CHAPTER XV:  RESURRECTION

 

When the Centurion Falcon landed in the heart of Jeranu on Elysia, the Whills immediately took Lady Kaliah’s bloodied and broken body to the nearest Medi-center in the city, but she was barely alive. Medical droids, healers, and the Gathering of Twelve all did their part to keep her alive, but they were losing her. Even Queen Serapha could not order her recovery and could not bear to watch her daughter slowly die. She departed in seclusion to her Royal Estate on the High Hills.

 

Lady Kaliah’s replaced Halo-chron did not record anything and those of the Twelve’s visions were again clouded by darkness which disturbed the Whills because her rescue was a victory for light. Yet darkness continued to prevail.

 

Bo’ and Kailen were by her side. Bo’ thanked Kailen for coming to the rescue, but asked her just how she  knew when and where to come. Kailen then told Bo’ an amazing story.

 

“Just after you had run off I escaped back to Kyller’s residence and returned to the Falcon. I turned on the ventilators and flooded the ship and all its contents with all remaining TX-N3 cylinders. As time went by something moved within me that I couldn’t explain. I decided not to wait and fired up the Falcon, flying blindly above Hael searching for you. I could see the holomorphic projections of Kali being tortured but didn’t know where this was taking place. It could have been anywhere in the city. Then the Falcon’s scanners picked up the spy droids and Control Trooper communications and I tracked your path. When I saw the huge stadium I knew in my heart that you were there and sensed a great urgency to do something. I didn’t know what to do, so I hovered near the stadium. All of a sudden, my mind went blank and instinctively I turned and fired into the stadium. And there you were with Kali and the hursa. From then on, I knew exactly what to do. Something had directed my path.

 

Bo’ was overcome with both great joy and yet sadness for fear of losing Kali now that they had rescued her. “I love her so much” Bo’ lamented, I don’t think I could live if she died”. Kailen tried to comfort Bo’ but just then a familiar voice said plainly, “She’s not going to die.” Bo’ and Kailen looked up to see the Ira-dan bounty hunter Ligris standing before them fully clothed in bloodied combat gear. They were shocked. Amazingly, no alarms were sounding and how did he get past the Amber Commandos down the hall?

 

“Don’t worry, I am here to help you. I brought my old…um, YOUR… ISR-1099 back and a present for Lady Kaliah. Watch a miracle happen before your eyes” said Ligris with real enthusiasm and sincerity.

 

As Kali lie on fragile life support, Ligris removed all the feed lines and pushed the probing mechanoids away. Ligris brought with him a large, heavy barrel and after removing the lid he pulled back the sheet covering Kali’s naked ravaged body. Bo’ was very nervous and wondered what Ligris was doing. But Kailen somehow trusted Ligris. She had always admired his bounty hunting skills and whenever she had to re-fuel on Vas-Maya had always wanted to meet him in person. But not the way it happened at the Synner’s Bar.

 

Slowly, Ligris reached into the barrel of blood and pulled out a symbiotic bio form- a Gussam, the same bio form that he used to repair his wounded leg in the Synner’s Bar back at Vas-Maya Spaceport. Gently, he placed the living organisms on her wounds, which were extensive. After a short time Kali’s body was covered with them and they immediately started to repair all the damage to her body. 

 

Ligris asked for forgiveness of the Queen at the Royal High Court for taking her daughter to the wicked Sith. Even a greedy bounty hunter had been moved by Lady Kaliah’s self-sacrificing love for all peoples. The Queen forgave him and thanked him for attempting to save her daughter’s life. Ligris  then vowed to kill any Sith he ran into- for free. There are some things in life money can’t buy after all.

 

The Queen came to visit and so did the Gathering of Twelve. After three days the bio forms had repaired all the bodily damage and once again Lady Kaliah was beautiful again; in fact, she looked even better than before and she awoke with eyes that shined with radiance. Her Halo-chron glowed with such intensity that once it was loaded into the Sacred Holochron it caused the object to shine with light supreme. And this time Bo’ wasn’t ashamed to kiss her or tell her that he loved her. As he bent down to kiss her, her first words were, “I know, I AM a Seer after all!”

 

Bo’, Kali, Ligris and Kailen all laughed together.

 

But Ligris had to return back to Ira-dan and lacking a starship inquired where he might purchase a new ISTR-1200. Kailen smiled and said, “Need a ride, stranger?” Ligris was intrigued and removed his battle helmet revealing striking Kraal features that Kailen found exciting. “I would be honored to accept a ride home in your Centurion Falcon, Ligris smiled. “Perhaps you might also show me your new hyperdrive unit”. That was all it took for Kailen to light up inside and she eagerly grabbed Ligris’ hand and tugged him onto his feet. “Ligris, I’m going to give you the ride of your life” Kailen said in a seductive voice that even made Bo’ blush. Ligris thought to himself, maybe it was time to take a break from bounty hunting and have some fun… apart from hunting Mangalores, that is!

 

Bo and Kali waved them off as the Falcon lifted into the golden sky of Elysia bound for the harsh desert landscape of Ira-dan. Kailen didn’t care, she was falling in love with Ligris.

 

Meanwhile, back on Tirahnna, another wounded was being tended to. Syrenia had been in a coma for days and the Dark Master Lord Rexor could do nothing about it. Sith healers had come to lay hands on her and chant over her but yet she remained in critical condition. She had been shot in many places and her left hand had been amputated. She also suffered a fractured skull, broken ribs, and shattered legs after the concussions from the Falcon’s turbo-pulsers had slammed her into the hard obsidian walls of the upper balcony with tremendous force. It was a miracle she was even breathing.

 

The tech droids grafted a new obsidian skeletal hand to her left forearm and then covered it with strong molecular woven mesh covering with Lectro-stimulators to give the sensation of touch as best they could. The KA-47 slugs were removed from her body and a single bio form had been obtained to heal those wounds. No others could be obtained because the bounty hunter Ligris had vowed to kill anyone who would sell them to a Sith. Only a conniving Varmin could covertly procure one creature which had the rare ability to break itself down into smaller sub-forms for self-protection or maximum feed. The rest of her injuries would have to heal on their own. The tech droids wanted to remove her legs as well but Lord Rexor wouldn’t have it.

 

There had to be some other way to preserve her life and heal her. Day and night the medical scanners probed her but could not find a solution without turning her into a deformed, degraded being. Syrenia would not want it that way. No Sith would.

 

Deep inside Syrenia the words spoken by the Whill Seer Lady Kaliah burned her with fire. Her heart was being consumed with a hatred so strong that a dark cloud formed inside of her. Although her body lay shattered her mind and spirit were coming back to life and she attempted to do what the Seer advised. But she could not embrace light, go down that pathway… so she chose another path, and embraced the darkness in her heart. With all her inner strength she summoned up a dark force of hatred and of murder so strong that a fire started to burn in her heart. The tingling burning sensation spread like a wildfire inside her body and her transcendar helm began to glow. She could not feel it yet but she saw it within herself.

 

In the Sacred Sith Temple where her body lay medical alerts sounded. Lord Rexor rushed into the chamber and could see her transcendar helm start to smoke. Quickly he removed it from her head before it could do any damage and then witnessed the impossible. The bio forms were pushed out of her body and were smoldering as well. Her temperature should have killed her instantly but she glowed red hot and on the imaging screens the heat wave inside her spread, healing everything in its path from her shattered legs to her broken ribs the entire way up to her fractured skull. She twisted and convulsed on the Sacred Sacrificial Slab screaming at the top of her lungs and then her body lay motionless.

 

Syrenia awoke and her eyes burned like fire when Lord Rexor gazed into them. She had experienced this force and now knew its full power. She rose to her feet with great strength and purpose and said just three words, “Kill the Whills.”

 

For the first time in his life the Dark Master Lord Rexor was truly afraid of Syrenia.