Song of the Cosmos | Voltron

Chapter 26

   Princess Zora had been arguing with Allura, completely fine, and then in a heartbeat, she'd collapsed. Kiba knelt by her, making sure she was still breathing.

 "What's wrong with her?" Allura asked.

 Zora coughed again, blood flecking her lips. 

 Antok took a step back, his face resigned, "She's got Prison Fever. It's an illness Galra prisoners sometimes get. 9 times out of 10 it's fatal. It's very rare for a Galra to get it."

  "So help her," Kiba snapped. "Your this great rebel force, you have to have found a cure by now!"

  Kiba fought down his rising panic, freaking out wouldn't do Princess Zora any good. He couldn't lose her, the Empire couldn't lose her. But this wasn't something he could fight, Kiba could battle assailants and fight off enemy soldiers all day, but there wasn't anything he could do to protect Zora from a virus. 

  "I'll talk to someone in our medical team, see if they have something we can give her," Antok said quickly. "Kiba, Princess Zora is a valuable asset to The Blade of Marmora, we won't let her die. Pick her up and follow me to the Med Bay."

  Kiba nodded sharply, picking Zora up as gently as he could. Her head lolled limply back on her shoulders. The once regal Princess Zora hung like a broken doll, limp in Kiba's arms. 

  He followed Antok through the warship and into the Medical bay, lowering Zora gently down onto the hospital bed. 

 A woman with long silver hair walked over, her eyes were completely white, the pupils gone. Kiba realized that she was blind, and she was human. She smiled, looking in Kiba's general direction, but not right at him, "Hello! I'm Salixa, I'm the doctor. Is this your friend?"

 Kiba nodded, but then remembered that Salixa couldn't see him, "Yes Ma'am."

 The woman pressed a hand to Zora's forehead, "Oh yes. She's quite ill, isn't she? Prison fever, right Antok?"

 "That's correct Salixa."

"Well, in that case, please ask my lovely assistant to fetch the vial labeled 2399 from my Lab."

"Of course Salixa," Antok turned, "Rei, do as the doctor said."

 A man with bright blue hair and glasses nodded, before taking off out of the medical bay.

 "Is she going to be alright?" Princess Allura asked, peering down at Zora.

"If the serum works as I hope it will, then most likely. Since Zora's a Galra, she has a stronger resistance than the species that are most often imprisoned by the Galra." Salixa paused, "It's actually quite poetic, that the Galra Princess would get an illness that has killed so many Galra slaves."

 Kiba clenched his fists, "Don't you dare."

"Ah, I apologize. I'm terribly sorry. Have any idea how Princess Zora encountered the disease?"

 "No, she's never anywhere near the..." Kiba stopped as realization dawned on him. How Princess Zora had been in close enough contact with a Galra prisoner to get the illness. When Princess Zora had picked up the boy in the Druids lab and carried him to a transport. Which meant that the boy was sick as well. There was an infected human somewhere near the Voltron paladins. "I know how Princess Zora got sick. There was a boy in the Druids lab, and she carried him out, put him on a transport. He must be sick as well."

 Allura's eyes glimmered with recognition, "The boy's name was Matt Holt. He is the brother to one of Voltron's Paladins. I'll call in the team, let them know to put Matt into containment so he can't infect anyone else."

  Rei rushed back in with a small black box, he handed it to Salixa. 

 Salixa pulled out a small vial, it glowed a light blue, and she inserted it into a needle. 

"Wait, what if this doesn't work?" Kiba asked anxiously.

"Then she'll die," Salixa said nonchalantly.

 Before Kiba could question her further, Salixa drove the needle into Zora's arm and pushed down the plunger. Zora didn't move, didn't suddenly wake up. 

 "Why isn't it working?" Kiba demanded.

"It is, my impatient Galra friend. It will just take time. We will know if she is cured within an hour or so. She'll either be better, or she'll be dead."