*** Med. Advisors Office. * SB Unity ***
Rangi was staring at a patch of carpet about three inches
left and two inches forward of the leg of a chair. The chair
itself was part of the seating plan at the far end of her
office, a soft and comfortable thing for visitors in
informal discussion. It was vacant at that time and there
was nothing on the carpet that demanded such unbroken
attention.
It was merely that her eyes had settled there as she had
sunk into deep thought.
Open on knee was a padd detailing a medical report and her
fingers, laying lightly across it, had ceased to beat a
rhythm as the thoughts had grown, tapping now only
intermittently.
The report was from the Chief Medical Officer on Aeran III
and from his point of view, the news was interesting but he
would have been surprised to see the effect his report had
had on the Medical Advisor when she had read it.
It told of a hitherto unknown illness which had come to
light only because a doctor had been called to the small
settlement on another matter.
The hamlet, for it was hardly large enough to be called a
settlement, consisted of little more than a dozen homes. It
was situated in a remote part of the Northern Plateau, an
inhospitable place at the best of times, where a mine had
been drilled. An accident there had necessitated the doctors
attendance and whilst there he had noticed that a number of
the miners had what he had supposed at first sight to be
tattoos on their bodies.
Enquiring into the fact, he had learned that the men had
experienced a mild illness a week or so before. They hadnt
called for medical aid because none had been unduly ill and
none had felt the need to involve a medic, experiencing
nothing worse than mild symptoms of headaches, sore
throats, and in a few cases, a certain amount of lethergy
for a day or so.The dark patterns on their skins had emerged
as the illness disappeared.
The doctor had noted that the lines resembled a map of
their circulatory system but he could find no cause for
them.
He had examined all the miners affected with this strange
pattening but had found them all to be in perfect health.His
report had gone to first to Aerans CMO and in time, to
Rangi.
She didnt like it and the unsettled feelings she had
experienced before, returned with a vengance.
It was all too much of a coincidence but try as she might,
she couldnt find a link.
The Breen hostages had been the first and all of them had
died. next had come the three crewmen from the Scavenger and
wayfarer. The worrying thing about them had been that they
had worked at the medical research centre but although they
had been ill, they had all recovered.
Light years away two other instances had occurred, one on
Alpha Leonis and the other on Aurelia Prime.
{A coincidence?} Rangi shook her head slightly. There was
nothing to link them together but the Ferengi ship Me-Vetra
had taken on board wine from one of the planets.
Rangi had seen it on the Inter Galactic News channel
where the reporter had explained the
diplomatic incident whereby the Ferengi had accused the
Federation of selling substandard goods at inflated prices.
The captain had gone so far as to mention attempted poison,
a totally unjustified accusation but her attention had
fixated when the Captian in question had appeared on the
screen covered in dark lines.
The next day she had read the reports on all these cases
which had been waiting on her desk.
Now the same thing was happening very close to home. SB
Unity was a metaphorical 'stones throw' from Aeran III.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sudden 'trilling' of
her desktop terminal, indicating an incoming call. She stood
from her place and walked quickly to her desk.
The spinning logo of the Aeran III Colony was quickly
replaced with the slightly worried looking face of a grey haired human
aged in about his sixties. "Ah Commander Summers I presume. My name is Nicolas
Sturgeon, the Chief Administrator of the Aeran III Colony.
I am calling you direct due to an unsettling 'potential viral
outbreak' situation in a small hamlet called Greensburgh in the
northern hemisphere. Our main medical staff have been investigating this
incident are unable to identify the pathogen, its means of
transmission or its origin."
"Given your recent willingness help with
our flu epidemic it is a hard thing to bother you with yet
another request for help but this may be more than meets the eye.
My Chief Medical Officer has confirmed that the pathogen whatever it
is, is most definitely alien in origin. Given the proliferation of
Romulan Bio-weapons in this region I request Unity provide a helping
hand with it's medical expertise."
Rangi had taken her seat and listened attentively to all
Nicholas had to say.
"Ofcourse we will help." she replied. " Actually, I've just
been reading the report from the CMO. Tell me...have there
been any other cases?"
"I wouldn't say other cases as in previous but initial
reports are coming in from a town about 15 miles from Greenburgh. The
symptoms seem to be the same. As such we've instigated a quarantine
order but local enforcement are too few in number and ill equipped for
such a task. Though it pains me to ask we may have to rely on
Unity for support in this aspect too." He said solemnly.
Rangi frowned then after a second, nodded too.
" I'll speak to Admiral Guzman about it." she said. It was
obvious she was going to add something yet held back.
Mr Sturgeon.." she began ". I dont want to cause alarm but
I'm concerned about this. I'm going to request a further
quarantine than you one you suggest. It will be for Aeran
itself."
"No" He replied. "I'm willing to expand the parameters of
the quarantine up to a thousand miles but a full scale planetary
quarantine is out of the question. No offence but quite
often it seems that a planetary quarantine is the Federation's cue to
pull back to a safe distance and leave well enough alone. We haven't
forgotten what happened to our trading partners on Charos VI when they
were crying out for aid. We helped relay both official Alliance
and civilian requests for medical aide to the Federation High
Command which fell on deaf ears. I will not allow this colony to
suffer the same fate."
" Mr Sturgeon...with respect....you dont understand." Rangi
said quietly. "There is no cause to think we're pulling back...obviously
not if I'm willing to send help to you." she said in a
reasonable tone. " It's just that there might indeed be more
to this than you think and you must see that with the amount
of through traffic that Unity has, I must do all I can to
limit any cross infection."
"A thousand mile radius is more than sufficient for
containment of the virus. Transport systems are already suspended within the
affected zone and extensive screenings are taking place within the
existing quarantine zone. We're doing more than could or SHOULD be
asked of us. Besides the final decision for enforcement of a
planetary quarantine would lie with Admiral Guzman."
" You're correct of course." she replied. " The Admiral will
have the final say....I can only request it."
"A planetary quarantine would be hugely damaging to the
planetary and regional economy and incite mass hysteria amongst the
populace. The death toll caused by the panic could exceed that of the
virus." Said Chief Administrator Sturgeon.
Rangi knew it was pointless to argue for he had valid points
and there would be a need to weigh each side against the
other. She could only press her side when the time came.
" I think you may be over estimating the possible reaction."
Rangi replied "...but you can of course put your concerns to
the Admiral."
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End Log
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Commander Rangi Summers
1TF Medical Advisor
SB 234: Unity
Chief Administrator Nicolas Sturgeon (NPC Ixus)
Planetary Leader
Aeran III
