Retribution (The Federation Reborn Book 3) (92 page)

He followed that up with an email to find bounty hunters either on New Texas or abroad to help thicken the Marshal's service. They might be rough around the edges, and they wouldn't have much care for the constitution, but they'd be handy to have.

:::{)(}:::

The news cycle shifted Monday morning as the Surgeon General Doctor Kraft reported a minor outbreak on Syntia's World. He also issued a travel advisory to that area. They were still looking into the situation and trying to narrow down the vector. Minor viral outbreaks on some of the planets was a common occurrence. With commerce picking up though, the threat of cross contamination that could cause additional outbreaks on other neighboring worlds was a concern.

“It's not at the level of pandemic but close,” Doctor Kraft said as he briefed the president.

“So? You know how to handle an outbreak, Doctor,” Admiral Irons said. “Quarantine and treat the sick. Vaccinate the rest of the population.”

“I need to work with commerce to shut down movement, not just have the travel advisory. But they are balking. The same with local law enforcement. They just want a miracle cure, barring that, a vaccine. When we try to tell them to limit the spread while we get it to them, they give me all sorts of excuses,” the doctor said, clearly frustrated by the situation. “And I can't give them what I don't have. We don't have a sample of the virus, just the data from the local medics on the planet. And the best of them are only a couple steps above country doctor at this stage. There are definitely no virologists on the planet.”

The admiral nodded in understanding. “Ah.”

“We sent them some equipment and antibiotics, but they don't know how to use it either. Most of it is still packed or … missing,” the surgeon general said with a grimace. “If they could hook up the scanner, we could ID the bug and then take it apart to compare it to what we have on file. From there we could work a better treatment. But …,” he shrugged helplessly. “Again I've got Doctor Richards on it since ET has the best facilities,” he said apparently annoyed by the situation.

“Well, they've got the experience, Doctor,” Admiral Irons said. Doctor Kraft nodded.

“Your people are still setting up the CDC too,” Sprite said. “The initial funding was just passed in Congress, but the site is still up for debate. I believe the argument in favor of a space platform is going to win out in the end,” she warned.

“I'll take it anywhere as long as I've got what I need when I need it. Right now a budget, a couple admins, some doctors and lab techs fresh out of college, and proposal with some equipment aren't enough,” the human doctor said in frustration. “I shouldn't have let them try to set it up on planet. Nor should I have let them debate for so long on ET or Antigua. Having it here in the capital means we move on things faster.” He grimaced in self-disgust. “I know that the site was nice and remote, but when it hit the public and the backlash started, I should have just yanked it and went with the space setup,” he said.

“The fear of an outbreak from your samples is real doctor, especially on a planet. It is the Center of Disease Control after all. You have to have viable samples to make the vaccines and study the virus. And transporting them and contagious people …,” Sprite broke off as the doctor held up a restraining in hand.

“You don't have to tell me, Captain, I
know
,” he said with a bite in his tone of voice.

““Okay, moving on then,” Sprite said with a nod. She pulled up a bullet point.

The doctor glanced at it, snorted, and then nodded. “Okay, we've got a six-step approach to solving the problem short-term and long-term future outbreaks. Educate the people on what to look for, quarantine the sick, treat the symptoms, find the vaccine, test and vaccinate immigrants and emigrants to keep it from spreading, and eventually inoculate the population. After that we need to be on the lookout for carriers and mutations.”

“Somewhere in there you need to fit in teaching them better hygiene to keep it from spreading,” Sprite reminded him.

“That's where education comes in,” the doctor informed her.

“Ah,” Sprite said with a nod.

“Antibiotics are important, but this virus is adaptive enough I think. It will eventually become resistance against them.”

“You don't even know what it is yet, Doctor,” Sprite stated.

The doctor grunted. “I know what it's not based on—the symptoms. It is some sort of influenza, but since it's multi-species it's in the lungs. I can't tell you at this point if it is passed on by touch or air, most likely both.”

“Masks,” Admiral Irons murmured.

“Right. We need to communicate what we know and how to treat the symptoms quickly with the population. I also need a courier to transfer the live cultures to a safe lab location. And I need that location,” the doctor stated.

“I can throw a transhab together, Doctor, either in space here or even in orbit of Syntia's World. I could also detach a ship with lab equipment and techs to go to the rescue. We have hospital ships now,” Admiral Irons stated.

“The nearest free hospital ship available is
Good Hope
in Pyrax.
Florence Nightingale
is still a work in progress. Unless you want to detach
Heavenly Touch
from Protodon. I'm not sure I'd recommend that,” the A.I. captain warned.

“I'd go myself but …”

“You're a surgeon, not a virologist. You are needed here where you are,” Sprite replied.

“I …,” the doctor scowled.

“I know what you are feeling, Doctor, the urge to do something,” Admiral Irons rumbled quietly. The doctor turned to him. He nodded curtly. “Honestly, I do. I feel it whenever something like this happens or when our people have a disaster or go into combat. But, we can't be everywhere. So, we need to guide those we can send.”

“Every moment we waste debating it, more people die,” the doctor growled.

“Point. So, we've got a ship here,” the admiral said.

“Ship … a tender, sir?” Sprite asked. “There is one
Liberty
class about to launch. There are two
Cervidae
class that are in various stages of working up and builder trials. We do not have any
Dora
class on hand.”

“Go with one of the
Cervidae
,” the admiral ordered. “If we've got enough supplies, send both. We'll shift priorities and rearrange things for the convoys,” he said, addressing the A.I. Sprite nodded. He turned to the doctor. “I know it's not ideal, but it is what we need. Doctor, I want you to round up a team. Get Sprite a list of equipment, supplies, and such. Work on pulling what you can from your stores. I imagine she has a partial list in mind already; she can get started working on that,” he said.

Sprite nodded. “I can access what is on a hospital ship and tailor it to the need,” she said.

“Good. Get with Commander Bloodhound and get the ball rolling there. Talk to Nara; find out if any of our people in the star system can help. Also,” he paused with a frown. “We were going to send
Good Hope
with
Prometheus
. That can change. Instead,” he settled himself. “Cut orders for
Good Hope
to get underway soonest for Syntia's World.”

“It'll still take them time,” Sprite warned.

“I know. But we march to the sound of the guns. In this case it's a gun of a different form, but death is still involved. We get them into position in case the outbreak spreads,” the admiral stated. “Which, reminds me,” he said. “Call Iab. Have him pass that travel warning to the neighboring star systems. Get him a list of all ships that's visited Syntia's World recently. Doc, I know you don't have any idea on an incubation period, but something might be nice.”

“I'd say three months. Check everyone. If they survived it, they might be a carrier. We don't want this spreading,” Doctor Kraft ordered.

Admiral Irons nodded. He could feel the doctor passing on orders through his implants. He nodded once more. “Good. Also,” he looked at Sprite. “Get with Doctor Richards. See if she has any virologists on staff willing to help or at least consult. If they are willing to help, stuff them in a courier or other vessel and get them here fast. We can transfer them to another ship or they can transfer to
Good Hope
while en route,” he said.

“Aye aye, sir.”

“That's treating the symptoms of this outbreak, but not the overall problem. We still need that platform—a dedicated fast communication's system that can handle the bandwidth to send the amount of data. I see the idea of having mobile units,” the doctor said with a nod.

“You obviously need a large ship to handle a planetary population. But if we can catch it fast enough, then we can contain and nip it in the bud,” the admiral said. “That's why I'm thinking a courier or
Dora
sized vessel or several of them staged from different locations,” he said.

“Here in Antigua, ET, and Pyrax obviously,” Sprite said. “Hidoshi's World?”

“Possibly,” the admiral said, spreading his hand. “I think, Doctor Kraft, you and your staff can work that part out later,” he said. The doctor nodded.

“The other problem is long term, specifically, the vaccination and inoculation programs. ET has it down, they are a model for the entire federation,” the doctor said ruefully. The admiral nodded. “They have a proactive and rather aggressive medical establishment going. I don't think a bug has a chance in hell of living on that planet for more than a second,” he said. Admiral Irons smiled indulgently. “We've met with some skepticism on the less-developed colony worlds initially however. The ignorant think it will cause additional health issues. That damn autism threat is
still
brooded about. People don't know what the hell they are talking about, but it still lingers,” he growled in disgust.

“Okay …”

“The good news is, at least locally around ET, the backlash on Gaston and neighboring worlds has been aborted when Doctor Richards and her people got behind it and pushed through the plague stories to the media. That reminded them of the recent Xeno plague there, and I know many do not want a repeat.” He shivered.

“We can throw them a bone I suppose,” the admiral said. The surgeon general cocked his head. Admiral Irons smiled. “It'll slow things down, but if you throw in a basic medical checkup, a basic ID implant, and possibly adolescent antigeriatric treatments, that might sweeten it for everyone. If we tie it to the school program as it has in the past, it'll help even more.”

He saw Sprite frown. She put a text up on his HUD as the doctor cocked his head and considered the proposal. “You realize the antigeriatric treatments are a major selling point with joining the military?” he waved a hand and spread his fingers to signal he understood.

The doctor nodded. “Having healthy kids is important. Everyone wants their kids to do better off then what they had. We can nip a lot in the bud if we see it early enough. But we've got to have eyes for that, and right now we don't. Doctors are a rare specialty it seems.”

“I know,” Admiral Irons sighed, “which means we need to expand the incentives to join the medical profession.”

“And make inoculations and vaccines
mandatory
. None of this opting out for any reason crap,” Doctor Kraft growled. “The whole herd immunity argument is bullshit. One person coming in from outside upsets it all. But now we've got to find a way to pay for it all. I've already got the budget worked out for this quarter. Getting this added …,” he sighed heavily. “We're going to eat into the reserve with the emergency response to Syntia's World …”

“Agreed,” the admiral said with a nod. “Perhaps a pilot program? Point to ET as a baseline?” he said. The doctor nodded slowly. “But the budget thing is going to be fun to get past Congress I admit,” he said. He shook his head as his Protector indicated the time on his HUD. He had another appointment waiting. “I don't envy you, Doctor, you've got your work cut out for you.”

“I know,” the doctor said as he rose from his seat. The admiral rose as well. He extended his hand and the admiral took it to shake it. “But with people like you, sir, and Helen, Nara, and others, we'll do our best to see it through. I won't say we'll win, but we'll damn well try,” he said.

“I know you will Doctor,” the admiral said softly as the doctor showed himself out.

“There goes a brave man. Medics never get the credit they deserve. They battle the reaper's angels of death every day. They know they will fail eventually, everyone owes them a death after all, but they go and do it anyway,” Sprite observed.

“I know,” Admiral Irons murmured softly. He shook himself and looked at Protector. “All right, what's next,” he said.

Chapter 38

Commodore X'll'rr worked on the plan for opening the eastern front with her staff in-between her usual duties running the First and Second Battle Cruiser Squadrons. Things were looking up; she'd gotten the basic plan sorted out, the latest INTEL, and support ships were being designated for her use.