Chapter Four
"Her fever's rising fast. You say she's had no symptoms earlier today?" Salik asked, her dark eyebrows drawing together as she shook the thermometer again and watched the mercury line began to ease back down.
"Nothing, or at least, not that I know of. I've been stuck in meetings with President Roslin and the commander most of the morning." Lee said, an uneasy lump in his throat. "She was fine yesterday."
"I'm still waiting for the results on the water samples. I hope it's not what I'm thinking, but just to be safe, you need to make an announcement to the rest of the fleet. No water. Drink anything but, not even juice that's been mixed with water. No showers, baths, laundry, until further notice. Hopefully if it is the water that's made her sick, we can boil it and kill whatever it's been contaminated with, but until I know for sure, water is not an option."
"Gotcha." Lee replied gravely, the knot in his throat growing steadily. He turned to leave but Salik stopped him.
"Captain, you're gonna have to give your father the information from here. We don't know if Jessica's carrying anything contagious. If she is, you may already be infected. Me too." Salik added softly, and Lee watched her shudder briefly before steeling her spine and turning back to look down at the pale woman on the bed.
"Jess, can you hear me?" She lifted Jessica's hand and circled the young woman's wrist with her fingers. She pressed her fingers to Jessica's pulse and frowned. The beats were hitched, skipping and seemed to be slowing down with every laboured breath she took. Jessica groaned and her features strained as she swallowed.
"Hurts." Jessica whined, eyes clenched tight. "Thirsty."
"Doral is frakking lucky he blew himself up. So help me, if that water's-" Lee said through clenched teeth.
Salik held up a hand to quiet him. "Let's worry about that when the tests come back. Jess, I can't give you any water right now. Can you open your eyes? How do you feel?"
Slowly her green eyes opened, then shifted, meeting Lee's. She gave him a small smile and then groaned. "Like crap. And there's like...three of you which I could appreciate more if everything in my body wasn't on fire." With great effort, Jess turned her head back to Dr Salik. "This is because of Doral, right? Whatever he threw at me?"
"That's a possibility, yes." Salik affirmed.
"I'm sorry." Jessica said slowly, her expression falling and tears filling her eyes. "Doc, Lee, I'm so sorry."
"This is not your fault." Lee insisted, placing a hand against her forehead, wincing at the heat.
"People are gonna die, Lee. So many people. Even if you manage to stop the spread now. It's too late for those already infected. I'm so sorry!" Jessica curled up on her side and alternated between coughing and sobbing.
"Shh." Lee whispered, crouching down so he was face to face with her. He cradled her face as she tried to bury it in her pillow and forced her to look at him. "Jess, we're gonna control this. We're gonna fix it. You're gonna get better."
Jessica shook her head. "Too late! They got into the water supply, Lee!" She wailed and then began choking. "Can't...can't..breathe..." She gripped his forearm frantically as her face went even more flushed red, her green eyes pleading with him, as if he held her oxygen.
Lee couldn't breathe himself, for the force of his panic. Salik ordered him to pull Jess up in a sitting position while Doctor Salik lifted the back of Jessica's gown and began rubbing some foul smelling concoction on her back.
"Easy, easy, Jess. Slow breaths, there we go. Slow, nice and slow." Lee whispered with what he hoped was a soothing tone. His heart did a surge up into his throat when he noticed the flecks of blood dotting his arm as he held Jessica against him and her coughing fit began to ease. Oh Gods, Lee prayed, never really sure there was anyone out there to hear him. He didn't really mentally think out the prayer either. As Salik ordered Lee to ease Jessica onto her back again, and as she wiped the small dribble of blood on Jess's chin, Lee just said Jessica's name in his mind and prayed.
People were gonna die. Lee wished anyone but Jess had told him that. Because if it had been anyone but her, Lee wouldn't have to believe it. He squeezed his eyes shut tight and thought, guiltily, selfishly: not her.
As he kept the words in the back of his mind, Lee relayed Salik's instructions to his father and listened as Dee made the announcement throughout the ship and then to the other ships in the fleet.
"Are you alright?" The commander asked his son, his voice gravelly and thick with worry.
"Yeah." Lee replied into the phone, resisting the urge to add, 'so far'. If he was gonna get sick it would happen soon enough, no need to worry his father before then. "The test results came back on the water. There's some kind of virus that attacks the immune system, makes the most harmless germ lethal. Salik is checking on how contagious it is. Keep an eye out there and if anyone so much as sniffles they need to be quarantined and tested." Lee explained, his grip on the receiver tightening. "You're gonna need to appoint a new CAG until this is over. If I can make a recommendation?" Lee asked his lips quirking into a small smile.
"Kara's gonna kill you." William replied, catching on and giving a short chuckle.
It felt good to have that one easy bright moment to break up the heavy blanket of dread that was about to fall over the entire fleet.
"I'll get back to you once we've to figured out a way to kill this thing." Lee said. There could be no other option. They had to kill this virus somehow or the Cylons' mission to destroy the survivors of the holocaust would be accomplished and they all did not get this far to die from something as simple as a frakking cold. "The doc is gonna send over a sample of Jessica's contaminated blood to Baltar. We need him working on your end to try and help figure out an antidote of some kind."
"I'll put him right on it." William promised. Then a short silence. "Lee..."
The tone of that one simple word made Lee's eyes sting. Pleading, worried. Lee cleared his throat, giving himself a moment to compose himself. "I'll see you soon, dad." Lee assured him, hoping it was true.
The next day, Jessica's fever had gone up to 102 and sixteen of Galactica's officers were brought in with symptoms.
The day after that 25 more fell ill and a bigger quarantine zone had to be found.
Boiling did kill the virus but for those that had already been infected, an antidote needed to be found. Baltar had been ordered into his own quarantine. Having him in danger of succumbing to the virus was not an option.
Lee watched Jessica get worse and he began to wonder if she would be the first to die since she had been the first to fall ill.
The answer was no. The first fatality was a 3 year old girl on one of the other ships. She had been the first sign that the virus had spread fleet wide. By the end of the week 800 people in the fleet were ill. Fifty were dead.
The Cylons sent a message when the death toll reached one hundred. They had the antidote. They wanted Jessica. If the Galactica wanted to prevent more deaths, Jessica would be delivered to them by the end of the coming week, if not, she and everyone else would be allowed to die.
William held firm. Laura held firm. They would not negotiate with their enemy.
And then Doctor Salik fell ill.
A.N:
Mae: Okie, you won't be old. (laughs) Hope you enjoy this chapter.
Lady Rheena: (huggies) I'm glad Jessica works for you and fits in with the BSG world. I like throwing in little character things like that, Lee craving donuts…etc for just the reason you mentioned. It makes the characters more rounded for me. Hope you like this chapter.
Professor Simms: Thankie muchly! Very bad Doral! Jessica not so much with the alright. (laughs) Hope you enjoy this chapter.
Renni: (huggies) Howdy! I'm thrilled you're enjoying this. Hope you like this chapter.
Darkfinder: I'm not sure I understand your question but either way, hope you enjoy this chapter!
I Heart Tinkerbell: (giggles) Love your username. I'm thrilled you like the series so far! Hope you like this chapter!