Title: Epidemic

Author: tarotgal
Fandom: Star Wars

Characters: Tala and other OC's
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Spoilers: none
Disclaimer: This is not my universe! I don't get paid! Not a cent! This is just for fun!
Summary: On board the Aesculapius, the crew is all slowly falling victim to a virus

Epidemic

They were almost out of tissues in the main examination room. Not surprising really, considering that nearly half the crew was now sick. He passed the tissue box over, patting Jedi Knight Tia on the thigh comfortingly.

The knight took one, balling it into his palm, then puffed up with a sharp breath in. “hehihhshhhh! Ketchhshhh!”

“Arnup'tchow.”

The man snuffled into the tissue and coughed. “Excuse me,” he muttered, barely audible before another loud sniffle. He leaned forward, hunching over, whispering, “It's so cold in here, Tala.”

It wasn't at all, really. Standard ship temperature had been set on day one and not changed for years. But Tala didn't mind humoring him a little. He bent down to tug a thick gray blanket out of a lower cabinet. He stood on tip-toes, raising the already tall man just high enough to be able to drape the blanket around the knight's shoulders. He wrapped the man in it, pulling the folds to his chest, then rubbing his hands up and down the man's arms. “Warmer?”

A nod, and some sniffling.

“All right. Tia, I want you to go to your bunk and get right under the covers. I'll have a droid bring you some juice—“

“heh-Ekushhh! Ehhchishhh!” He pulled out a few fresh tissues to tend to his nose.

Tala lifted the trash bin for easy disposal access; no sense in leaving used tissues around in an otherwise sterile room. “And I'll have it bring you some tissues. D'you use a handkerchief normally?” The man's style in using the tissues hinted at it. Tala helped the man down from the examining table. Once down, the man nodded. “Well then, don't. Helps to preserve germs. On the same note, keep your nose and mouth covered, and stay put in your bunk.”

The Jedi Knight nodded wearily. Tala sighed, feeling that he might be acting a bit too stern. “You'll be just fine. It's just a cold, really. I'll have a med droid walk you back, hmm?” He thrust a handful of tissues at him for the trip over.

The man nodded again, thankfully, sniffling. “Thanks Tala.” He departed, leaning down against a med droid to steady himself. Tala sighed, both in relief and frustration. Then quickly washed his hands and re-sterilized the area. Martine, Fio, Gon-Show and now Tia. That was four.

“Tala?” came a soft voice at the doorway. “I don't feel so good.” Lady Karston stood, arms crossed, leaning against the wall. She looked pale, with fever-bright eyes.

Leaning over the sink to wash his hands again, he nodded towards the examination table. “Take a seat on the table, I'll be right with you, Karston.” He heard her sniffle and cough. Exactly half of their already sparse crew now. This was now going to be good, he could just tell.

* * * * *

Seems the only times I write in my journal are when things are going wrong. I've seen epidemics on planets the ship has visited. I made it through cold and flu season on the space station. But that's nothing compared to having six of the ten crew members sick at the same time. I've sequestered the so far healthy others and restricted them to the cockpit, cargo bay, and cafeteria. We're sleeping on chairs pushed together, and Master Arnoch stays in the captain's cabin of course. I'm doing what I can for the sick ones but with ship maintenance, inventory, and them, I've been getting very little sleep. If this doesn't resolve itself quickly, there will be none of us to get the jobs done, and most likely nothing left when we reach home.

* * * * *

“Well, that's Yi-Min also,” Tala said, running a hand through his hair but getting it stuck in brown tangles and having to simply pull it back out. “I put her to bed .She's sneezing up a storm in her bunk. Garret, you all right still?”

The other Jedi Healer nodded. “Probably not for long… poor baby.” It was openly recognized that they were bondmates but nobody ever said anything to them about it. Currently, he was busy taking inventory. They were dangerously low on supplies and heading back to Coruscant for the first time in years. They needed to know exactly what they had, what they had used, and what they had further need of.

“She'll be just fine, Garret, I promise. No one ever died of the sniffles.” Well, it sounded good at least. He strolled over to the navigational controls and checked the flight plan for the hundredth time. Three more stops to go.

//We are perfectly on course, my Chief. Do not worry.// Master Arnoch laid a hand on Tala's shoulder. The elderly Jedi Master had not spoken a word in years, but was able to communicate to all telepathically and still make his points known with the same strength of emotion as always.

Tala smiled. “Jedi don't worry.”

With a silent chuckle, //You, my Tala, are not a Jedi.//

True enough. He nodded, yawning, rubbing the back of his neck, stretching. “Eh, but you gotta love me anyway, hmm?”

Master Arnoch moved around, one hand on each of Tala's shoulders, rubbing, massaging. //And how are you feeling?//

He sighed, covering a shiver. “Actually, I've been pretty tired and achy all over.” He smirked, picking up the nearest clipboard and inspecting the list thereon. “I know, I know. I'll sleep when I'm dead.” It was one of his favorite sayings.

But this time, Master Arnoch didn't seem in favor of it. //It's all right if you come down with it, you know. I don't ever get sick so there'll be at least one of us in control in order to get home.// He ruffled Tala's hair with a cough. //I may be old and dying, but I'm a healer before all else.// While it was true that healers virtually never get sick, Tala wasn't so sure this mutant virus on their ship knew that.

* * * * *

Garret came down with the cold this afternoon. He tried working through the sniffles for a while, perhaps longer than he should have. Not so much denying he was sick but trying to get the left wall of the store room inventoried before he gave in. That wall is samples, the most important of the boxes we have. Well, he gave up when his fever kicked in and I took him back tot he bunks. He crawled into bed with Yi-Min, curling up with her. Sweet as can be. It's nice they have each other, two sick Jedi Healers. Though speaking of sick, my head's been hurting since this morning but I don't want to waste a bit of aspirin on it; there's little left. Maybe if I don't feel better later I'll take some herbs.

* * * * *