Magdalane was still puzzled over Miriah's sudden and very fast growing infection. She spoke with the medic on duty and got very little information, so she made arrangements for Miriah to get some blood drawn to try to figure this out further. Her force abilities were not giving her much more to work with, but she had a feeling it had to do with the Imperial forces on Corellia. They had stubbornly held on when the Republic had regained the allegiance of the Corellian government, refusing to abandon their efforts to subvert all efforts at peace. The Black Hole area contained the worst of the fighting, and there was also a large radiation leak in one part of it. Mags wondered if there was some mutation at work, and if there was, did it come from a natural source?
Miriah went, at Mag's request, for further bloodwork and another checkup, but she wasn't happy about it. She'd been grounded until she recovered completely, and the fact that Corso was enforcing her recovery made her grumpy. He'd been injured worse, but she was being punished, she thought. She walked out of the med station and directly to the cantina, determined to at least do one thing on her own. She'd just started her second drink when she saw her sister's robe out of the corner of her eye. Miriah sighed as Mags sat down across from her, her own drink in her hand. They both just sat in silence, waiting for the other to speak.
"You went in for the checkup?" Mags asked.
"Yes, I did, and it said I was fine," Miriah responded. "You can use the force to tell that, though. Why don't you tell me what you're really worried about here. Because, like I keep telling everyone, I'm good to go."
Mags thought for a minute, then said softly, "Mir, you were very, very sick. It happened very quickly, you'd only been injured for about four hours when it set in. The scary part is that, on the surface? I could tell you weren't well, but if I hadn't known you as well as I do, I would have just thought it was the injury and worry. Do you see what I mean?"
"Not really. Infections due to injury aren't uncommon," she replied.
"Miriah, what I'm saying, is that even with my force ability, I could not tell that you had a raging infection until I attempted to heal you. If I can't see that in my own sister, can you see how it might be hidden in battle, until it's too late to stop it?"
Miriah had to think about that for a bit. With the kind of wound Corso had gotten, how much worse would an infection on top of that had been to recover from? Since that made her anxious again, she ordered another drink.
"So is this normal? The infection part, I mean. Or are you thinking it's something more?" Miriah asked.
Magdalane shifted in her seat, looking around them, and said, "That's what I need to find out. What if this is a new weapon?" She shuddered, thinking how close her sister and brother in law had been to death.
They sat in silence for a while, then parted to get ready for the memorial service being held for the Jedi sage that had been assigned to their detachment. Magdalane had felt the change in the force when she died, her last scream echoed in Mag's head when it happened, and she wanted to remember her colleague and her sacrifice. She met Corso and Miriah there, and the somberness of the occasion had them all introspective. They were leaving the service when Mags got a message from the medical research lab"We've identified the antibodies, but have no idea what the infectious agent is."
She decided to return to her ship, to talk to Felix Iresso, her future husband. He has more distance from this, but not much, she thought. He'd been very upset to have been away when it all happened since he and Corso had become good friends, and he loved Miriah like she was his own little sister. When she entered the ship, she saw that he was already doing research on the holonet about known bacterial agents on Corellia. She walked over to him and kissed him, then turned to the screen.
"What are you seeing on this?" she asked.
Felix sighed, "As much as I hate the thought of it, we have to go there and take samples, try to figure this out, before it hits someone else not as lucky to have you standing by." She agreed, and sent a message to the Jedi council and to the dropship commander on the station. They received an answer quickly from both messages, and they made arrangements to go to Corellia the next day.
Mags and Felix were standing in the launch area the next morning, a huge case beside them to contain samples from the planet. They were quiet, just waiting, when Mags felt the force pulse with anger, and turned to see Miriah stomping toward her.
"You don't get to do this without me!" she shouted at her sister. Corso was behind her, and gave Mags a sheepish look.
"You know how she is, Mags, thinks she's invincible," he said. "I've tried talking to her ever since she saw the mission schedule."
"Well, well, we're all going together, eh?" The whole group turned to see Maura and her husband Aric approaching the shuttle.
"No! No way you're going in, Maura. You're supposed to be on admin duty, not in a war zone!" Mags was furious.
"Easy, Mags, I'm just here to see Aric off," Maura said, patting her slightly rounded stomach."Besides, my durasteel doesn't fit right now," she smiled, then got a serious look on her face. "Please be cautious, you guys. It makes me queasy to think of my whole family down there." Aric assured her they were in good hands, since he was assigned to them.
They all stood silently, waiting. The shuttle started to board, and Mags turned to Miriah, "Please stay here, I just don't know what might be down there and you're still not healed completely."
Miriah held both of Mag's hands in hers, "We go together or not at all. We've had to spend most of our lives apart, and I'm not letting you go in there without me. Trust me, Mags, I'm not looking to get another blaster bolt. We're just going in to get samples."
Mags nodded her then, and the boarded the shuttle, still holding hands.