Quaranteam - AU Ch. 03

Rayne was nothing if not stubborn.

"I don't want a lot of women, and my dreams are filled by you."

"And you have me. Now and forever. But you also get to have others. Don't be stubborn. I'm accepting this. I don't like it, sure. But there's nothing to be done for it. DuoHalo has changed the world and we're left to pick up the pieces." Stella giggled as a thought struck her. "You know, I think you and your friend Tiberius are just about the only men I've ever met who would complain about getting an entire stable of women for themselves."

That startled Rayne. "Oh shit! That's what the Brigadier was talking about! My sisters bonded to Ty with the vaccine! Both of them!" The thought of his older friend's face as his sisters laid down the law left him with a smile and he couldn't help himself; he laughed. "After all that fuss about not picking on his part, they probably forced the issue. I'll have to ask him how he's going to cope."

Stella, looking over a few files, pointed towards a few lines and charts. "Ray, I think this explains why they used the vaccine as treatment; the antibodies created when a woman is injected are extremely aggressive towards the virus. When it transfers over to the man they go to work immediately. There's also this thing about healing, or regeneration. I have no idea how this can happen. Babe, we need to study this! I bet that's what they're going to ask us to do."

Rayne nodded, thinking now. "That, on top of having us manage the manufacture of the serum locally, like Belle was saying. The military won't want us permanently reliant on the US for supplies of the vax, so I suppose they'll have us make use of CSL's manufacturing sites. Stel, let's work from that basis and figure out a plan. We can present it later today if it turns out we're right. If we're not, then we can put a pin in it and work on it on our own time later or present the idea ourselves."

It was just around 11 AM when Rayne's phone rang, and he answered the video call to the somewhat sheepish faces of his sisters.

"Hey, baby brother; Stella. Have you two been good?" Lottie gave them a wink.

He smiled at the pair, noticing that they kept the camera from turning further into the room as they spoke.

"Oh, just grand. I should ask you that, to be fair. Have a guest, I take it? Though that doesn't look like your place, so should I ask a different question?"

His sisters made a quite reasonable attempt to have their faces match their hair colour and he couldn't help the laugh.

"Don't worry. We heard from the Brigadier. You finally got him huh? Ty ok? I've heard some of the details, but not enough to say I'm satisfied."

"The big guy's going to be ok. He has to recover from...well, us, as well as Duo, so he might be out for a few more hours. He's going to be just fine though. Now let's put that aside. I can see that Stella is positively bursting with excitement, so what's happened?" Lettie grinned as she spoke, a blush creeping into her cheeks for a moment.

Stella raised her left hand and flashed her ring. The twins looked at it in stunned silence for a moment before they let out ecstatic squeals.

"Congrats! Oh my God, way to go, baby bro!" Lottie was bouncing up and down, overjoyed. Lettie's grin got wider and she gave him a thumbs up. They'd met Stella many times and knew she was a great match for their little brother. Rayne noticed motion behind and was stunned to see a third woman come into frame wrapped in a towel and little else, clearly having heard the commotion.

"Is something the matt- oh my, that's a beautiful ring!" The raven-haired beauty gazed at the screen over the twins' shoulders. Rayne could hear the accent in her voice but couldn't place it. She was clearly of Mediterranean descent, but he couldn't imagine why she'd be there of all places with this timing. "I take it some congratulations are in order, then? Charlotte, Leticia, would you be so kind as to introduce us?"

Lottie smiled at the newcomer and spoke. "Talia, this is our younger brother, Rayne, and his girlfriend, excuse me, fiancée, Stella Andersen. Ray, Stella, this is our new friend Talia Becker, from Israel. She's a long-time friend of Ty's, and now a part of this...uh Team?"

Rayne's mind went into overdrive. Was he supposed to take that to mean that all three of them were partnered to Tiberius, and not just his sisters?

"Uh, nice to meet you? And seriously? All three of you? At once? That's...um...wow. I guess I need to speak to him when he wakes up. I have some questions...and I suppose some things to say."

"I...I wouldn't have taken Tiberius for that kind of guy. He always seemed so strait-laced." Stella muttered, but it was clearly heard by the trio on the other end, because Lottie spoke up immediately.

"Ty was very reluctant, Stella. And even then, he made sure again and again that this was what we wanted. In the end, all three of us convinced him that we were doing what was necessary to get exactly that."

Lettie laughed. "Let's be fair. He had no choice in the matter once we learned what was required. Even if he hadn't been infected with DuoHalo, we were going to claim him. Though we didn't know Talia here was out to do the same."

Talia laughed and stepped back out of frame, but Rayne could hear her as she spoke. "There's quite a lot to tell of my relationship with Tiberius, but we can save that for another time." She reappeared, buttoning up her uniform top. "I would like to offer the two of you my sincere congratulations and, though it may not be my place, a word of advice to you both. Being the younger brother of these two, I can surmise that you are a young man of good character. I believe that you will understand when I say the times ahead will be trying for you both. Speak openly to one another about what you are experiencing."

Rayne nodded at her, wordlessly and Stella voiced her own agreement, before they made some small talk and signed off, the twins promising to have Tiberius call him later that day.

While they had been distracted by the call, they'd received a message in their company's Slack channel, informing them of the meeting to take place at 4 PM. The pair spent the time spit balling ideas, working out plans and contingencies, right up until the meeting began. It was as they connected via their individual terminals and the video feeds smoothed out that Rayne felt a shudder go down his spine.

He couldn't place it at first. Stella greeted the room, followed by himself, but it felt almost as though the gazes on him lingered. But that couldn't be right. It was a screen. There should have been no way to feel a gaze through a screen. But he did. Most, if not all of the others in the call were staring at him, and he could tell. A quick glance through the various feeds made Rayne acutely aware of the fact that by now, he was the sole surviving male member of the think tank. He felt his face become ashen as the thoughts slammed into place.

I'm the sheep among the fucking wolves. This is bad.

Annabelle cleared her throat, breaking the silence and drawing everyone's attention. Rayne could almost feel the fangs retreating from his neck as she began speaking.

"I know most of you have spent the morning reading up on this serum and have plenty of questions. Hold onto those for the moment. I'll also take a moment to formally introduce the members of the military who will be our points of contact for this project. Colonel Sophie Davis will be the officer in charge of the project. All of our reporting will end up on her desk and she'll, for lack of better phrase, give us our marching orders. We also have another contact, whose name you might find familiar. Captain Charlotte Valiant, who will be acting as our liaison for just about everything else. She's currently acting on behalf of her partner, Lieutenant Colonel Tiberius Marshall, who has as of this morning been made the head of Australia's vaccine rollout program. He is also one of the pilot 'Teams' for the vaccine itself, and it has been determined that we, or most of us anyway, will be a part of another pilot Team."

Rayne couldn't help himself. "Oh, fuck."

A chorus of giggles could be heard over the call and every eye turned back on him, even as Annabelle's wry smile filled his screen. "You aren't wrong, handsome. You're the central pillar for this."

The others in the call could see Rayne's face going through a range of expressions before he turned his head and looked directly at Stella. "I...I have to decline. I've only just proposed to Stella. I can't possibly do this to her! I'm sorry, but please, find someone else."

His objections were lost in the cacophony of gasps and shouts as his words hit home. Rayne stood up and left the room, locking himself in the bathroom for a minute as he tried to rein in his emotions. He knew what Stella had said, but that didn't necessarily translate directly from what she wanted. He was more than happy with just her. Why did this have to come in -

The ringing of his phone interrupted the downward spiral of his thoughts, and he looked at the screen. Tiberius. Interesting timing, or it would be if Rayne hadn't guessed his sister had told him. He picked up, figuring it would probably be better to get it sorted sooner. "Hey Ty. How's things?"

The snort of laughter from the other end was unmistakable. "Really? With everything you've already heard, and that bomb you just dropped in the meeting, that's how you greet me? I'm alive, cobber. Nearly wasn't. Still feelin' a bit crook, but it'll get there over the next few days, I reckon. I guess congrats are in order, but damn if you didn't pick your time poorly."

"I know, I know. It just felt right. And cobber? Who even says that anymore?"

"All of the old diggers do." Rayne could clearly hear the grin on his older friend's face.

"And now you're messing with me."

"Sure am, mate. I spend a lot of time with the old buggers in the brass, a few of whom actually were diggers. It rubs off. Look, let me get to the point. We need you and yours vaxxed and sorted. I know you're not happy about having to take on multiple partners. I wasn't too enthralled with the idea myself, but damned if the ladies gave me much of a say in it, and I've come to the conclusion that if there was ever a way to prevent any of them from being hurt, this was it."

"I don't know Ty. How do I handle having to take on other women after just proposing? That feels like I'm cheapening my feelings for Stella."

He sighed, knowing neither of us would like the response. "I understand you met Talia earlier. I actually had a chat with her mum just after I woke up today about just that sort of thing, and she gave me a bit of advice I don't think I'll ever forget. She said, 'There's no limit to love'. It isn't something finite, it's something multiplicative. The more you have, the more it can grow. She said she was giving all her love to her husband before she had Talia. But once she gave birth, she found she didn't love her husband any less. Miriam just found she had more love to give to her daughter. It struck me that I was already in the same situation. I don't care for your sisters or Talia any less because I've got all of them with me. The love and care they've shown me has only grown my own for them. So, you box up those doubts and carry on, mate. I gotta do the same. But look on the bright side. We're family now. Stella's a wonderful girl and I know the two of you are strong enough to get past this. But when you have doubts, you'd do well to remember those words. But if you're still struggling, you ring me and we'll talk. I'll do what I can to help my lil' bro. The same goes for Stella."

Rayne could feel the smile pulling at his lips. "You're not exactly my brother yet. You gotta put a...some rings on 'em first."

"You think that wasn't one of the first thoughts to jump in my head when I got up? Only one problem. 'Straya is still not particularly fond of bigamy."

"And mister bigshot military man doesn't think the rules are about to change in the face of all this new info?"

Tiberius chuckled over the line. "Too right. Don't reckon I envy the poor bastard who's gotta tell the mob, but I suppose that'll come soon enough, right? Anyway, I've got to get back. I'm only partially listening to the meeting since that's Lottie's domain, but you need to get back. They're gossiping and you probably want to stop it before it gets out of hand. Again, I know you don't like the situation but there's nothing to be done. It's the way forward unless you and yours can crack the code and pick this serum apart. The best I can offer is that Stella will be your first, and we'll try to not overwhelm you. Much."

"Much? Ty? Much?" Rayne knew from experience that Ty's idea of overwhelming was completely different to his own. Even now, almost ten years down the line, the trauma of having a high school boy undergo years of gruelling military-grade physical training spoke for itself.

The man's raucous laughter as he hung up rang in the bathroom and Rayne just groaned, defeated, but couldn't help the smile that formed. He felt better, if only because he knew he'd have an understanding ear nearby. When he returned to the table, there was still a ton of chatter going about the engagement, and Stella was bright red. All of that chatter died down as he returned, leaving a strange silence in its wake.

"What'd I miss?" Rayne asked, kissing her cheek as he sat down. If it were possible, Stella turned even redder and made some flustered motions as the other participants just watched.

It was a voice that rarely spoke up at these meetings that was the first to break that silence. "Stella was telling us about how good of a lover you are. Possibly to give us something to look forward to?"

Rayne just sat there, somewhat dumbfounded. He glanced over at his bride-to-be, only to find her with her face in her hands, steam almost visibly coming out of her ears. The speaker, Doctor Hasumi Saegusa, giggled at his expression and continued. "Oh come off it, Rayne. You've read the documentation. You know you need multiple partners and there are only so many of us left. Just enjoy the attention." Hasumi had joined the company at the same time as Rayne and Stella, a recent graduate of her own Doctorate program. A first generation Japanese immigrant, she had naturalised and earned her citizenship after leaving her homeland behind. She didn't speak of it much, simply citing issues with her family, but Rayne had heard the story from her directly once, when she'd been struggling with depression and loneliness.

The issue, it seemed, stemmed from her disability. Hasumi had been in a car accident when she was in middle school and had lost the use of her legs from the knee down. She had told Rayne that there was still a lot of discrimination towards disabled people in Japan, and she had sought international study as a way to escape it. She had escaped the discrimination, certainly, but then it was loneliness that plagued her. Her family had basically disowned her after they discovered she was not only disabled, but bisexual. Rayne had done his best to be her friend and she was a regular visitor to their home, but since he'd already been seeing Stella at that point, he also tried to introduce her to others and set her up with some coworkers. Once or twice, she'd take them up on it, but they just never seemed to stick around long-term and Hasumi would never give him a clear reason for why.

Rayne took a deep breath, bringing his expression and emotions in check. "Ok, let's table that particular discussion for the moment. Have we made any progress in discussing the project?"

"Considering we were waiting for you to have your little tantrum? No, handsome." Annabelle was laughing as she wagged a finger at the screen.

Rayne frowned. "So, you're going to blame me for wanting to be loyal to my fiancée instead of thinking with my dick or succumbing to your lusts? Fuck off, Annabelle."

She dismissed his words with a wave. "It is what it is, Rayne. So given that we're now behind, I would like to turn the meeting over to the Colonel and Captain." Rayne glared at her, but she ignored him.

Both the Colonel and Rayne's sister had been mere spectators until then, seemingly bemused at how the situation had been playing out. Colonel Davis waved her consent and Lottie launched into her explanation.

"Please understand that your discretion in this matter is paramount. No one outside of this meeting can learn about this project just yet."

After watching everyone nod their assent, Lottie took a deep breath before she continued. "So, basically what we've gathered you here for, is to discuss the mass production of the Quaranteam serum, as well as the research and breakdown of that serum. Right now, we're relying on the data provided by the Americans, but we need our own. Trust, but verify, as it were. We are going to ask the eleven of you to split into two teams; one focused on production, and the other focused on picking this thing apart and trying to figure it out. We will be assigning a second team to this down the track; that team will have no access to your research and conclusions, so as to give us blind data from multiple sources."

She paused, manipulating something on her end and sharing her screen. On it appeared a small list of items, as well as a web address.

"As you have all likely read, the serum pairs men and women through sexual contact. Yes, it's not ideal. That is part of what we'd like for you to attempt to address. The Americans have been looking at it for some time, but we're a fresh set of eyes. Maybe we can spot something they missed. In the meantime, however, to protect you, we are going to ask you all to form a Team. That is now the official name for the family pod created as a result of the serum."

Once again, Lottie manipulated something on her computer, and a series of soft pings could be heard from the various participants' devices.

"If you will all check your emails, a link similar to the one on screen has been sent to each of you. We would like for you to fill out this questionnaire as soon as possible and be utterly and brutally honest. You needn't fear, no human will ever see it. The questionnaire, as you might surmise, is part of the Oracle system mentioned in your paperwork. It will allow us to get an idea of how compatible you will be within this family unit. It will also tell us if we need to introduce additional men into the mix and split the Team into two or more. If there is a specific man that any of you would like to be paired with, please respond to the email you just received with the individual's name, affiliation and contact details. We will need to vet any non-military personnel before introducing them to this project. In this case it's 'don't trust; verify.'"

There was a nervous titter of laughter and Rayne once again felt the weight of all the gazes in the meeting on him.

"Ok, so going back to the production of the serum - we need it expedited. We're still going to get shipments from the US for the immediate future, but they're also supplying it to other countries, and we don't want to be stuck on their timeline any longer than we have to. So, our first priority is securing our own supply line. Once you let us know that the serum is in production, we will alert medical personnel around the country and begin distribution of the serum to them, before we gear up and present the solution to the whole country. As much as we're not fond of it, there will be a priority system. Military to a certain threshold. Then medical personnel, followed by construction and labour, then onwards from there."