Bright opened her eyes slowly. Looking around her all she saw was the sterile white walls of the infirmary that she had seen so many times before. Why was she here this time? Raising her biological arm to her face she realized all she felt on her right arm was the prickling cold of nothingness. She attempted to lift her cybernetinc arm to look at it but there was nothing there to lift.

"What the-?" Bright said said pushing herself up.  The only other time she had felt that sickening cold feeling was when her arm had been severed from her shoulder. She shuddered as she saw nothing there.

"Not to worry,Sergeant, I'll explain momentarily." A mechanical voice said as it entered her room. Bright looked the droid over and wondered why the doctor hadn't come in himself.

"Where-?" Bright started, but she was cut off by the medical droid's whiring servos and its harsh sounding voice.

"If you are revering to the doctor he will be in shortly as he is attending another patient presently, and in reference to your cybernetic arm, well it was in need of replacing so we are replacing it." The medic droid took her vitals and checked the various monitors around the room with a grace and confidence that no human could ever pull off.

"Why, or more accurately how, did I end up in here?" The Sergeant asked sitting back against the pillows that the droid had just fluffed for her.

"The doctor will explain." Was the only reply she recieved before the damned bucket of bolts left her room, leaving her with her thoughts and not many answers.

"I sometimes hate droids." Bright muttered and closed her eyes for a moment.

-------------------

"Oh come on! You said yourself that she was in the clear."

" Yes, I know I said that, but-"

"But what? Either the quarantine is lifted or it isn't  so which is it?"

"The quarantine IS lifted, it was lifted two days ago when the disease just diminished. What I'm trying to tell you is I don't think she would be very happy to be seen with only one arm."

"Seriously man! She's a  Kriefing stormtrooper. She's faced hordes of NR soldiers, rabid Whomp Rats, and stink infested swamps up to her waist, Do you really honestly believe she's that vain about her appearence?"

There was a silence after that. Bright's eyes flew open when she realized that those voices were right outside her door. She recognized only one of those voices and she smiled to hear it so flustered. Her smile broadened into a wide grin when her thoughts were confirmed by the owner of that voice walking into her room.

"Well, I'd love to say howdy but that can wait. What the hell happened to you?" Bright said as she tried to sit up. "And what quarantine?"

“I hate this feeling of not being completely human. Its strange.” Verk looked around and then at his lap. His stomach began to grumble, and he smiled. “At least I will still know when I’m hungry.”

Bright smiled at Verk, even more so when the medic droid brought her mechanical arm back and reattached it. “I just need to check your vitals one more time and you are free to go.” The droid said.

Bright knew what Verkur was feeling. Or at least partially. She did have an understanding about how it felt to not be completely human anymore. No matter how many times she looked at it, or tried to forget it wasn't the real deal, Bright always knew that her right arm was nothing more than a limb made of wires and durasteel rods interconnecting and reacting as a normal arm would. She would never say anything aloud about how much she missed her biological arm, about how important it was to feel that she was fully human. She would keep it to herself as she did most things, that was just Brightstar.

“Hey. Want to grab a bite after you’re done here?" Verk asked, as the medic droid went about doing its duty.

"Food? Absolutely!" Bright agreed feeling her own stomach grumble in response. She even offered up a grin to the Corporal when he chuckled. 

But her mind fell back to the reason why she was in that infirmary room in the first place. Just what exactly had the disease done to her that she would have been out of it so thoroughly for a month? Her brows furrowed. She understood the quarantine bit of it as it would have been disasterous if she had been allowed to be around the rest of the troopers. When she looked up, Bright realized just the effect this disease had had on her.

The mirror directly across from her  showed a gaunt, pale face surrounded by a wreath of dull red hair.  If she hadn't known any better, Bright would say that she was still sick.  "Man, I'm going to have to get my uniforms refitted." She said as she stared at her reflection. The gleaming metal of her mechanical arm contrasted badly with her current skin tone. "And a glove to cover this thing up with." She made a face and looked away from the mirror as the medic droid finished up.

"You're good to go." The droid said. "I regret to inform you that the clothing you were wearing when you were brought in, had to be incinerated to prevent the dpread of the disease. But we have replaced your clothing, sitting just inside that cabinet there on the bottom shelf to the right." With that the droid left the room.

"Damn, I liked that shirt too." Bright muttered swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and sitting up all the way. To put the feeling she felt at that moment lightly, she felt a bit woosy. "Right." She sighed as she looked over at Verk. She blushed and sighed as she asked, "Could you help me to stand please, I have a feeling I've been in here too long." Oh how she hated asking for help.