(no subject)

[imthepilot]

The medical team moved Bodhi into the room opposite Galen two days later. Still groggy from painkillers, Bodhi sprawls naked across the weirdly wide bed. Officer's quarters. Much bigger beds that the barracks.

Made Bodhi wonder if they were lonelier too.

Strange things like that occur to him at strange times. Probably something to do with the drugs.

At least his back didn't hurt so much any more. And he only needed the oxy if he moved around too much.

But he was here, so near to Galen. And Galen would come see him soon enough. In the mean time, maybe some more sleep was a good idea.

Comments

[imthepilot]

His breathing is more ragged that it should be but his fighting it. He doesn't want to stop, doesn't want to let go.

But it's getting hard and he breaks off, starting to cough.

[galen_erso]

Galen still holds him. "Slowly," he says. "We can touch and kiss while you are on the oxy. Your nose isn't that essential for it."

[imthepilot]

Bodhi nods and presses the respirator to his face, half turning away. His head is spinning, breathing deep. He wants to sit down but he know that won't end well. Instead he braces on hand on the wall, head low as he tries to get his lungs to work again.

[galen_erso]

Galen keeps a hand on his shoulder, steadying and calm.

[imthepilot]

It takes Bodhi longer to recover this time. It's getting harder to catch his breath.

"I'm sorry, Galen. We might need to..." He starts to waver, his knees weakening.

[galen_erso]

"Sit down, breathe, and wait?" Galen says. "Then we'll do that. No reason to be sorry. I'm glad we're both alive and kicking. Also, you're doing this with a bare minimum of bacta. On a core world, you'd still be in a tank."

[imthepilot]

He nods and kneels on the bed, unable to sit. He takes a few more deep breaths, shifting to lay down at the oxy makes his vision swim. "I'm just... a need to rest... just a minute."

[galen_erso]

"I will be here," Galen says, getting a blanket to wrap around himself.

Then, he lies down beside Bodhi again.

[imthepilot]

Bodhi's eyes slip closed, the respirator tight to his face as he gives over to exhaustion and regret.

More than once, he wakes up coughing, the mask having slipped.

In the morning, he wakes badly, his breathing rough and his throat raw.

[galen_erso]

Galen helps him when he coughs at night, gentle but with few words, and is still there in the morning, beside Bodhi on the bed, reading.

"Hey, you!"

[imthepilot]

"Hey." He croaks, his voice scratching. "I think I need to see the medic. Something isn't right."

[galen_erso]

"I'll call her and get dressed," Galen says, hurrying over to the community butt-naked.

[imthepilot]

Bodhi nods and croaks a thank you, sucking on a nearly empty oxy canister.

[galen_erso]

Galen tells the community that his pilot is worse, then quickly stuffs himself into his uniform.

[imthepilot]

The droid who answers indicates the medic will be with them shortly.

She knocks on the door ten minutes later, looking slightly wired. Too much caf and not enough sleep. "What's happened?"

[galen_erso]

"His throat is rougher, his breathing worse, and he said something is wrong."

If a pilot says so, tough as those are, chances are there's something seriously out of kilter.

[imthepilot]

"Let's take a look at him." She sits on the edge of the bed, examining the mostly out of it pilot. "He's gone through a lot more oxy than I expected. Was he breathless last night? Dizzy or slurring at all?"

She opens Bodhi's mouth, shining a light down his throat. "Well, that's not good." She picks up her comm, "K8T, I need a transport. We need the pilot moved back to the bay. And prep that positive pressure chamber."

[galen_erso]

"He was breathless," Galen says, "and he coughed a few times during the night."

Fear grips him, cold and painful. What if he failed Bodhi? Made it worse by believing it would be okay to touch intimately?

[imthepilot]

"The lining of his throat is enflamed. Probably infected. It was always a risk, give how compromised his system is."

She gives the stricken Galen a sympathetic look. "You did the right thing. You called it in when things worsened."

"There's an experimental treatment a college on Mustafar has been having some success with. I want to try it out with your pilot. It won't be pleasant for him but if it works, a couple of days treatment to repair a lot of the repository damage."

[galen_erso]

"Is there a way to ask him and explain things to him?" Galen asks.

Bodhi looks well out of it.

"What are the known risks?"

There are always unknown risks with anything in its experimental stage, but that goes without saying, for a scientist.

[imthepilot]

She gives him a withering look. "Of course I'll be talking him through it and getting his consent. I won't start till he's fully aware of all the possible outcomes. I'd experiment on people without their consent." She cocks her head in a particularly nasty smile. "I'm not that kind of Imperial scientist."

"The positive pressure chamber will just get the oxy into him a little cleaner. It should revive him enough to talk it through."

She nods towards the door as the medic droid brings in an anti-grav gurney. "If you're worried, come down to the med-bay with us and we can talk it through."

[galen_erso]

"Yes, I will," Galen says, placatingly. "I simply meant the eventuality that you can't wake him enough to talk the treatment through. But if you can, thanks to the pressure chamber, it's much better, of course."

[imthepilot]

"Let's get him onto the chamber first." She and the droid lift Bodhi onto the gurney, draping his back with a silver cloth to protect his burns during transport.

She moves him carefully towards the Medbay, the gurney floating along smoothly. "The treatment involves using ultrasonics to release bacta into his lungs, kick-starting the healing process."

"The critical issue is managing the size of the aerosol droplets. Too large and they won't be absorbed into his lung tissue. If that happens, your pilot ends up with pneumonia. Which can be treated but will be painful. And it will set his recovery back by weeks."

[galen_erso]

Galen nods. "It would send him stir-crazy, especially if he can't see any improvement," he nods. "And he'll try too much, too soon."

As he had now. Even if the memory of those few moments of closeness and touch makes Galen's cheeks and ears warm up at the very thought, fortifying him against any cold dread that might follow.

[imthepilot]

"But if it works, he's out of the tank and breathing normally day after tomorrow."

The jury-rigged positive pressure chamber is not exactly the most elegant thing in the world. It's more or less a plexiglass coffin half full of water with some hoses attached. But as Bodhi's breathing gets worse, there's isn't time to waste on pretty. "Let's go him in and get the chamber gassed but." The medic calls to her team. "The sooner he's in, the sooner he's stable."

They manhandle Bodhi into the tank, floating him on the water which seems to hold him up just enough to protect his back.

"Seal it up and lock it down. Get that O₂ pumping." She turns to Galen. "Went he wakes up, he may panic and I'd rather not sedate him again. I need you where he can see you. You need to keep him calm."