Author's Note: Dads of Marmora time! I know I haven't worked on this one in a while but I'm still alive so here' more. Hurt Kathy in this one. I own nothing.
Sickness
Ulaz was honestly surprised it had never happened before. Half breeds tended to be weak, especially when they were young. If they survived to adulthood they had to be strong. Kathy was nothing if not strong. She had passed the trials of Marmora after all. She was strong, but sickness could catch anyone, he just wished she wasn't so prideful that she couldn't tell him. Kolvian had approached him and asked him to look her over, that she'd been coughing after the last mission she'd been on. She'd been stationed for recon on one of the mining worlds on the edge of the empire. She had been doing so well over the last deca-phebe, since she passed the trials. He walked into the training room and spotted that the flight simulator was in use, he had a feeling he knew who was in it too.
He tapped on the front of the small pod but there was no answer. So he keyed in his medical override. The pod stopped humming and there was a curse from inside followed by a cough. He tapped on the pod again and this time it opened, though it took a minute. Kathy peeked out. Her normally pale purple speckled face was red across the cheeks, nose and forehead. There was a sheen across her skin that told him immediately she was sweating. He sighed.
"Kittling." She pouted trying to hide a cough behind her hands. He reached out and bushed her black headfur back, gently scratching a finger behind her ear which twitched. She leaned into his hand slightly and he felt the heat radiating from her head.
"Come on Kittling, you need to go to the infirmary." Kathy shook her head.
"No. I don't need the infirmary. I'm fine." Ulaz shook his head.
"No Kittling, you're not fine, you're running a temperature. I need to make sure you're going to be alright. Come on Kittling." Kathy resisted for another minute before letting Ulaz lead her away to the infirmary. He had her change into some sleep clothes and did a full physical.
"It's a simple upper respiratory infection. Nothing some time in a healing pod wont fix, come on Kittling." Kathy nodded and changed into the pod suit. He carefully wiped her face of sweat before gesturing her into the pod. She nodded and slowly slipped into the pod. He ruffled her headfur one last time before closing the pod and starting the cycle.
Thace made his way down to the infirmary later that day. Kathy hadn't been at training which was practically unheard of, she was always training, she put in nearly as many hours as Kolvian did. He was worried but he never let it show as he stepped into the room. He spotted Ulaz working on something on a data pad. He smiled at Thace and gestured to the pod where the Kittling was still in a healing cycle. Thace frowned stepping over to the pod to check the readout.
"So she'll be alright?" Ulaz nodded glancing back up.
"She's going to be fine. If her lungs were weaker I'd be worried but she's strong like her mother. She caught a minor upper respiratory infection on the mining planet she was last assigned to, but she'll be fine." Thace nodded and laid a hand on Ulaz's shoulder.
"Thank you." Ulaz smiled and nodded.
"Of course, she's stubborn, I can't imagine where she learned that from." Thace allowed himself a smile.
"Yes I can't pick which of the men who raised her she learned that from. Or maybe Regis is rubbing off on her." Ulaz let out a laugh. The two half breeds had been stuck together like glue every time they were on the same station. Ulaz half expected the boy to show up here any minute. Still it was good she had friends, people she could rely on. Thace left and Ulaz glanced over at the pod before going back to his data pad.