Sholan Alliance Ch. 05

As he was struggling to get out of bed an orderly came in. "Relax sir and I will help you. You are probably feeling like death warmed over and that is to be expected." He helped Billy sit up and to the bathroom. Billy was holding onto the IV pole for dear life as they walked to the bathroom. Once seated the orderly spoke again. "I am going to close the door most of the way. When you are done call and I will help you back to the bed."

While Billy was taking care of his business the sick bay attendant checked on Lt. Verzilon and strapped the diagnostic unit to her arm and waited till it was done. The small vials went into a pocket and then he went back and helped Billy back to bed. Satasha woke up as he was helping Billy back in bed and he turned to help her to the bathroom and repeated everything.

Eventually they were both back in bed and Billy appeared to be panting from the exertion. "How are you feeling sir and if you can describe what is aching I have some meds that have been tested against your system." As he was talking he walked over to the medicine cabinet and unlocked it.

Billy had to close his eyes. "Um, I feel like crap but I don't think you have anything specific for that." When the SBA chuckled Billy gave him a wan smile. "I have a splitting headache, my muscles and joints ache." Before he could finish his stomach twitched and he had to take a few slow breaths. "And I feel like I am going to vomit if I move wrong."

The SBA pulled several hypoderms out and walked over to the bed and settled on the edge. "I have a med for the fever, an analgesic for your muscles and joints, and a third for the nausea." He injected the nausea med first before administering the other two. "They will start working in just a few minutes. The doctor will be in to see you shortly." He swapped the IV bags out before going over to Satasha.

She grimaced at him. "Same answers for the same questions. Oh and when you are done can you turn the lights down low? They are making the headache worse for both of us." She had her eyes closed as well.

"Not a problem and here are your meds as well." He injected all three and made some notes on both patients. "Before you start worrying sir your daughter doesn't appear to have caught this as of yet and neither had Warrior Vangie." He stood up and on his way out the door he turned the lights down. He also darkened the window to keep excess light out. They could still see in without a problem but inside it would be dark and easier on their eyes.

Billy worked his way into Satasha's arms and rested his head on her chest and closed his eyes. To the sound of her heart beating he slipped into sleep. How long he was down he wasn't sure but hearing the door open jolted him and he twitched really hard since it had scared him. Why it had he wasn't sure but then again he wasn't all there. "Um hi there." He lowered his head back to the pillow. "So what the hell is wrong with me? I haven't felt this bad for years."

She settled on the edge of the bed. "Just relax Yilly and I am going to examine you and answer your questions as best possible." The doctor took a few minutes to listen to his lungs and heart before giving him a fairly through exam for the rest of his body. Once she was done she made a few notes. "Well you have the ni'uzu virus. Not sure why it infected you but I have some tests running. When they are done I think we are going to find that our blood chemistry is close enough for it to infect you. Satasha has it as well which is rather odd since she was inoculated against it when she was younger."

As Billy was contemplating that the doctor moved around to Satasha's side of the bed and repeated her exam. "Well you don't have it as bad as Yilly does so you will probably recover before he does. You can stay here till we have decided that he isn't infectious anymore."

Satasha nodded and curled up next to Billy and pulled him closer to him so that his head was resting on her chest again. "Go to sleep my love. I will be here when you wake up." She would have purred if it didn't hurt so much. Shortly both were asleep.

~~~

It took both of them several miserable days before they started recovering. Once they were no longer infectious the Commander came down to talk to both of them. "Captain Madlax do you feel up to talking for a few minutes?" The last thing he wanted to do was to over tax him and cause him to relapse.

Billy elevated the head of his side of the bed since at the moment Satasha was deeply asleep. "For a short time I can talk to you but I am still feeling rather used. I think I was run over by a star ship." He was finally in a position that was comfortable and he could see the Commander. "So what can I do for you?"

The commander gave him a slow nod. "I understand and I will make this as short as possible but if you have questions don't hesitate to ask." He pulled one of their electronic note pads from his pocket and quickly reviewed it before speaking again.

"Starting with the first item we would like you to consider taking the first contact team to your planet. Second with your permission we would like to do a few upgrades to your ship. These would include installing Sholan style beds in the rooms, and finally upgrading your sensors and communications. This would allow you to take full advantage of the modifications to your engines. The communications would allow you to contact one of our stealth fighters as needed." He looked up at Billy to see what he thought.

Billy looked more than slightly startled when the Commander spoke. "Um, well I assume you will want warriors as guards as well as the first contact team. As I am sure you know I have limited cabin space and the max I can carry at one time is about 16 or so." He scratched his chin. "What we can do is possibly place much of the guard aboard my ship and have a transport for the rest. They could stay in hyper till I call and give them the all safe."

The upgrades sounded really nice but having alien technology on his ship bothered him. "Um, the beds I don't mind but I am not sure about the upgrades to the sensors and communications. I would want to be involved with that simply to ensure that what is done won't impact on the actual operations." He had to take a moment and close his eyes since he was starting to feel tired again.

"Having said that I would be more than happy to take the first contact team to earth. I would ask that Tasha and Vangie be allowed to come with. They are learning or familiar with at least some of our culture where I come from." Billy held his hand out and when the Commander tried to just touch fingertips Billy took his hand and gave it a good shake. "It is a deal though I do want to be paid in Gold plated Latinum."

The end

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