Free Reunion by Sean Williams Page B

she kept an eye on her friend’s progress. Although by medical definition Tahiri’s condition was supposed to be stable, Jaina wasn’t convinced. Outwardly the girl appeared okay, but below the surface Jaina sensed a terrible psychic disturbance that was only getting worse with time.
    “Can’t you feel it?” she asked Dantos Vigos, the
Selonia
’s chief medical officer, a Duros with long, solemn features. Tahiri’s skin was waxy and pale, and the scars on her forehead continued to burn. The self-inflicted ones on her arms had all but disappeared. “It’s as though there’s a fire blazing inside her.”
    Vigos shook his head as he studied the girl’s vital signs. “She doesn’t seem to be running a fever.”
    “I’m not talking about her body; I’m talking about
her.
”
    Vigos stared at her, his eyes filled with puzzlement. He was a highly trained doctor with at least two decades of combat experience under his belt, and he wasn’t the type to turn his back on any relevant information that might help a patient. But clearly he was unable to grasp what Jaina was trying to tell him now.
    “I’m afraid she’s going to run out of fuel,” Jaina mused softly, not really talking to him anymore. “What happens then?”
    She wished she had Uncle Luke or Master Cilghal with her. They’d know what to do, she was sure. This wasn’t her field of expertise; this wasn’t an enemy that could be squared up to and beaten down. What tactics was she supposed to use against an enemy that was trying to take over her friend’s mind? An enemy that came from within that thought it had as much right to that mind as Tahiri herself?
    “Jaina?”
    She looked up, realizing the doctor had asked her something.
    “I said, is there anything I can get you?”
    Jaina shook her head. Vigos patted her shoulder sympathetically and returned to his duties, leaving her once more alone in the room with Tahiri. As much as she’d have liked him to stay and do
something
to help her friend, she knew that in reality there was nothing anyone could do except stand around and watch her decline.
    No
, Jaina thought resolutely. She wasn’t about to let that happen. She refused to just sit holding Tahiri’s hand while the girl battled futilely against her inner demons. That was as good as giving up, letting Riina win. Jaina had never before abandoned a friend in need, and she wasn’t about to start now.
    The only question was: what could
she
do about it? Tahiri might be losing a battle, but it was one she’d been fighting for years. Unknown to anyone, she had been maintaining a delicate rearguard action against the Yuuzhan Vong personality thought expunged on Yavin 4. Only now were the cracks beginning to show. If Jaina intervened, the facade might crumble completely, leaving Tahiri exposed. It could be just as dangerous as sitting back and doing nothing.
    There was no way for Jaina to contact the
Falcon
or Twin Suns Squadron for advice, either. While they were in hyperspace, it was up to her and her alone. She sat for more than an hour weighing up the possibilities—few though they were—all the while holding Tahiri’s hand, feeling the Force ever so slowly ebb from the young girl.
    I don’t care what her vital signs say
, she thought.
She’s slipping away. I can
feel
it
.
    “What’s our ETA?” she asked Captain Mayn via the room’s comlink.
    “Two hours until we’re within sensor range of Esfandia,” came the reply. “We’re running on schedule, if that’s what you’re asking.”
    Two hours
, Jaina thought. That could be easily long enough to make a difference.
    She closed her eyes, concentrating on forming the mind-meld that the younger Jedi Knights used to share strength in battle. If Tahiri was losing the fight, perhaps all she needed was a little reinforcement …
    Tahiri felt something sweep over her, as though a deep-ocean wave had just rolled by. She didn’t dare look around, though, for fear of giving Riina the advantage