(OOC, this was supposed to go out last week, but in my haste to send
it out I accidentally only sent it to one person instead of the entire
chimera list. Sorry for the holdup for all those who were waiting
with baited breath for the final installment of this 3 part
miniseries.)
=/-\= Med. Adv, Office * SB Unity =/-\=
Rangi stood up too. "You wont be back on the front line until I say
so." she said to Cortez' retreating back. " And you can get second
information to stew over in your little cubby hole of an office or you
can talk to me....your decision."
"Peaked your interest have I?", Richard said turning back around with
a smirk. "I see little reason to continue this when you already have
my opinion. Of course we both know you wont do what you have to do".
" You don't know all the facts." Rangi replied quietly standing where
she was. "..... but we both know that Georgia Pegg Inst going to die
at our hands." She waited for a reply but when he didn't answer asked
:
" Are you staying or not because I want some lunch and then I have
work to do...its up to you." She gave a short shrug and turned away in
essence ignoring him as she moved towards the replicator.
"I'll take a whiskey", he said as she pressed the replicator controls.
"So what are these facts that I'm not aware of", he said stepping
back towards the couch.
Rangi ordered another sandwich for herself and the drink for Cortez
and didn't answer until she had handed him the small glass and seated
herself opposite to him.
" The outbreak of this...whatever it is....isn't the only one that I'm
aware of." she stated and began to tell him of the first instance and
the rescued hostages from the Breen freighter. She explained how all
of them had died including the child and how later three crew men on
two ships had also developed the same symptoms.
" They had worked in the research center." she said "....under
strictest quarantine regulations of course but somehow...unless you
believe in coincidences....somehow they were infected by the illness.
The good thing is that none of them died. They were mildly unwell for
a few days but then recovered fully."
Richard sat back down on the sofa and sipped at his drink as he
listened intently to what Rangi was saying. "Hmm", he said taking
another sip. "Maybe its nothing then", he said leaning back. "Do you
still have the names and locations of all the people that were
infected and then recovered?", he asked. "Are you performing follow
ups?"
" Oh yes." she said. " I've kept an eye on them. That's not all
though..." she added. " That was just the beginning....."
She told him of the separate incidents on Alpha Leonis and Aurelia
Prime where a few farmers had also been unwell. Again there were no
deaths and all seemed to regain perfect health. The ships had not
visited there and so it could have been just a coincidence.
" I don't like coincidences." she said watching him watching her." An
interesting point was that the harvest on both those planets suffered
badly from a form of stem rust. That's airborne and long ago it was
developed as a bio weapon...20th century toy." She sipped from her
glass the said: " Incidentally to that was the Ferengi upset....you
might recall they accused a supplier of selling them substandard
mead?...it was on the news. That came from one of the planets."
Cortez swallowed the last bit of his drink and placed the glass on the
table in front of him. "Strange", he said contemplating the idea of a
biological weapon. "And you've reported all this to Guzman?", he
asked, seeing her nod he continued, "And of course he hasn't acted",
he shook his head, "Typical", he shook his head, "The brass never act
till the danger is staring at em with a knife". He paused for a
second, "Would you be so kind as to forward a copy of all the
infected to my little cubby hole?".
" Yes, I can do that." she agreed. " As for action or lack of it....I
wanted to quarantine Aeran when the first outbreak was reported. You
know they didn't tell us? It was in a mining colony in the
north...inhospitable place. Apparently the miners there suffered a
mild illness but nothing that warranted a medical visit....we only
found out about when there was an accident and doctor attended the
victim and noticed by chance that some of them had what he thought
were tattoos." She sighed and shook her head slightly. " The chief
administrator was not at all keen to have quarantine in place...it
comes down to financial reasoning...which is understandable in the
present climate I suppose." she said. "Shane had to agree
but...well...because there's no concrete evidence at all that these
events have any connection his hands were tied."
"But how did the waitress get sick", Richard responded after taking a
few seconds to digest the information. "She shouldn't be in the
equation at all", he added. "Have you been able to make any headway
into figuring out whats wrong with her?", he asked.
" She's like the others...she felt mildly unwell on returning from a
long trip. That's not unusual and she got over it...she didn't need a
doctor,just self medicated. She went to the hospital to ask what was
causing the skin discoloration. I slapped her in an isolation room and
I'm going to keep her there for as long as i am legally allowed
to.We're doing tests...so far inconclusive"
She gave a faint smile. " Do you believe in coincidences? is that what
this is? That's why I wanted your opinion. Are they linked? if so,
how? what am I missing?"
"This isn't a coincidence", Richard responded, "I would suggest an
immediate retracing of her steps, everyone she came in contact with
before and after she fell ill, background checks ran on them all...it
will be hard considering her occupation but it should be possible with
the amount of cameras and security measures we have here", he leaned
forward, "if someone purposely poisoned her we'll figure out who", he
paused briefly, "Of course if you want my help you'll have to clear
me for active duty and convince Guzman to give me the authority to
conduct the investigation", he smiled.
Rangi laughed. " You don't give up do you?" she asked through a smile
but it wasn't long lasting. " Ive begun a tracking on her.Luckily she
hadn't had time to resume work so it was just the shuttle she came in
on...her previous destinations....her room mates and ohhh...about a
hundred and fifty people she might have passed on the promenade, not
to mention the transit areas at both ends." She looked at him. " I'll
speak to the Admiral...simply because ..." She stopped,holding back
her words. " Ill speak to him." she repeated.
"I never give up", Richard said standing up once again. "Well then
I'll let you get back to your work, in the meantime I'll try and dig
up anything else I can about what happened on Aeran 3". He nodded and
began stepping towards the exit. "If we're right about this", he said
stopping halfway and turning back around, "We won't have much time
before...well.....we better hurry", he added.
She had left her seat too and followed him as far as her desk. " I'll
forward you all the details...it will take you a while to get through
it all but you might find something I've missed. I hope so." she
added.
Cortez nodded then stepped through the door and out of Rangi's office.
=/-\= END LOG =/-\=
Commander Rangi Summers
CMO
SB Unity
Major Richard Cortez
CSEC
USS Chimera
