Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back(My version)

27

Over the next few days, the shape of things revealed itself in the medical ward of a government palace. The numbers of Imperial Knights and Eternals' who'd recently lost their connection to the Force mounted, and by the end of the day an entire wing of the complex was sealed off. A cover story was concocted for the news-nets and still patients kept coming. By dawn of the next day there are no longer enough rooms to isolate patients individually and by noon most rooms housed at least two. Patients came from every conceivable species, from humans to Wookiees to Gand, even the Eternals's sole Toydarian acolyte. None exhibited any signs of ill health, but all had grown deaf to the Force and had a certain..... Force Psychosis.

By noon on the very next day, most members of the Eternal Order and the Imperial Knights on Coruscant had been moved to the same wing in the medical complex. Single-occupancy isolation rooms are reserved for the relative handful that had yet to develop symptoms. All of these are the sole representatives of their respective species, and the fear was that their symptoms were merely delayed by unusual biology. Eternal Rangers active in other parts of the galaxy had been told to quarantine themselves aboard their ships, the planets they peacefully ruled and within their own homes. Self-made or not. In just a few shuddering days, the Force-users who'd pumped like lifeblood through the new Galactic Federation had clotted in place, and no one is sure what would happen next.

Against all this, it is especially stunning that Joeys wife: Empress Marasiah Fel is unaffected.

N.A.T.O. officials moved her to her private quarters kept in airtight isolation, spartan but as spacious as the hospital could allow. Her only visitors were droids, which came each morning to take blood samples for comparison with those from the many Force-blind knights. Her room had a full-service communications suite, and as the crisis deepened she was constantly switching between conversations with her subordinates in the palace, her generals and admirals in the military, her uncle Hogrum, Admiral Stazi, Astraal Vao, K'Kruhk and the members of the Eternal Grand Council trapped in this same building. The constant conversations are the only thing that kept her from going mad; when moments of silence came she wanted to scream. Three days in and she hadn't slept soundly since before this began.

However, Marasiah could still feel the Force. She could feel the helpless frustration of the blind Eternal Rangers who filled the building; it is like an ocean that might drown her. She could pick up tools without touching them and lift herself into the air. To burn off stress during one quiet hour she took out her lightsaber and practiced every dueling style she remembered. The weightless blade felt as natural as ever.

On the evening of the third day Marasiah finally received some clarity. The conference, such as it was, took the form of a ring of life-sized holograms arrayed around her as the last light died in the sky outside her window. Doctor Ampossa, Ho'din chief of the medical ward, is represented. So were Jedi Masters K'Kruhk, Lowbacca, and Tili Qua. Her husband Antares, Treis Sinde, and Hogrum Chalk represented the Imperial Knights. The blue light of their holos cast the otherwise-dark room into sepulchral glow. Marasiah felt like she was speaking with a choir of ghosts.

"We have made some progress over the past few day comparing blood samples. The variety of species among our patients was helpful in looking for commonalities," Doctor Ampossa explained, "But what was truly helpful was using the empress' sample as a control."

"Do you know why the empress hasn't shown symptoms?" asked Antares.

Ampossa made a hissing noise from the corner of his mouth, a Ho'din sound of ambivalence. "We are uncertain as to the why. However, we have been able to mark the difference in her sample versus infected humans like yourself, Master Draco. Put simply, this disease is affecting the midi-chlorians in your bloodstream."