Aurora, Wayward Pt. 04

She had smokey grey eyes; her hair was silver but lacked luster because of her age. He asked her, "Physical ailments."

She smiled, "That obvious? Stage three cancer; just about everywhere. I am on the list for blood in the morning."

He shook his head, "Hold off. Let that go to another. We can be there in 30 hours. Aurora looked over, "We still have a Sentinel battleship in the area. It could send her a shuttle and she would be here in half that time as we meet her in transit."

He nodded, "Do it. With a pilot not automated. Our shuttles can travel faster than your best warships."

She nodded, "I was monitoring your approaching and looking over the scan data for your ship. I told them there was nothing we could do to stop that monster from going where he wanted to go. Then I watched your entire briefing including saving that girl."

Lena came over and waved, "Hello."

She smiled, "I did not know she was nearby."

He nodded, "We just finished an hour of decontamination in medical."

Aurora looked at me, "You were at 4% and Freia was just below 2% the cross-contamination does occur."

He nodded. "When you get aboard here you will be spending a few days in medical. Giving them a chance to get your toxin levels down from the poison. Also, to monitor cancer leaving your body for good."

She smiled, "I will look for your shuttle in front of my home." She ended the call.

He shook his head, "I like her spirit and her military record. She might not share my bed every night after the first night but she would definitely show us supporting diversity in the outer colonies."

Aurora smiled, "I have been collecting blood from Freia, I have two units. Need another from you."

He nodded and laid there. She pulled up another file, "This one is a doctor, with a theoretical study in xenobiology as they had no aliens to work from. She is interested in that science. She is 28 and never been with a man, but is willing to give it a shot with you.

Her military service was redacted and I fixed that. She is a hero. She is an expert in Ginta style of sword fighting. It would be interesting to see her spar with Freia. As they both use two weapons; hers is just more defensive. Trisan system."

He sighed and nodded, "Connect me while you have me captive." She smiled and connected her in.

The woman worked in a hospital. The lady at the desk looked over, "Oh my, your Rocan."

He nodded, "I am looking for a Doctor Vera Trose."

She smiled and paged the doctor. She looked a little haggard as the woman pointed at the screen. Vera froze and then came and sat down. "You saw my file."

He nodded, "Even the parts your military redacted. The parts that got you busted in rank but saved a lot of lives. You disobeyed a direct order to fight to the death as your hospital was being overrun. Instead, you evacuated patients and defended their retreat in getting out of there. They busted your rank but gave you two medals as they felt you were heroic but you violated orders."

She sighed, "I am not allowed to talk about that. That Sentinel you have, Aurora pulled the original files for that?"

He nodded, "I plan on getting my lawyer to file an appeal on that as your command general was a Caldar; one of the 10 we blew away. Someone got a 'blood sample' from him, in another redacted file. He disappeared soon afterward; assumed a new form.

Your government knew they had been infiltrated by something alien and covered it up. Weeks later a truce was reached while you were still recovering from your wounds of getting shot in the escape. In the group were 8 males. Exactly what the Caldar loved to feast upon."

She sat there shocked, "I don't know what to say."

He smiled, "Good sign. We want them to surrender that sample and all research they might have attempted on it; unredacted. Something for an aspiring Xenobiologist to look over. I would ask that you look at studying Androids as well. Their function, and such so you can add that race to your list."

She smiled, "You are wanting me to join you?"

He smiled, "Feel up to the challenge? You sound like a strong candidate for a blue blade. A defender if you will. Matches your sword style."

She smiled, "Would I become like you? A hybrid?"

He chuckled, "That was what you had requested. You seem like an exceptionally strong candidate."

She smiled, "How does one become a hybrid?"

He sighed, "We restrict that to those once aboard and they have agreed to become one. Some find it shocking as to how it occurs."

She smiled, "I have to get back to work. I could be there the day after tomorrow. How long would I be gone?"

He shook his head, "If you became the head of the blue blades you would be doing your type of work across all colonies. You would likely be on the eternal council which is a full-time job but your focus would be on advancing your skills. That we can help with."

She sighed, "I have a lot of outstanding debt to just quit working."

He nodded. As Astra pulled up her financials, "I had not gone through these. Mostly student loan debt. Her parents did not pay for her education and the military stopped when she was busted in rank. She got an honorable discharge but they cut off her educational support as part of some back-room deal."

He nodded, "You have any vacation time coming."

She nodded, "A lot of it. I have been working here for 8 years and banked my vacation, most of it during that time. I have close to 60 days coming.''

Aurora nodded, "She will accrue enough to be just over 60 days while on vacation."

He nodded, "How soon can you get that done?"

She smiled, "Day after tomorrow. I go on my break. I could go tomorrow if I get my boss's permission."

Aurora smiled and pulled in the hospital administrator. He was shocked as Rocan chuckled, "Hello there."

He nodded but seemed annoyed, "Mr. Spartan. Something I can do for you? I see you have Doctor Trose in this call. Interesting."

Rocan nodded, "She has accrued quite a bit of vacation time and I have extended an invitation to her come to my ship, see our medical technology, and get a chance to examine a hybrid first hand. Anyway, she could start that time beginning tomorrow?"

He sat back, "This would help her how?"

Rocan smiled, "It would help her to help all Penan people in understanding hybrids, our xenobiology database, and the advanced medical facilities we have here and plan to deploy to the colonies."

Aurora looked over, "We should have those new medical drop ships available in the next 4 days and I hope to have the patents filed before then to have them constructed."

He sat up, "Your blood could put a lot of doctors out of work."

Rocan smiled, "It will save a lot of lives. Which would you rather have? Doctors can explore other fields including research into what the Drakor blood is doing to the DNA. You compare what you discover versus what has been discovered by other races including our Terran ancestors who have looked into this area. A doctor who got into treating cancer should be ecstatic to see a cure for that occurring."

He sighed, "We still have to make a profit for our shareholders. I am responsible for working toward their interests."

Rocan looked at the file, "You are a doctor though you do not practice as much. You were a surgeon but you had issues with nerve degeneration in your hands. You observe and instruct but you do not pick up a scalpel. You know this blood will fix that issue. You want a new area to expand your services that is a revolving door of potential revenue for your hospital.

Try working the toxic poison issue that your hospitals are built from. The means of eliminating that effect on your population. Contract with your miners who are still pulling that metal out of the ground and generating the dust the people are inhaling. As a doctor, you should be happy about these medical breakthroughs and realize not all people will accept Drakor blood. You will have those who refuse to look at that option who will still need those doctors."

The man shook his head, "She is due to be off the day after that and she could take weeks' worth of vacation then."

Rocan smiled, "If she left your service would you be required to pay her vacation, she has accrued because of this limitation you put on your staff?"

He sighed, "We would be obligated under the law to do such a thing."

Rocan nodded, "That would make one less doctor you have to worry about being put out of work by this money-making issue you are dealing with."

He looked at her, "You can have your week of vacation. If you quit after that we would have to pay out the balance."

She sighed, "I have not agreed to stop practicing at the hospital. I am curious how Doctor Vonder took a month off at one time without this limitation?"

He sighed, "Doctor Vonder had extenuating circumstances."

Rocan looked at him, "She is being afforded an opportunity to know and understand all of this technology and alien species information and you find no benefit from her taking vacation time to do so?"

The Doctor sighed, "I will clear her for 30 days. At which point she has a decision to make."

She nodded and looked at Rocan, "I will depart here when I get off shift this evening. Where will I meet you?"

He sighed, "En route to Risen at the moment. Aurora will send you a channel to contact me by when you get ready to depart. We can arrange a meeting point at that time."

She smiled and they all ended the call.

--

6 hours later and he was on the bridge going over status reports, "Rocan, we have a problem. One of the hospitals is reporting an issue with patients receiving Drakor DNA blood. Some patients appear to be getting worse."

He saw an image of a doctor, "I would like to know what kind of fraud you're pulling here!"

Rocan looked at him, "Show me an image of one of these patients to start with. Then send us a blood sample from the bag you received and one from that patient."

The doctor sighed and sent him the picture and the samples. Rocan shook his head, "You did not get blood with Drakor DNA in it."

The doctor looked, "How do you know? You just got the data."

Rocan sat back, "The child's skin would appear black in color for 24 hours. Then returned to normal. I am not seeing that. Aurora what is our medical Sentinel telling us?"

She sighed, "The blood that was sent is laced with some kind of biotoxin. I am getting contacted from the other outer colony clinics as well."

He pulled them all into the conversation. "I have been made aware you are having issues with the blood you received. Stop using it. If the patient has not changed to a black color during the injection process then they did not send you blood with Drakor DNA.

Our systems here are reporting a biotoxin. I am having shuttles dispatched from this ship. Give coordinates to Aurora. Each one will have a pint of blood with Drakor DNA in it.

We have not received this report from Trisan or Pena. Someone likely hijacked the blood shipment and sent something toxic to your patients. I will investigate. Get this to the sickest patients first."

He looked over, "Aurora work with the doctors and address their concerns. I have a governor to contact."

She thought to him, * Check out Pena Direct news. *

He pulled it up and saw a news anchor, "That is right everyone. We are receiving word that the outer colonies are having a bad reaction to this Drakor blood. Trisan and Pena have had no ill effects. We do not know the cause at this time but some in the medical community think it is something environmental in the outer colonies atmosphere."

He contacted the station. He looked at the lady, "Get me to your news desk or you can let your station manager know I am about to hijack the newscast!"

The lady sent him to the news desk and the editor looked over, "Well if it is not the Drakor whose blood is not working on the outer colonies."

He sighed, "I am recording this and that is slander. Put me on with your reporter or my lawyer will ensure I own that station before the week is out!"

The man put him on hold and he saw they were cutting into the newscast, She smiled, "Rocan Spartan has called in to address this issue."

Rocan looked across, "The blood sent to the outer colonies had no Drakor DNA and instead had some form of biotoxin in it. As such this is a terrorist attack under investigation by the Home Guard. We are deploying shuttles with drone fighter escorts to the each of the outer rim colonies.

I will be in contact with them shortly. If you watched your own news feeds you would know when I injected that girl with Drakor blood that her skin went dark, almost black. Almost instantaneously. That was Drakor's blood.

The blood is not doing that in the outer colonies because the blood sent did not contain Drakor blood. At this point, I am not accusing any government of this act. I will investigate this."

She looked over, "As the blood came from Pena are you going to go back into our computers to track down this information?'

He sighed, "That has yet to be determined as I contact your Governor. Your claims of environmental issues in the outer colonies are bogus. Bordering on a fraudulent effort to stop expansion into the outer colonies.

Issue a retraction, as Aurora is sending you copies of the blood samples received and the reports showing this biotoxin being sent instead. Else my lawyer will be contacting your station's lawyer first thing in the morning." *End it. *

She looked shocked to see the call end, "I am getting a message from our station management. They have stated they will stand behind the story until proven otherwise by a reliable source. They feel that Rocan Spartan is not the one to be conducting these tests."

A few minutes go by and the doctor from Risen called into the station. They put him on the air, "We received blood with a biotoxin as confirmed by our own labs. Video evidence or the girl's transformation showed the skin going black. That has not happened here.

I have the same reports on her and 6 others from area hospitals on Pena. Your management is either stupid or complicit. There was no DRAKOR DNA in the blood we received. This has been sent and confirmed with ALL outer colony doctors.

As such, I hope your station has deep pockets because he has a host of doctors on the outer rim ready to back his claim. He is using medical technology with a Sentinel doctor that is over 4,000 years more advanced than the medical beds we use today. Saying he is an unreliable source is ludicrous."

The reporter was taken aback, "We will be right back after a word from our sponsors."

He got Wira Kel on the phone, The receptionist put his straight through. "I am sending you medical data from the outer colonies, the reports showing my DNA samples, Friea's DNA samples and file footage from their own station from yesterday showing the skin coloration changes that occurred."

She sighed, "Calm down. I have already sent a letter to the station lawyer informing him of who your lawyer is and that these attacks will not stand. I will have my lawsuit in first thing in the morning."

She looked over, "I just got a message back from them."

She shook her head, "Well now I have a libel suit to file myself as he sent this to the bar association as well. Calling me a freak of an alien who should not be practicing law.

I have other stations up in our area and they are reporting exactly what the outer colonies are saying. They were not sent Drakor blood. They were following the same line until the other doctors called into their stations.

They let them know the outer colonies would not stand by while being attacked with a biological weapon. This is heating up fast. I am filing this lawsuit now and copying the bar association as well as the firm's senior partners. A couple of which are personal friends."

She sent her messages. Then she smiled, "I just got another message from them, This time a senior partner in the firm. They are reporting that they are firing the lawyer in question."

The news came back on and it looked like some suit from the main office, "We have been advised by the firm we have on retainer that, with the information being provided to us by Rocan Spartan and the Doctors in the outer colonies, that we must issue a retraction to the previous story. Rocan Spartan stated he would be investigating this issue but the blood sent was not Drakor and the issues are being caused by a biotoxin."

Rocan looped in the Governor who sat there holding her head, "I have my Surgeon General en route. Give me a few minutes. Now it looks like we have launched a biological attack on the outer colonies! My Secretary of Defense wants our ships to put onto a higher alert. I told him to stand down. You are out of orbit and you could alert of any impending attack."

Rocan looked over, "Ships are not moving at this point. I think they will want a top-down review of what went wrong. Here is where we test hybrid laws."

She sighed, "Already?"

The Surgeon General walked in, "I heard and have examined the information in house. We have never seen this biotoxin before in our records."

He looked over, "Aurora, you have access to all of the records of the other systems still. Cross-reference for that biotoxin."

She looked over, "Found a match. It is used as some form of insecticide on Trisan, called Eraxin."

He looked over at the Surgeon General, "Do I need to search trade logs to find out if your people have imported that insectile?"

The governor shook her head, "It was approved for import 6 months ago. Part of a major trade deal I signed. One of those line items I did not like because of the side effects. How could your people have missed that in their check of the system?"

The Surgeon General got on a separate comm, Aurora linked them all together. The Surgeon General was surprised but sat back down. The doctor he was talking with looked shocked, "How was this toxin missed in your search?"

He sighed, "We are almost a year behind on getting new toxins into the system with all of the trade deals going on and attempting to identify what issues they cause. It is in the queue for entry in another 6 months. Have pulled the file and it is a match to that product."

Rocan looked over, "How did the blood get to the outer systems?"

He sighed, "Through their own couriers."

Rocan sighed, "Who gave the blood to the couriers."

He sighed, "Let me look, it all came out of our Mass General Hospital for distribution. They sent it through an ambulance service. One ambulance to all locations."

Rocan looked over, "Governor, that is a good place to start. The ambulance service and the employee records of those who delivered it. As precious as this blood was, I think an armored car with sealed containers would have been more appropriate. Or having the couriers get it from the hospital directly."

He sighed, "We have limited some of their movement in our larger urban centers. Fear of spies."

The Governor looked over, "Start with the ambulance service. I need to know if this is tied to any of my government agencies or if this was done privately."

Aurora nodded, "Opening the floodgates and searching the records from the last week forward. For all participants. Was the blood packaged individually for all of the sites or were they just supposed to hand over the bags?"

He sighed, "I do not know that is a hospital question."

Aurora dropped the one doctor and had the administrator for the other hospital on the line. The Governor took the lead and asked the question. He looked at his records, "It was sent out in 4 separate containers but a representative from the Trisan Ambassador's office picked up their samples himself."