, the field was clear. Or, as clear as it could be with its battlescars. But Vicky would never forget the sight of it that day

A field as far as her one eye could see of bone white stillness.

She began to descend, and Tenhu, who’d been waiting for her along with two of the Clones that were, she supposed Taylor’s squad glanced up at his Trilling birdcall.

The tall, thin limbed boy marched up to them as she set down Decimus and Iskt before planting her own boots on the ground.

“You find the others?” She asked him. Taylor’s ability to keep track of all their kids was so incredibly useful you didn’t quite realize how incredible it was until it was gone for a little bit.

Still, the avian boy nodded. “Zai and Zaisk are with Master Allie in the infirmary, helping her, Karla had Angelica and they were in the cafeteria getting everyone food.

“Master Allie?” She repeated. The last few days had made her much more familiar with the Tothlothian Master; she was Adi Gallia’s cousin and one of the best healers in the order. Taylor had made her a priority VIP during the battle as she understood it and after watching her work over the last few days Vicky could understand why.

She wasn’t on the level of Amy, no one was; but Master Allie had been the one to patch up Vicky’s eye and stabilized injuries that should have killed dozens of others that would never have made it without her. The Green Jedi likely owed their retaining three digits rather than just two almost exclusively to her.

She’d also been the one to discover the real extent of the damage to Taylor herself.

If the kids were with her, they were safe, but Vicky figured she’d best go and make certain they actually were helping and not just being another issue the Jedi Master was politely dealing with.

They were good kids, but they were still just that, kids.

She absently reached up, planting her hand over Tenhu’s head, ruffling the boy’s crown of bright feathers much to his squawking indignation.

“Thanks Tenhu, lets head on over to check on them.” She cast her eyes towards the clones “What about you guys? Anything new?”

“Not exactly Ma’am.” One of them answered; they still hadn’t settled on names quite yet, so it was hard to differentiate them in her own mind still. “The others are guarding the Council door and Commander Hebert’s quarters.”

“We did get word from Kamino though.” His brother cut in. “Full legions. Armed with all the heavy weapons we didn’t have are being loaded up to deploy.”

“Here?” She asked. She wasn’t a military expert, but that seemed a waste. Right now Corellia had Six fleets orbiting overhead last she counted. Duro, Nubia, a contingent from Alderaan, another from Corruscant the entirety of the Corellian defense fleet that had turned around from their surrounding stations outside the system to rally to their homeworld and the in-system fleet that guarded the other four planets that were Corellia’s neighbors. Adding a Clone Fleet on top of that was just redundant.

“No.” The second clone responded. “Zygerria, Kashyyk, Corruscant, Mandalore, Two others are being deployed to major Hyperlanes to form a Blockade to the Core and another is forming a patrol fleet to seize all Trade Federation Lucrehulks.”

“Betcha a lot of those are suddenly booking it for the Rim.” The first muttered.

That was a much better allocation of resources just by the sound of it.

She offered the two of them a nod and then kept ushering the three boys further inside.

The Interior of the temple had been cleaned up of the worst of the damage. Debris had been lifted and chucked outside via Telekenetics, bodies hidden away, droids shoved out. As Vicky passed, many of the Jedi offered respectful bows her way, more than she was used to back on Corruscant and some of the greens kept calling her “Master Dallon” she’d stopped correcting them- they seemed to either not know or forget.

Making it to the healer wing, Vicky found it remarkable how… quiet it was.

Just two days ago, this had been a charnel house. Screams of pain, tearful sobs, fear, uncertainty and desperation choking the very air itself.

Now, two days later there was pain yes, but it was soothed. It was easier. Master Allie and a handful of other healers, Corruscanti and Correllian moved about the room with tranquil focus, flitting between individual patients as needed. The patients themselves seemed to mostly be sleeping, though from what Vicky sensed in the force it was more likely they were meditating, lulled into a deep healing trance through their own efforts or those of the healers around them.

Master Allie herself knelt beside a Green Jedi who was half covered in burns. Zaisk knelt at her side, and Zai seemed to be clutching an armful of medical supplies, watching the healer work with almost comically wide eyes.

She waited patiently until Master Allie was finished, she didn’t know the specifics of force healing but interrupting someone in the middle of it seemed like a… bad idea.

It didn’t take very long, or at least it didn’t feel like it. Distracting herself through looking around the medical wing, sensing the comings and goings around her, before she knew it Master Allie was releasing a slow, deep breath and pulling herself up from her kneeling position.

She wondered, half distracted, if all the Jedi Masters were hiding comfy kneepads under their robes.

“Knight Dallon-” The Master said with a soft smile, before looking to everyone standing around Vicky. “Is everything alright?”

Vicky blinked with her one eye before turning and realizing Iskt, Tenhu, Decimus and her two clones were flanking her and she there with her arms crossed and a distant look in her eye.

It must’ve looked quite strange.

“Oh- yeah sorry.” She let herself smile. “Just came to check on you, well- the kids really.” She nodded. “Just wanted to make sure everything was ok and you didn’t need a rescue.”

The Jedi Master blinked, seemingly confused at the implication that she’d need a rescue before she caught on. “Oh. No they’ve been quite helpful really.” She assured smiling. They’ve been fetching mostly. Clean tools, medical equipment and supplies. They’ve even brought me meals from the cafeteria. I have no complaints, really.”

“That’s good.” She sighed relieved- then hesitated for a second.

She decided to press on anyway. “I know you’re busy- But have you…”

“I’ve checked Knight Hebert’s status.” The Tothlothian assured. “She is on track to recover fully as estimated.”

Vicky sighed, relieved. “Good. That’s… that’s good.”

The Master’s features softened. “Forgive me for saying, but it seems like you might need more help than I.”

“I’m fine.” She groused.

“You were on rescue duty earlier, and then helped some with a temple sweep before convening with Master Plo-”

She gave the healer a dry look. “Haven’t you been too busy healing rather than spying on me?”

“It's a small temple.” The woman shrugged. “And there are many watching you these days.”

Yeah… not creepy at all.”

“Go.” The Master implored. “Get some rest. I’m sure I can find some safe duties for our young ones here.”

“I came to take them off your hands if you needed it and now you’re taking them off mine?” In spite of herself Vicky felt a smile tugging at her lips.

But Master Allie just nodded. “Go. Rest.”

She really didn’t want to argue, as much as her mind told her she could still do more.

With a few more gentle urges from the Master and the kids however, she relented. The two clones would stay with them, they also had some medical training to help. It wasn’t force healing, but a good bandage, some disinfection and some stitching never hurt anyone.

It was still early. Well, early to fall asleep; the sun was barely beginning to descend- but she was tired. Sleep had been elusive in general these last few days. Too high strung, too worried about… everything happening around them.

As she made her way up the hallway towards their room she stopped, blinking as she spotted none other than Karla, Angelica perched firmly atop her red skinned head as the little Twilek girl concentrated very hard on quietly shutting the door.

The door that led to her and Taylor’s room.

Vicky raised an eyebrow, unsure if she should be angry or not as she watched the little girl sneak away.

Taylor was supposed to be resting.

Deciding to check for herself before being angry; she quietly snuck forward towards the room, sliding the door quietly open.

There was nothing missing from the room, not that she expected that and Taylor’s door was firmly shut.

She shut the door behind her, head on a swivel.

Finally she made it to Taylor’s door, opening it and had to stop the noise that threatened to slip out of her.

There on the night table next to the bed, a thermos, and a small, wrapped sandwich.  The little note, scrawled in the nine year old’s loopy handwriting read “Feel better soon Ms. Taylor”

“She tried very hard to be quiet.” Vicky heard Taylor mumble  from her pillow. “Don’t be mad at her.”

It was good to hear her voice, but it made Vicky frown.

Walking up to the bed she sat on its side, feeling her weight dipping it under her. “You’re supposed to be asleep-” She accused, reaching down to brush a lock of hair away from Taylor’s glassy eye. “Do you need an extra dose?”

In spite of her clearly groggy state her girlfriend made a very clear negative when she shook her head alongside the piteous groan. “No. I hate these drugs.”

“Tay-” Vicky sighed.

“How’s your eye?” Taylor asked, interrupting her, one hand slowly rising up to cradle the side of Vicky’s face, brushing the hair away. Taylor’s foggy look cleared from her dull green eyes, staring at the patch of medical… plastic? Vicky wasn’t sure what the material actually was that was serving as her eyepatch. It almost felt like steel but it was far too flexible.

She offered a small smile. “I can’t do ‘Wink-Wink-Nudge-Nudge’ anymore. And those suggestive ones I used to give you down the hall when no one was looking are gonna be missed, but I’m ok.”

“Vicky-” Tay’s voice was still groggy “Please take this seriously.”

“Like you’re doing?” She snapped, unable to help herself. “If you can bitch about how a sleep drug makes you feel after getting micro tears on your brain tissue I’m allowed to crack a joke or two! Because where I’m sitting, you insisting on being awake is you not taking this seriously!”

She glared at the brunette, but Taylor didn’t get angry; in the fights and arguments they’d had, few and far between as they were, Taylor had always been more than willing to argue back. Her anger wasn’t as explosive as Vicky’s but it was there when you knew what to look for.

But not this time.

Instead, Taylor averted her eyes, her hand trailing down to Vicky’s hand, grasping the back of it.

“I’m sorry.” She said, her voice uncharacteristically… morose. “I don’t want to fight.”

Vicky sucked a breath through her teeth and like that the anger drained out of her, like a needle poking a hole in a balloon.

She sagged on the bed, closing her eye as the silence fell between the two of them.

“You have to promise me you won’t do that again” She demanded.

But Taylor didn’t answer her, her eyes remaining fixed on a spot along the bed.

“I don’t want to lie to you either.” She finally admitted.

“Why?” Vicky pleaded, her one eye filling up with tears. “This is what you were afraid of. Why are you just jumping into it now?”

“You were in trouble.” Taylor answered, her fingers clenching over Vicky’s hand tightly. “ I didn’t know if the kids were still alive. I was dealing with a… worthless puppet and for all I knew all of you were dying if not dead.” She glared back at Vicky, her gaze growing sharp. “I’m won’t promise it. Because you can’t promise me that won’t happen again. That you won’t need me again.”

Vicky leaned down, grateful that the still shining sun peeked enough light through the blinds that they could see each other clearly, even in the gloom.

“I need you. You-” She said firmly. “Not skitter, not weaver, and for damn sure not Khepri! You’re not-” She took a breath. “You’re not expendable. Not for me. Don’t trade yourself for me like that again!”

“I need you too.” Taylor answered without a moment's hesitation.

“Not at any cost Tay. Not when the price is you- on every fundamental level its you that you’re putting on the chopping block here!” Vicky hissed. “We’re burning over a thousand Jedi tomorrow Tay. How do you think I’d feel if you were there with them? How do you think I’d feel if you died to rescue me?”

Taylor, even with foggy eyes stared her down. “How do you think I’d feel just letting you die and burning you after?”

Vicky felt like the air had been punched out of her.

Tay stared, her gaze fixed with an unflinching seriousness on Vicky’s own.

Vicky felt Tay’s thumb trailing over the back of her knuckles.

“I don’t want to fight.” Taylor repeated. “I can’t promise you what you want… anymore than you can promise me… All I can promise is that I’ll do my best. That I’ll try to keep us both out of that situation again. Can you promise me that too? That you won’t…” She hesitated. “-be a Hero?”

Vicky let out a breath, closing her eye and leaning into the sudden touch of Taylor’s other hand cupping her cheek.

“You think-” She began. “-this is why the Jedi tell eachother not to get attached?”

“Maybe it is.” Tay admitted softly. “But even if it is… will you stay with me? Please.”

Vicky didn’t hesitate as she nodded.

“Dummy” She leaned down, pressing a kiss to Tay’s temple. “Of course I’ll stay.”

(X)(X)(X)

This chapter actually had to go through a rewrite or two to get the right tone between both of them near the end. I had them first legit arguing/fighting at the start before reconciling towards the end; they're both the type to get stubborn and angry about something like this but the tone just didn't 'fit' in my mind, so when the chapter was done I tore it all down and started from scratch xD

I hope it was worth it.

This was a much slower pace that I think shows the maturity both of them have gained now that they're no longer the impetuous and stubborn teenagers we knew from canon. Its an implicit sign of growth.

That's the hope at least :p

Lemme know if it turned out ok friends.

As usual here is the link to our discord server to discuss the story with others :)

https://discord.gg/as5Y7xfB

And here is the link to the TV tropes for anyone who might be willing to contribute and add to it :)

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/TheWeavingForce