[Dr. Cole Ormont]

The mood in the room soured abruptly. “When we—” and in a sense he meant the two of them, personally, “negotiated peace, Republic and Imperial forces pulled out of a lot contested worlds. Two years on, and we’re still trying to play catch up getting basic aid to planets who had nothing more to do with the Great War than to be conveniently located.” Cole sighed and got to his feet, “I’ll be as careful as the occupying forces will allow me to be.”

[Niall Organa]

Niall sighed. "Nevertheless..."

He looked away, his gaze going to the side wall. "There's always more. More that could be done, more that one could be doing. I know it's something I need to remind myself, from time to time."

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

Cole knew he didn't need to tell the other man what the wasteland of a battlezone looked like, but he also knew that - like Nar Shaddaa - he wasn't able to ignore the need for medical aid. "I'm not going to take unnecessary risks, if that's what you're asking," the pair had butted heads before on what constituted unnecessary.

[Niall Organa]

"More or less." Niall said agreeably. "Just a general encouragement to stay alive. That's not specific to you, and as I said you do probably know better than most just how dangerous war can be." For a moment, it looked like he was about to say more, but his lips pressed shut.

After a moment, he smiled gently. His hand waved first at Cole's chest, then his own. "I suppose we both do, with our little mementos. Yours... you must have been conscious for it, weren't you?" He finished a little faintly.

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

A figure, robed in black, hood drawn up to shadow their face. They were slumped in the corridor, just outside the cockpit. The door’s console smoked where it had been burnt out, a last-ditch effort against raiders boarding the frigate. Cole’s heavy boots on the metal-grated floor. Red eyes as the figure raised their head. The electric hum of a lightsaber. The smell of ozone. The blade flashing as it was raised. The pain that followed.

The surgeon nodded slowly, running a hand through his curls. “It’s not the same. I wasn’t... dying. I had to push through it, convince him I was there to help, not harm.”

[Niall Organa]

"Mmm. Perhaps that makes it easier." Niall said, some doubt evident in his tone.

After a moment, he gave Cole a sharper look. "Were you able to help him? It sounds as though you were."

[Dr. Cole Ormont]

“He made a full recovery,” Cole answered. He was aware just how fortunate he’d been. If the man hadn’t been so weak, that lightsaber would have nearly cut him in two, but he still heard that distorting hum in his sleep, and he still woke in a cold sweat, remembered pain burning through him.