Jacques smirked slightly. Somehow seeing George startled so badly made him feel a lot better and he didn't reply to him as he turned away, returning his pistol to its holster.
"Mes excuses." He said to Terra apologetically, before looking at Scout, his expression turning grim again.
"He'd caught the pestilence, and it didn't show until we were five days out of port. Once he fell ill it spread like wildfire. We turned around and went back, but we were a plague ship, and they wouldn't have us in port. No other ship woult come to our aid. One by one, at a terrible rate, the men fell to the disease. Within two weeks, almost forty strong men weakened and died. When they eventually sent a crew to salvage the cargo and fire the ship, only I was left. And as you know, that was more than luck. It could all have been avoided if we'd known about that first deckhand."