Authors: Gary Chesla
Robert Paulson hadn’t seen enough of this thing to know much more, like what it would do next. But he had seen enough to know it would quickly kill anyone it had infected.
He had instructed his assistants to give his patients a transfusion in the hopes it would flush this thing out of their systems before it had time to embed itself in their organs, but he wasn’t optimistic of the outcome.
He was working with very limited information, not enough to draw any conclusions with any degree of certainty.
But he had seen enough to realize this first round of the battle was almost over.
His thoughts were now on the second round.
There were over six thousand men on the Ronald Regan. The Ronald Regan was massive for an aircraft carrier, but in reality was a very small confine for this many people.
From what he had observed, losing the second round could result in losing six thousand people and the ship in a matter of a few hours.
The problem was he didn’t even know what he was fighting. He feared he was entering a fight against an F-18 with nothing but a sling shot.
While the lab tried to isolate this thing, he needed more information. It was time to warn the Captain. It was also time he got some answers.
Lieutenant Paulson left the lab and headed for the control tower to see the Captain.
As he climbed the stairs to make his way to the top deck, another rumble echoed through the ship. Another Super Hornet had just landed. The sound did little to clear his mind. In fact, he had hardly noticed the sound at all.
Chapter 2
Lieutenant Paulson finally arrived at the control tower and was stopped by the MP’s stationed to keep any unauthorized personal out of the ship’s nerve center.
“Sorry sir!” The burley guard barked. “No one allowed. Captain says we have a situation. No one allowed in unless the Captain sends for him. Captain’s orders.”
“Would you please tell the captain that Lieutenant Paulson needs to see him now! Unless it is the start of World War III, I need to see him now or he is going to have another situation to deal with.”
The big guard looked uneasy.
“Now sailor!” The doctor said, doing his best imitation of a Marine drill sergeant. He smiled to himself as the big guard, after shuffling his feet uneasily, opened the door and stuck his head inside and said something quietly to the guard that was stationed inside the control room.
He was glad to see he still had it. As a doctor he didn’t have much opportunity to pull rank. Most of his patients, regardless of their rank, rarely questioned his orders or hesitated to do as he instructed.
However he was not in his sick bay. This was not his command area. But as the ship’s doctor he had authority over every member of the ship, including the Captain, under certain conditions.
This was not one of those situations, at least not yet. For now he had to bluff his way through this.
The large guard pulled his head out of the control room and looked at the doctor. “You can go in.” He opened the door and stepped to the side.
The guard inside greeted him. “Sir, please wait here. The Captain will see you in a minute.”
Lieutenant Paulson stepped inside as the guard closed the door behind him.
The control center was bristling with activity. Paulson looked around at the scenes that played out in front of him on the ships monitors.
The Captain was studying the monitor in front of him as he listened to his XO on his right.
“Sir! We have two ships approaching our perimeter in area 35.” The XO was saying.
“Does the AWAC show any activity anywhere else?” The Captain asked.
“No Sir! Nothing we can pick up anywhere.”
The Captain studied the monitor. “They look like a couple of fishing boats.”
“That’s my read Sir!” The XO replied. “They seem to be moving in an erratic course sir. Damn unusual. It could be a distraction. The Chinese have never tried to breach our defensive perimeter before, but they could be testing our reactions to see how far they can penetrate using non-military ships.”
“An unofficial electronic intelligence gathering platform?” The Captain added.
“Very possible sir!” the XO stated. “Orders Sir!”
“Let’s put an F-18 over them and have the Cumberland intercept and turn them back. Have the Cumberland drop some extra sonar buoys. They could be trying to lure one of our destroyers in range of one of their subs. It wouldn’t be the first time they tried that.” The captain smiled.
“The Indiana (One of the two attack subs that accompanied the battle group whose job was to detect and discourage any enemy subs that tried to see how close to the carrier they could get.) swept that area thirty minutes ago and reported the area clear. But will do Sir.” The XO replied as he instructed the attending officers to put the Captain’s orders into action.
After the Captain studied all the monitors and was satisfied with the response to the situation, he looked over at Lieutenant Paulson and smiled as he walked over.
“Bob, I’m surprised to see you here. Things slow down in sick bay so you came up here to get close to the action?” The Captain smiled.
“No Sir!” Paulson replied. “Just the opposite. I think we might have a problem. Could I speak to you in private for a minute Sir?”
The smile faded from the Captain’s face. The doctor was a frequent visitor to the Captain. Usually it was to remind him that his regular physical or psych evaluation was overdue. Reminder was often not the right word, threat or harassment was more accurate. The Captain had completed all of his required evaluations less than a month ago so he knew the doctor’s visit didn’t concern him today until he saw the worried look on his face.
“XO, the bridge is yours.” The Captain barked.
The Captain motioned for the doctor to follow him outside.
They walked out the door as the sound of “Captain off the bridge.” was announced.
Paulson followed the Captain out into the corridor and away from the guard. He followed the Captain into an empty briefing room and stood at attention as the Captain closed the door and took a seat.
“What’s up Bob?”
“Tom, I have six guys down in my sick bay with something I have never seen before. I don’t think they are going to make it.” Paulson said.
The Captain studied the doctor. “Any ideas? What do you need from me?”
“I need to ask you a question. I’m sure what I need to ask is above my pay grade, but if I am going to be able to help them I need some information. I have six men dying. One of them is one of my lab techs. The other five men I assume were together on the Poseidon Mini Sub. My lab tech caught whatever it is from that sub’s crew.” The doctor said but was interrupted by the Captain.
“You know I can’t discuss anything that is classified.”
The Captain looked at his watch as the sound of a Super Hornet rumbled down the runway as it was catapulted off the deck of the Ronald Regan.
“So I am right, all of those men were on the Poseidon last night?” The doctor stared at the Captain.
“Yes you’re right, but that is all I can say.” The Captain responded.
“If I am to figure out how to help them, I need to know what the hell they were doing!” Paulson replied more forcefully.
“I don’t know.” The Captain responded.
“From what I can tell at this point, what they have is highly contagious. There is over six thousand men jammed on this carrier, if you get where I am going with this. At this point all I know is what they have is going to kill them. I also know there isn’t a damn thing I can do about it or about the fact that it could spread throughout the entire ship in an hour unless I have an idea what it is so I can figure out what the hell will stop it.” Paulson practically shouted.
The Captain tapped his fingers on the table in front of him as he looked at the doctor.
“Tom I’m serious about this. If I have to call CDC and have this entire ship quarantined.” Paulson threatened.
“Bob, I’m not refusing to answer your question. I honestly don’t know what they came into contact with.” The Captain replied.
Paulson sat back and took a deep breath and exhaled. “What do you mean you don’t know? What were they doing in that sub? Where did they go?”
The Captain thought for a moment. “This doesn’t leave this room. I got a call from Washington. There has been some crazy shit going on in Eastern China. Satellite photos show that Eastern China is going crazy. From what I was told it is like a war zone. There are bodies everywhere. The Chinese Army has been pouring into the area, but it still seems to be spreading west. Calls to the Chinese embassy resulted in the U.S. being told there is nothing going on and for us to mind our own business. I was instructed to send a seal team in last night to get a firsthand look and to report back.”
“China wouldn’t be happy about that. They would consider it an act of war. Why would we do something stupid like that? Who cares if they are killing themselves? I don’t see that as something we should risk war over just to confirm they have an internal problem.” Paulson looked at the Captain in disbelief.
The Captain’s expression didn’t change.
Paulson stared at the Captain. “OK Tom. There has to be more to this than you are telling me. What is the part you’re not telling me?”
“A few years back we were experimenting with a virus. We weaponized the virus as a possible way to release on a limited area and take down the enemy without exposing any of our troops.”
The Captain paused.
Paulson shook his head.
“We never did anything with the virus. They managed to get the virus to do what they wanted, it would have been a weapon more devastating than the A Bomb, but because they couldn’t develop a vaccine against it, it was considered too dangerous to ever use.” The Captain added.
“That’s good, but what does that have to do with our problem?” Paulson asked.
“About six months ago we discovered there was a breach of our computer system. It was traced back to China. The Pentagon thinks the Chinese stole the information on the project, just like everything their hackers have been taking. We think they were trying to reproduce the virus and test it in Eastern China. I was ordered to send in a seal team to bring out air and soil samples to confirm our suspicions.” The Captain said.
“Did your men bring back the samples?” Paulson asked.
“Yes, they were able to complete their mission. The Chinese have their hands full and it was fairly easy to get by their defenses.” The Captain replied.
“I need to see those samples.” Paulson said excitedly. “That will tell me what I’m up against.”
The Captain shook his head. “The samples flew out of here an hour ago. My orders were to fly them to San Diego as soon as the sub returned. “Besides, if it is what they think it is, there is nothing you could do. There is nothing anyone can do. There is no known antidote.”
“Shit!” Paulson sighed. “Then we have a big problem.”
“For now, I want your area sealed off. No one in or out. If what you have down there is related to this virus, our main concern is to keep it there so it doesn’t spread throughout the ship.” The Captain said. “I will notify the Pentagon about our situation and ask them to notify us as soon as they have analyzed the samples. If it is the virus, even if it isn’t, we need to contain it.”
“What about China? It sounds like it is spreading across their country. This thing could spread around the world with no way to stop it.” Paulson said as the concern he felt clearly showed on his face.
“If it is the virus, the only way to stop it is to kill it.” The Captain added.
“The guys in the lab said they tried to kill it. One of my techs even tried rat poison on it. It can’t be killed. That shit will kill anything.” Paulson said.
“The only known way to kill it is to nuke it.” The Captain said as he looked at Paulson.
“What, are we going to nuke China?” Paulson said sarcastically.
“Once we confirm that it is the virus, Washington intends to confront them. Either they do it or we will. It was their reckless actions that caused this. At least they can possibly save the western part of their country.” The Captain said seriously.
“I guess the world is in for a big adjustment, one way or another.” Paulson sighed. “God help us all.”
“Bob, go back and contain this thing. The shit is going to hit the fan very soon. It would be nice if we all could find a way to live through this.” The Captain said. The weary look and the wrinkles on his face showed he clearly understood what they were facing.
Lieutenant Paulson slowly stood and pushed his chair under the conference table. The gravity of the situation clearly weighing on his mind.
Before walking out the door he turned and looked back at the Captain. “Tom, could you send me down some uranium or some nuclear waste water from the sub?”
“That’s dangerous shit Bob. What are you going to do with it?” The Captain eyed Paulson.
“I don’t know for sure. Nothing else seems to have any effect on this thing. Maybe I can figure a way to nuke this thing in another way. As I see it, we are running out of options and time.” Paulson replied.
“I’ll send it down within the hour.” Tom replied. “Good luck!”
“We ran out of that an hour ago.” Bob said as he walked out of the room.