Judith took a sip of water and sat down to read the "CBian Times". She looked at the sports section, and noted the Abusers still in third in the Birthplace tourneys, and that agrevated her a little bit.

Judith had been a fan of hockey since she was a little girl. When she was at her grandparents house she use to watch the Abuser game when it was on. She'd sit on her Grandpa's lap, it is the only thing she ever remembered doing with him, (He passed away when she was 12, in a tragedic car accident).

"Mommy, Mommy." screamed her youngest child, Milissia, "Mommy, Tommy's not movin'", how Judith got from the kitchen to the living room, (where her eldest Tommy lay), was now beyond her memory. The only thing she though of while holding her son crying, is how much he reminded her of her grandfather.. "The eyes she said aloud", holding him to her shoulder, she calsped ontop of his face, knowing the truth, her child was gone. Her husband, pushed her off after phoning an ambulance, and quickly tried to revive his son, "Come, on Tommy.... COME ON" he yelled, and countined to yell, as he was placed in the body bag... and draged away on a strecher.

"It appears your son suffered, a toxic shock not uncommon with an extreme allergy," the paramedic said to Judith and her Hudsband "but a closer look suggest something different. His white in his eyes were green, unheard of as I would know of it.", and the paramedic glanced into the white chalk line where Tommy's body layed, "We, are terribly sorry about this. These are the worst days on the job... except they happene ever day. Something like this should not happen to a family, and I will make it my personnal duty to find the answer....", he stopped as Judith's husband collaped on the ground dead, eye whites... green.

The Minder family returned from their trip to the CB's. Like all Incadon families, they spent their money freely on vacations. The only one who hadn't joined them was Jessamine. Jessamine was 16 years old, and had spent the week at home working on a major school project. When they returned home, they found out that Jessamine was at the library.

An hour later, they were all in bed, dead. Jessamine returned home. Frightened out of her mind, she darted out of the house and phoned her boyfriend.

The Next Great Plauge


CBian docters at Left Bridge Hospital have no idea what has cased this strange string of deaths across the eastern province of Greg. A strange never before seen desicese seems to have whipped out 200 people in a matter of hours. It is unknown where it oringinated, hope it is transmitted of even what the symtoms are.

One can only hope, the government acts quickly to help save our people.



Kim Hereler CBian Times
-----------------------------------------


"General Feggan!", the Prime Minister yelled.

"Yes Sir!", he responced, by standing completely erriect, he look terrifid.

"What do you plan to do about this desicese."

"Completely cut off East CBs from the rest of the nation. If it is iso,lated there, there is know way it will spread here."

Meanwhile, those on the plane from CB's have managed to transmit the disease throughout Incadon. Jessamine and her boyfriend escaped to the mountains. As more and more people died, Jessamine soon began to worry she'd be the only one left.

LInIS

Liargian International Intelligence Service agents intercept alarming transmissions from the nations of CB's and Incadon. Word travels quickly up the chain of command, reaching General Bradley cash, Chief of Staff for First Governor James II. Cash has assumed military leadership duties temporarily in James' absence. An hour following briefing by LInIS agents, Cash is seated in front of the Board of Governors of Liarg, explaining the situation and the possible outcomes. A decision is quickly reached to shut down the borders of Liarg to all incoming travel, and to prevent any Liargian citizens from travelling abroad until more information is known.

An urgent dispatch is sent out immediately, diverting any incoming aircraft, and all official border crossings are closed. Although, officially, there is no trade between Liarg and the CB's, there is a large underground trade with Incadon which involved Insane root and sassafrass tea. This is something that is generally known, but normally ignored. This will have to be stopped as well.

Troops are on the move within the day to secure Liarg's borders to prevent the introduction of this unknown disease. Meanwhile, Liarg's top scientists and medical officials make contact with CB's and Incadon to try to receive information on the specifics in order to begin working on a vaccine, and hopefully a treatment.

GSNN, 17:23 GCST (Gemetrian Coast Standard Time):

"... and now the squirrel is being sued for lewd behaviour and libel."

*shuffles papers*

“And in other news today, it seems that the filthy Auslander nations of Incadon and CBs are infested with an unknown plague. Gemetrians are advised that all travel between these nations and Gemetria has been stopped as of 04:00 today. All Gemetrians currently in either country will be subject to a mandatory 2 week quarantine before being allowed back in the country. Any goods from either country may be quarantined or stopped at the Tree’s discretion.

“The Tree and our glorious military are assessing further action to keep you safe.

“This is a good time to remind all citizens and bondsmen that these and many other barbarians are unclean, even at the best of times! Auslanders carry many unpleasant diseases that have been eliminated by efficient Gemetrian medicine. If you are forced to be in close contact with them, make sure that you thoroughly wash and disinfect your hands and any other exposed clothing or skin…”


Legate Maximillion Hephatus mentally turned off the news report. “Victoria, what do you think? One of ours? It doesn’t seem to be part of Tree canon, at least.”

Pontifix Victoria Cillante shook her head, “My augurs have found nothing in the Tree that speaks of this. Either it’s not ours, or the Tree wills it not to be known. She has been difficult to read of late, I must say.”

Legate Hephatus nodded. “James? Where do we go from here? I think that isolation is probably the best option.”

Legate James Grimson tapped the conference room table with his pen. “This erupted suddenly and has no known natural precursors by the looks of things. This plague was certainly manufactured, and if it’s not one of ours, it’s one of their’s.

“We need a sample of it. If it has the signatures of any of our labs, I want to know which one so we can more plausibly deny it if shit hits the fan. Though something tells me that this virus isn’t domestic.

“That is assuming that it is a virus, not a bacteria, parasite or a prion. Or even something new…

“If it’s not one of ours, this is considerably more worrying. It means some traditional or rogue power is using actual populations as test subjects, without constraint. This points to a either rogue power or small nation that is unable, or unwilling to use their own people or prisoners.

“This also doesn’t strike me as a particularly good biological, either. Something from the early part of some program that is clearly emphasizing mortality rate rather than military use. The incubation period seems to be around a week as far as we can figure it, and so the biological won’t burn out in a contained way. This is messy, and if a nation strikes up a travel advisory or shuts down it’s borders before the first case erupts, then this is a red flag to the rest of the world that they were behind it. And if even one Gemetrian citizen gets sick from this teapot tempest, I swear that we will burn out these would be terrorists with holy fire.

“I’m initially suspicious of CBs itself. I think that we should start our investigation there. We should send a HAZMAT unit there ostensibly to help, but covertly to gather a sample of the sickness and start an initial investigation as to the primary vector. Once we have the sample, we can work on the basics: how it spreads, how effective it is, how long its precise incubation period is, and how we stop it. Also any genetic signatures that would indicate a particular nations, lab or person.”

Hephatus shook his head, smiling, “You want to find a casus belli in this, don’t you? Your hunger for land and power is incredible, James.”

Grimson pretended to look vaguely hurt, “Max! Your words wound me…”

All three smiled.

***

The Senior Permanent Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs and ambassador for CBs meet in the CBs embassy in downtown Cania.

The Undersecretary proposes to send a unit of military doctors from the 10th legion (Hephatus) into CBs and set up a field hospital for humanitarian purposes.

LDCRnDC

Deep within the bowels of Mount McCarrion in northwestern Liarg lies the LDCRnDC (Liarg Disease Control Research and Development Center). Its existence a closely guarded secret, the technicians here are some of the most intelligent, strangest, and highest paid Civilian Government Employees in Liarg. Normally, they spend their time brainstorming and working on development of new and innovative drugs, specifically antibiotics that to combat the ever mutating illnesses that plague mankind, treatments for cancer and other dread diseases, and other, darker projects.

Today, however, there is a new excitement among the R & D team, as they examine the two bodies on the tables before them. These two were found dead in the front seat of a truck headed into Liarg...a truck loaded with Insane Root. They carried no identification, no luggage, and had no visible injuries. The Marshall who discovered the bodies alertly sent a request for assistance, but did not come into contact with men. At this time, both he and the two ambulance attendants who had picked up the bodies were in quarantine and undergoing a battery of tests.

General Cash had been made aware of the find, and LInIS agents were currently trying to run down the ownership information on the truck and the nationality of the victims, but it was widely expected that they were black market operatives from Incadon.....

LAFCC


Inside the Liarg Armed Forces Command Center, General Bradley Cash picks up the phone. He pushes two buttons and is connected with Dollee Hardaway, James' Administrative Assistant.

Cash: Dollee, I need to speak to James.

Ms. H: Hello Brad....I mean General Cash...I need to speak to James as well. I take it that you have not heard from him?

Cash: Dammit Dollee, you have to know where he is. He doesn't change socks without reporting to someone, and we all know that you run this country about half the time.....*short laugh*...but seriously, I have to speak to him Can you have him call me, like yesterday?

Ms. H: I am telling you Bradle....... *coiugh*...I mean General, I have not seen or heard from him in over a week. If I do, you will be the first to know.....

Cash: If you say so.

Ms. H: Is it bad?

Cash: You have no idea.....

Cash hangs up the phone and drums his fingers on the desk for a moment before stalking out the door.....

The plague even reached as far as the Incadon High Council, where president Stephanie Jurnon came down with the virus. With her death, Incadon has been plunged into anarchy. Looting is rampant. Within 2 weeks, 90% of the populace is dead. All forms of communication are unmanned, and thus, there is no way to make contact with Incadon, save going in there, which could be deadly.

*news theme music*

"Hello, I'm Fred Daniels with the Channel Eight News.
"A deadly virus, originating from the nation of Where are the CBs, has somehow made its way onto Redudancian soil. The medical profession is at a loss as to how to deal with this fast-acting disease, so the government is imposing a full quarantine effective immediately. No one is to leave their houses for a period of forty eight hours. The hope is that this disease will not spread further.
"Reports have come out that Martin Havlat, of the Redudnancian hockey team the Big Chill, has contracted this disease; however, players and coaches from the Chill have been silent. More on this story as it develops."

Lake Haven School for Girls

An armored, black Lincoln pulls up in front of the Lake Haven School for Girls, one of the many standard boarding schools for Liargian children. (It is customary that Liargian children attend boarding schools in order to receive a thorough and equitable education.) The back door opens, and Dollee Hardaway exits, walking quickly up the stairs, through the entrance, and by-passing the administrative offices, enters the office of the Headmistress. Maureen Livingston sitting behind her desk, telephone to her ear, holds up one finger and smiles at Ms. Hardaway, pointing to a chair. Ms. Hardaway sits down and only has to wait a moment for the call to end.

Ms. Livingston: Hello Dollee....what can I do for you?

Ms. Hardaway: It seems James is needed in the worst way back at LAFCC, and LInIS has no idea where he is. I need to talk to Kristin.

Ms. L: Certainly. Let me check her schedule....*rapidly punches a few buttons on her pc, pulling up a spreadsheet*---It is 11:25-she should be in the gym....self defense class. I will be happy to escort you...

The two women enter an elevator, dropping two floors to the basement gymnasium. There, 2 groups of 25 young ladies are practicing various forms of self defense. Dollee quickly spots James' 12 year old daughter Kristin exhibiting a spinning back kick for the members of her group. Ms. Livingston speaks to the instructor for a moment, who then approaches Kristin and excuses her from the exercise. She sees Dollee, and runs to jump into her arms...

Kristin: Hello Ms. Hardaway. *hugs her neck* Whatever are you doing here?

Dollee: Kristin, it is Dollee...how many times do I have to tell you that?
*smiles*

Kristin: OK, ok Dollee. Whats up?

Dollee takes Kristin's hand and they walk over to a more private area...Kristin, General Cash came to see me yesterday...

Kristin interrupts: How is uncle Bradley? I have not seen him in ages...

Dollee: He is fine, Kristin, but there are some things going on...important things. He needs to talk to your father, but no one seems to know where he is. I was hoping that you could tell me....have you heard from him in the last couple weeks...?

Kristin sits silently for a moment, looking uncomfortable. A stranger would never expect or understand how mature she is, the things she has been through, the decisions she has been forced to make......she looks up at Ms. Hardaway with a cold stare....There are very few people in the world that Dad trusts, and you and Uncle Bradley are on the short list.......*she thinks a moment*...When was the last time that you did not know exactly where he was and what he was doing?

Dollee thinks about this a moment, but says nothing....

Kristin continues: If Dad has gone somewhere, and has not told you or Uncle Brad where, he has to have his reasons. You are just going to have to trust him on that. The military is in good hands....Uncle Brad can run things just fine, and you know that he is not scared to make decisions....and the board of governors, with your input as usual, is very intelligent. If Dad does not show up, I am sure that you can manage....

Dollee puts her arm around Kristin, hugging her tightly......You are too smart for your own good aren't you? *Dollee chuckles* I don't know why I bothered to ask, because I should have known what your answer would be.... I have to get back to work...you take care Kristin..and tell your dad that we miss him and hope he is ok...

Kristin- *hugs Dollee back, holding her tightly for a moment* I will. It was nice to see you....you really should come one afternoon for horseback riding...I will show you the campus...

Dollee: I would love that...I will certainly plan to do that very soon....goodbye for now...


LDCRnDC

After hours of careful study and analysis, technicians and doctors have isloated a form of influenza in the two bodies, but are puzzled by its makeup. Cultures of the flu, compared from hour to hour, seem to mutate almost constantly, making it impervious to any known antidote. As any treatment is applied, the strain changes so as to be immune from the cure. The laboratory teams are working at full capacity to try to come up with a new drug to which the flu cannot react, but without success.

LInIS

General Cash sits around a large oval table with his under-chiefs and 6 of the regional governors.

It has been identified as some form of influenza. It is impervious to any known treatment and mutates quickly to counteract any drugs that we know.

Is it natural or manmade?

We cannot tell at this time, but we know that it is nothing that we have been working on...

Can we come up with something, a vaccination...anything to prevent the spread?

We are working on it as we speak, but with no success thus far....

Who do we know...who can we bring in on this project with the technical ability....?

General Cash looks at the Minister of Defense, who shrugs and slightly shakes his head *no*....

Cash looks at the governors a moment, then speaks.....There is one.....not an ally, not an enemy. A nation with whom we have had very little contact for trade, cultural exchange, military action....but a nation that through our intel we know is very technologically advanced...

Well, who is it?

Bradley speaks....

Gemetria......

Somewhere between Jolicoeur, the Incadonian capital, and the Incadonian mountains.

Jessamine stopped. She'd been sick and tired of walking. For a week, that'd been all she'd been doing. Walk, walk, find a rock to sleep under. Her boyfriend followed her.

She snapped at him, "Why are we doing this anyway? Why does it matter if we survive? Everyone else has died, why do we have to keep going?"

Her boyfriend turned to her. "We have to survive because if we don't, who will?"

She growled, "My feet are killing me, we've done nothing but walk, and I'm about ready to give up."

He took her into his arms. "I want you to survive because I love you. I want to be with you."

In a conference room in the University of Caenia, a meeting is already in session.

“You will notice that here, here, and here- there is evidence of new genes being spliced onto a modified FH-178A strain. This brings the total size of the virus up to eleven genes. Next slide please. This is the new protein that is formed form the added genes. It’s a protease that specifically targets proteins in erythrocytes, also known as the red blood cells. Next slide. This is a normal hemoglobin molecule, and this, next slide, is a hemoglobin molecule after being damaged by this protease. You will notice that this chemical is very similar in structure to bilirubin, and this accounts for the pigmentation in the eyes of the victims.

“This is not a naturally occurring virus: that much is certain. There has been a lot of research in recombinant influenza virus, especially as vectors for drug release. This means that the research is readily applicable to a weaponized form of the virus, like this little beastie. We’ve dubbed it the vertolic plague in my lab because of the pigmentation.

“My colleague, Dr. Mary Neson, has crunched out the number of this disease. Mary? ”

“Thanks Herj. ” Mary straighten her papers. The general and the two colonels were paying rapt attention to the presentation. They were from the 42th legion; they were reporting to the woman known as the Butcher of Tehran and by thousands of other titles. Alice May Gauss, Legate of the 42th Legion- the Legion of the Fallen Stars. By Mary’s count, this made three legates interested in this plague: Maximillion Hephatus of the 13th Legion, and James Grimson of the 5th.

“These are the nations with known cases. It’s a miracle that Gemetria has only had minor and contained cases of this disease, mostly in small cities near the C-Ton Incadon border, where we currently don’t have proper security set up. We find that most of the cases that have been found in mainland Gemetria have been found and isolated quickly and efficiently. Urban areas are relatively well protected against this virus, as there is already a tradition of using protective respirator gear due to the pollution levels in our cities. The hives also already have negative pressure zones and rooms, and so the spread of the disease is already checked by these factors.

“The slums will be the main areas of worry, and there is a good possibility that there could be a major burn in one of these areas. For example if this virus were to take hold in the Dis slum area, nearly 23 million people could die based on estimated mortality rates. This is a time bomb. The other main problem will be the economic impact of this disease on other nations that are less well prepared for this virus.

“What can we do? We are currently running computer simulations to come up with a retrovirus that will latch on and destroy the modified protease genes. We are also working on a vaccine, but the are problems with the folded structure in the deactivated viruses currently. We are hoping to get the first test batches of the vaccine by the end of the week, and it will take nearly 2 weeks to get the vaccine up to production scales once a vaccine has been found. The retrovirus is a big question mark in terms of time. The search-space on this problem is pretty big, and we have to do the complex bio-physics simulations for each candidate. Bottom line for the retrovirus: we need more computers to add to our GRID if we hope to finish before the virus has run its course…”

***

James Grimson finished reading the report.

“Thanks Alice. Well, what needs to be done?”

Alice readjusted her uniform, “I have already sent a report to the rest of the Senate suggesting that a portion of the Tree be joined with the University GRID system. Currently, all the major Universities have linked, and are assigning this as the top priority. The other recommendation that I made is getting the Metatron to start reminding the public about respirator gear use and proper sanitation, and to distribute free disposable respirator masks in the slums. We are already getting the maintenance staff in the hives to check the atmospheric filtering systems and ducts.”

“Okay, seems like reasonable precautions. I’m going to ask the Senate for permission to send 3 maniples of the 5th into Incadon from C-Ton. The country has descended in anarchy, and is turning into a humanitarian nightmare. Once there we will establish field quarantine buildings, cremate the dead, and try to return some order to the country. I’ll ask for elements of the 34th legion to be rotated into C-Ton to fill the void when my troops move.”

“And let me guess, our armies will be so enthralled by the local culture that they will feel quite reluctant to leave?”

“Alice, I cannot predict the future. Anything is possible, I suppose…”

There was an eerie calm in Jolicoeur. The city was in essence a tomb. Bodies lay everywhere, and the occasional survivor picked their way through the debris-choked streets, trying to find food and water. They were dressed in rags, and covered their mouths with scarfs. The survivors looked to be on their last legs- the decaying bodies spawned new diseases, and the city was overrun with plagued rats. The government entirely collapsed, and the once proud Incadon military was reduced to defending virus-free enclaves in the countryside, occasionally sending raids into the city to scrounge for supplies like bandits.

Four Gemetrian XN41A4 tanks headed up a column of twelve BL3s and twenty-eight XN160 rolled down off-ramp 423 of Highway 82 into Incadon’s capital city. Their tracks tore up the soft concrete of the urban roads, and crushed the bones of corpses that clustered the road. Proud Gemetrian banners that streamed off the antennae of the vehicles were splattered with putrid bodily fluids, but the tanks raged forward. Cars were heedlessly smashed out of the way, and the column pulled up into the park that lay to the side of one of Incadon’s hospitals. Troops with full respirator gear dismounted from their vehicles among the pulverized the concrete benches and ruined flower beds, and quickly fanned out to surrounding building. A strike team breached the doors of the hospital, and soldiers poured in. A pack of Goliath attack helicopters noisily passed by.

Captain Juliana Borda emerged from one of the BL3s, and surveyed the scene. Two Lieutenants followed behind her, their breather masks silently hissing under the noise of the engines. Captain Borda’s mask was black, and had gold pseudo-Celtic detailing around the edges and the eyes.

“Captain, SIR! We have acquired control of the hospital and the surrounding zone. I have reports that other task forces have seized three more hospitals in the city, and both airports. Reinforcements and supplies are on the way, SIR!”

“Captain SIR! We have also located a doctor that is unofficially in charge of the hospital. It looks like the city is without power, and the hospital ran out of fuel for their generators two days ago, SIR!.”

“Exceptional, Lieutenants. Get the engineers to cleanse and secure some of the neighborhood buildings; we’ll use them as barracks. We also need to get fuel to the hospital generators. Once this has been accomplished, start sending out patrols into the city. We need to quarantine any survivors, and start burning the bodies and other biological matter. Build the pyres in their streets, but watch to make sure that the troops have the fires under control.

“ Make sure that we take pictures and DNA samples from the corpses before burning them. The Senate has declared temporary imperium over this country. There is a ‘shoot-to-kill’ policy on any looters found, and we are authorized to use any force necessary to convince civilians to be quarantined. After that, get the engineers to start repairing the infrastructure: clearing the roads, restoring water and restoring power.

“And by the Tree, make sure that the men are observing NBC procedure. I don’t want our men getting the plague. We can’t afford to be sloppy.”

Nolee peered out her window. She had enclosed herself inside the local supermarket when the owner died in the plague. Her sister's baby boy cried inside. Both had miraculously been spared the plague, and they had lived off of the food inside. Seeing the Gemetrian troops, she feared for Incadon, or what was left of Incadon. "Those Gemetrians will ruin the country," she muttered.

Nearby the hospital, Anne watched the Gemetrians with hope. Her husband Samuel was in there, having gone to hospital at the first sign of trouble. She hoped he wasn't dead, and that the Gemetrians had the know-how to save him. She was pregnant with the couple's first child, who kicked at that very moment, as though to reassure Anne that everything would be all right.

"...and they were able to remove the stapler with only minor surgery. Diane?"

"Thanks Tom! Just recapping our top stories for today: Gemetrian soldiers, backed by gunships, just put down another heresy in Western C-ton today. Remnants of the old C-Tonian priesthood were organizing mortar attacks on Gemetrian military bases. 38 soldiers are reported to have been killed, bring the total Gemetrian casualties to 134,705. Gemetrian military reports that 378 heretics were condemned to the flames. Members of the ultra-right Gemetrian Loyalist used the news of these latest attacks to repeat their cries for establishing C-Tonian concentration camps.

"Also, Gemetrian officials just signed a deal with the Nation of Liarg guaranteeing x* petaflops of computational power for duration of the Project for the Vertolic Retrovirus. In return, Liarg will be granted a license for the domestic manufacture of the retrovirus code once the project completes. Gemetrian officials are currently estimating that nation that aren’t in the PRV will have to pay approximately 130 Aurei** per citizen to obtain a license. Now here is Jonah with the weather. Jonah?”

“Hey campers! Some bad news: there will be no weather forecast for today! All of our modeling computers were acquired under Eminent Domain by the Tree today, so we’re just going to have to look out the window for the next couple of weeks…”

* not revealed to maintain time ambiguity.
** roughly three and a quarter USD

Secure communique to Gemetria

Communique to the Government of Gemetria
Re: Indacon Viral Outbreak

The Science Directorate wishes to offer use of SILAS4 (Secure Interlinked Large Array System) in an effort to assist with efforts to combat the Incadon Retrovirus outbreak.

SILAS4 is a secure system running multiple parallel processors with a combined computing power in the multi petaflop range. We would set up a secure direct link to the appropriate nodes for operations.

Predis Vorn
Science Directorate

“What’s the status of the integration project?” Pontifex Mathias Kirpatrik (PhD in Computational Theology from the Corpus Arbor religious college in the University of Dis) hovered over the shoulder of a bored looking Augur who was surfing the web. Mathias had a habit of appearing suddenly that really unnerved the junior priests. He was usually a pretty quiet man when things were going right, but could curse a blue-streak when project milestones slipped.

Augur Trisha had been a part of Mathias’s team for four years now, and realized that his was more bark then bite. She didn’t look at Mathias as he spoke, let alone close down her browser. Her desk was a mess of tea-mugs, textbooks, and scrap paper. Mounted into the wall were two large LCD screens. One screen was displaying a shell grinding out some compilation, and the other screen seemed to be dedicated for browsing a movie trailer site. Mathias noticed that there was a new framed picture of her fiancée on her office wall. Looked like a trip to the Donius Prefecture, it the mountains were any guide.

“We’re running the MAKE on the folding program using the compiler that the Liargians gave us. We’re getting some build errors in the engine, and we sent it back down to the RPC abstraction boys, as we suspect that it’s an RPC semantics issue. They have a really strange protocol, and the documents for them are pretty piss poor. They also seem to have an aversion to commenting their code.” Trisha clicked on a link for a new action movie starring the latest flavour of talentless muscle, Thomas Vickery.

“And the porting to Durass?

“Smooth as silk… we have enough dealing with the Durassians that all our shit is compliant. It was just a matter of uppin’ our folding app to their array, and executing. We’ve been getting meaningful work back since 05:14, looks like… nearly 40,000 workunits are back.” Trisha cautiously sniffed a tea mug to verify how recent it was. She wrinkled her nose and thrust it aside.

“I say early Tuesday morning for the Liarg port, and that’s pretty generous.”

Mathias nodded and walked out of Trisha’s office, closing the door softly behind him. Trisha already appeared to have forgotten about his existence.

Morning Bree, what's new?

New? Not much, but what's not so new is the Gemetrians are apparently using a hefty computer stack on that Idocan virus thing. Bree continues studying the news story on the screen.

You can actually read that? As Garret notices it's a Gemetrian news site and untranslated.

Yeah, that stint I had in the C-Ton affair, acted as liason, luckily I've always picked up languages pretty fast.

Wonder if anyone's thought of lending a stack from our systems?

Garret suddenly grins at her over his display. Your prophetic m'dear! Just got the email and I quote,

"Immediate assessment of computer stack availability for medical data processing required. System will be operating with extra-national protocals.

PRIORITY - IMMEDIATE"

Think the Durassians will offer anything?

Probably a SILAS stack, Kris mentioned they recently got 5 and 6 up and running. He's online so, may as well ask him and we can cross-compatible our systems.

-----

Within hours an official message is dispatched to the Gemetrian officials that a Tundran networked system is available for their usage.

OOC: BT and I had discussed a bunch of tech transfers that we were going to RP but didn't. This is one of them, BT set up SILAS 1 and helped with 2 and 3. Some of their technicians are still here.

BT, we should get a list of tech transfers posted so people know why and where we have technology overlap.

Emperor Ferrien sat back and sighed deeply into his hand. All about him stood Dukes, Earls, and the occasional Duchess. Numerous of the major Houses were represented, including Kalium, Stannum, Hydragum, Auris, Stibium, Veritas, Pax, and Audi.

Duke Sereh, of House Kalium, was the quietest of the group. The deaths of thousands - hundreds of thousands - were on his head, and the knife of the Emperor was very close by his throat.

"At this point," began Ferrien, "Pointing fingers is quite useless." The calmness of his voice belied the urgency of the matter. "We will be offering the computational use of three of the twelve city Brains, as well as numerous of our files on the production of the virus. These will be heavily edited, of course, and presented as information gathered from an un-named source. Perhaps we will blame Incadon herself," he said, with a wicked smile. "But for now, we want this virus shut down as quickly as possible. And we do not want it traced back to us. Regardless of the fact it was not our own hands that set the virus into motion... to anger the Gemetrians is not a good idea, for the sake of our military numbers."

Murmurs of agreement swept the room. The various dukes and duchesses swept from the room, and Duke Sereh breathed a sigh of relief. What he didn't know was that we would return to his familiar bearings to find his personal garden burned and salted. A little old-fashioned, but when one chooses to send a message, one doesn't need to be grandiose about it.

The message was drafted to be sent directly to the Tree of Gemetria. It contained the specs. of the Brains (with three per city being opened, 150 of the Brains would be made available). As well, several reports (heavily edited) of the production of the virus were made available. As an afterthought, all were doctored to show an Incadon signature. It wasn't particularly believable, but it didn't really have to be.

Ferrien smiled and tapped the enter key.

Dr. Emily Gibban, former Secretary of Health and Secretary of Defense in Incadon, had survived the virus. She now lived in the western mountains. The Gemetrian army had rapidly overrun the population, yet she was determined to lead a resistance movement.

She moved rapidly among the survivors, distributing spears she had made out of sticks. She also was developing a bow and arrow, as well as killing mountain animals and boiling their fat to make hot oil, which she kept at the ready at all times during the day.

And quickly as they came, the Gemetrian soldiers withdrew from Jolicoeur. The generators, fuel supplies, medicines, and medical equipments was all packed up in the middle of the night, and the column of tanks and IFVs snaked its way out of the city at the first sight of dawn.

The funeral pyres were still smoking.

Anne couldn't sleep. That was unusual, for most nights she was sound asleep. Yet tonight of all nights she was restless. She got up and went to the window. Was it. . .yes, they were leaving! She dressed and ran after them, shouting, but were they deaf or ignoring her? Just then, a native Incadonian doctor, wearing a full "bunny suit" tossed the body of her Samuel onto a heap.

No! No, no, no!

As she stood frozen in horror, her child kicked. That seemed to awaken her from her trance. She quietly attempted to stow away to Gemetria squished between two generators.

This may be the only way I can make a life for my baby.

Nolee woke up the next morning to an eerie quiet. No Gemetrians in sight. She was on a heightened alert. She didn't know what they were up to. Deciding to move fast, she left the supermarket and made her way to the former government buildings. She knew it was a matter of time before another like the Gemetrians tried to invade.

Dr. Gibban surveyed the retreat of the Gemetrians. Yes, she was relieved, but suspicious at the same time. Something must be happening. Yet, she decided, she couldn't consider what at the time. It probably didn't concern Incadon at all.

She resolved to try to set up a government of her own here in the mountains to unite the refugees.

"Sir? During the packing the soldiers discovered a person in one of the generator crates. It appears to have been female."

"Appears to have been?" Captain Borda was trying to scratch at her neck, though the NBC gears was making it tough.

"Crushed, sir. The arms, head, and torso are mostly pulverised. Tissue, blood, and bone fragments are all over the generator. The legs are mostly intact. Looks like the generator shifted in transit... Probably over the Severthal Mountain range roads. Though it might have been dead by the time of loading, you know how happy the boys are with their winches..."

"Oh god... the stupid auslander... I want that cleaned up and disinfected. She might have been plagued. Damn it. Disinfect it WELL.[\color]” Borda paused. She was ticked.

“[color=red]It is also completely inconceivable to me how she could have even stowed into the crate! I want the people responsible crucified for this, Lieutenant. This is unacceptable. There are checks and cross-checks for a reason. Security. SAFETY. What if this was a bomb or worse? Something fell down here, and I’m angry. And when I’m angry, people go on latrine duty. For at least 4 weeks. If I have to clean up after their shit, they will have to clean up after mine. Single one out, and scourge them. The others will think that they got off light. Do I make my clear? Dismissed.”

“ Sir, yes SIR!” The lieutenant crossed his arms in a salute, and spun about. Lick up, kick down. That was the way it was in the army. And he was going to kick down hard.

"Sir!" The salute was sharp, piercing - the sound of an Old Guardsmen.
"Yes, lieutenant?" Asked the Grand Minister, whittling a small piece of wood with his pocket knife. The small slivers of wood fell to his lap and the steel floor beneath his chair, his feet resting atop the mahogany desk in front of him. Behind him, feeble light shone from a spire some hundred metres away.
"Intelligence reports indicate a mass retreat of Gemetrian soldiers from Incadon, M'Lord Emperor." The man said. His armour had been recently polished, his cape recently washed. The men of the Old Guard rarely wore their cape, when not on parade. The Emperor wondered why this man did.

When the emperor's response was not immediate, the lieutenant's posture become even more upright. After several minutes of silence, his hand began to twitch.
"Hm? Oh! At ease, lieutenant. You're dismissed," the Emperor said, realizing with a start the man was still standing there.

Alone once more, the Emperor pondered. It had been Defectiveness that had ultimately caused the deaths of hundreds of millions in Incadon - were a few more justified in bringing the source of contagion under control? Were a few more worth the possibility of such a large territory under the Defective flag? Perhaps. But first he would need to ascertain the safety of the area. And the best way he knew how was under a liberal blanket of fire. Perhaps, thought the Emperor. Perhaps.

Nolee toyed with the broadcast system in the Parliament Buildings. No use. Nothing was working. Fortunately for her, there were many survivors who had crowded into the Parliament buildings. They would be of use to her, if she could control them.

She searched the building for weapons, and at last found a large kitchen knife in the cafeteria. Using it, she forced all of the survivors into her service.

Later, having found enough bunny suits for all of them, she sent them out to announce her control of the Incadonian government.