Cleansing Fire

[Cmdr Ba'alyo 0]

EXECUTIVE OFFICER'S LOG, USS Challenger

Challenger has been joined in orbit by a dedicated hospital ship, the Oberth-class USS John Snow, and the Miranda-class USS Belic. Together, we're working to contain the epidemic now known as a "plasma plague" on the Obi VI colony. Nearly 3500 were infected, with fewer than ten survivors, but the plague seems to have burned itself out in the remote area of the northernmost settlement. Sadly, our own tactical officer was among the latest victims.

 

Dr. Juno, Dr. Harris, and Lt. Savros have been on the surface along with Dr. Nuress and others from the Snow to conduct autopsies, isolate the plague virus, and treat the final patients. Using Dr. Juno's research, our sensors were able to locate the probable source of the plague as extraterrestrial - a cometary impact site in the nearby wilderness. Ensign McGee has confirmed similar protein samples are located out in the system's Oort shell, among the primordal cometary debris.

 

Now that specialized ships have arrived, the captain has suggested we'll shore up the quarantine and transition crisis management to Dr. Nuress. Science and medical are finalizing their assessments. Our remaining teams are working through exit strategies, conferring with local officials. One final concern is what measures need to be taken to sterilize the colony and reduce the chances of a future outbreak.

 

In the muted lights of his quarters, Commander Ba'alyo thumbed the surface of the portable tablet and set it on the small shelf near his bed. Their whole mission to the Obi VI colony had felt like one of measured futility. Unable to find a cure, they'd been unable to save any of the infected populace. The extent of their success was the isolation and containment of the plague. That was something, he knew, to be proud of. But it didn't bring back the dead. Space was full of such dangers. Maybe that's why so many who shared his Efrosian heritage never left their homeworld.

 

He would have to make the arrangements for Lieutenant Doug T. The tactical officer's death had been swift and senseless. Just weeks ago, they'd been saving each other's lives from the Klingon boarding party. According to Savros, the human had requested no lengthy memorial - just a standard burial in space. Given the nature of his death, the torpedo path would be plotted to intersect the system's sun. With a smirk at cosmology and a scant knowledge of human death rituals, Zen realized this was the dust they'd come from that they'd all return to.

 

Thoughts of stellar fire made him think of the heat of sterilization. If no conventional means of rendering the plague inert were found, Challenger might very well send down a cleansing fire from the heavens. Would it be necessary to wipe the town of Giiwhyen from the globe? Would the few survivors be forced to begin again, losing their homes along with the dead?

 

From his reclined position, he swung his feet off the edge of the bunk and sat up. He reached for his burgundy jacket, slipping into it as he stood. It was time to see what would happen next.