As the group settled back down, Chopper whirred slightly before leaning back and preparing his holoprojector for the outgoing call. A pregnant moment passed before Sabine's image showed up before them; tired and haggard, but obviously concerned.

"Hera? It's 0200 hours, what's going on? Is everything alright? Are you under attack?" she rambled, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Sabine… It's Ezra..." Hera choked out, almost guiltily.

At that, the younger girl's eyes instantly snapped open to meet Hera's. "What happened? What did he do this time?"

"Nothing!" Hera rushed in his defense, perhaps a bit too quickly. "Sabine…" she breathed, "Ezra's sick. Really sick." Her voice was low and sad in a way that Sabine had heard only a few times in the years they had known one another. The sheer weight of that tone alone was enough to drive her heart into her throat. She knew things were bad. Hera met her gaze and continued. "We don't know what's wrong, Sabine, and we definitely can't help him here on the Ghost. Nothing we've done so far has helped. I truly hate to ask this of you in such a difficult time for your family, but is there any chance you could get us a window through the blockade to Mandalore? It doesn't have to be much, just long enough that we could bring him to a non-Imperial medbay." Hera's voice finally cracked as she stared into the shocked face of her young friend, Sabine growing more fearful by the moment. "Please, Sabine," she nearly whispered "it's bad."

Sabine drew in a shaky breath. "How bad?"

"He had a seizure Sabine. Grand Mal, a minute and a half long. We're lucky he didn't stop breathing. His temp is well above 104 at this point and he has not and is not showing any signs of improvement".

Sabine exhaled just as shakily. "Any other symptoms?"

Hera nodded, her gaze turning downwards again. "Head and body aches, nausea, vomiting, coughing, and stiffness, particularly in his neck and back," she described, the list already ingrained into her thoughts.

As the list went on, Sabine's heart sunk further and further. "Hera, this is very important. Is there a rash anywhere on his body?"

"What?"

"Just check for me, Hera!" She snapped.

Hera looked down at the unconscious Ezra, unphased by the outburst and began shifting his clothing and sheets to scan his body for any abnormalities.

"Zeb, can you turn on the lights, please?" she asked, her eyes squinting in the dimness of the area, yet still trained on the task at hand. As the room suddenly erupted into illumination, it finally caught her eyes. At first, she thought it had to be a mistake - that perhaps it was just her eyes adjusting to the burst of light, because there was no way she could have missed this before. But with time, the image didn't change, and she was left with the sight of horrible purple splotches maring her child's skin in sickly, spotted patches that crawled up his side like some horrible, parasitic root. Hera had to suppress a gasp. "I… I don't get it… They… these weren't there before… How… How did I miss this...?"

"Hera…" Sabine interjected, her heart heavy for the woman before her, "It sounds like meningitis. This is bad. Really bad."

Hera's breathing became heavy and strained, her eyes never straying from the horrible marks across Ezra's body. "You think I don't know that?!" she snapped, eyes narrowing and breathing accelerated as nerves got the better of her for just a moment. Catching her breath, Hera squeezed her eyes shut and forced her torrenting heart to slow it's rhythm. "Sorry," she whispered, her voice much softer, "I just need to know if you can help us get him to a med center. You know how badly he needs it."

Sabine shot her a sympathetic look. "Give me a moment." She punctuated her request with a sad sigh, her form disappearing from view for a long moment before returning with a datapad in hand. "Alright, this is gonna be tricky, so listen carefully," she began, a small sense of hope trailing her every word. "There's lowered Imperial presence in our area from 0300 to 0330 hours due to a change of guard. There should be a gap big enough for you to get through at precisely 0317. I'm patching through the coordinates right now. We'll have a medical transport waiting for you on the ground as soon as you touch down."

At her words, Hera's heart began to soar with hope. The situation wasn't perfect, but it was a lot less bleak than it seemed mere moments ago.

Looking up from the datapad, Sabine had her locked in a burning gaze. "Please be safe, Hera. I can't lose any of you."

Hera couldn't help but smile at the earnestness in her words. "Thank you, Sabine. Thank you so much."

Sabine returned the smile. "See you soon."

With that, Sabine's image flickered into non-existence and Chopper warbled to announce the incoming coordinates. Hera sighed, relieved over the small victory. In fact, the whole haggard, sleep-deprived crew seemed to relax just a little bit at the recent news.

Taking a deep breath, Hera stood, patting Chopper's dome and moving towards the automatic door.

"Alright, boys, keep watch over Ezra. We set course for Mandalore."

AN: Hey guys! I'm back! Finals are over, I moved out of my apartment, an my commissions are almost done! I'm so happy to get back to writing! I'm so sorry that you all had to wait so long for this chapter. Hopefully updates will becoming much sooner for the next few months. Thank you all so much for your love and support, it really means the world to me. Big shout out to blueberrybridger on instagram and tumblr for being so supportive and encouraging :) Don't forget to check me out on instagram mrntanks and tumblr mrntanksart and tanksforasking. Reviews and criticism are super appreciated! Until next time!