a week in space...
It actually took the Khan five days to get to the surface of Kowloon-the Quoted regulation was an SLDF civil quarantine-planetary level regulation, and as such, everyone had to have their shot-records updated with the correct vaccines.
Which, in turn, meant that the correct vaccines had to be delivered to the Corona Borealis, and analyzed against Clan medical databases, which in turn meant an HPG call to obtain the analytic data on the vaccines for the Arluna Flu, and then, the MedTechs and Scientist-Doctor assigned to the Keshik had to analyze the local variant as supplied by the Coast Guard.
As much as anything could be, it was a stark reminder of how close every world in the region had come to extinction, and how dangerous this period would be-if the virus got out again.
The Delay did give the Khan, and a few Seekers, a chance to play tourist in the Boojum Belt systems and Spider Moon.
Tuesday...
The structures above ground were instantly recognizeable- Khan Elam and a Seeker from the Suvarov bloodline were the first to un-ship at Spider Moon Coast Guard base-the only "no shots" landing zone in the entire system, the Base was serving as a processing centre for in-system bound traffic-at least, the nearest such centre to the zenith point the Scorpion visitors had used.
"Old-pre war, prefabricated." the Seeker commented, "Built by the Star League for certain...amazingly good condition, considering it was not mothballed."
the lock cycled, and the inner door opened.
The walls inside the lock had slight paint-fade and power points distributed in an odd fashion. The Coasties on the far side of the lock wore skinsuits with helmets lanyarded to the belts of their outer uniforms. "Wrist please, Khan Elam?" a woman with Cadaceus markings on her uniform coverall asked.
Nelson undocked his pressure glove, and pulled the sleeve up to expose an arm. "what is this for?" he asked.
"Screening-make sure you are not already infected, so we can get you into treatment if you ARE." The swab was rough, scraping skin and stimulating sweat glands. She dropped it into a cannister and the cannister into an analysis tray, while another MedTech swabbed the Seeker.
"How long before you know?" the Seeker asked, saving his Khan the question.
"Fifteen minutes at most-we found an old Sequencer the previous tenants left behind-it works, so we use it..."
fifteen minutes later, the news came back that both Clan warriors were 'clean'.
"Got a Corpsman with you?" the woman asked.
"Corpsman..? OH, you mean MedTech, aff, why?" the Seeker responded, watching the crew alertly.
"Verification of formula-this is Serum XVIII-A as developed by the joint team on Arluna-it is an effective innoculant against the 21b Virus, also known as Arluna Flu, anyone who wants to set foot on Kowloon needs either proof of innoculation, or to be given the shot here-since your test results show no XVIII-A trace molecules in the Analyzer, I am going to take a stab and say that you need your shots, and given that you are Clan, and we are not, you want your people to verify we are not shooting you up with poisons, drugs, or nasty little virus bugs." Her accent had a vestigal sing-song asiatic lilt, it was excellent english, but clearly NOT her first language.
"THAT will not be necessary." Khan Elam spoke up, "If you planned to do anything dishonorable, and actually TRIED to do anything dishonorable, the consequences to your world would be...grave is not too strong a word, I assume your commanders are aware of this, Quiaff?" He smiled, "I see that I am correct in my assumption. Give me the shot."
primitive, they are still using needles... Nelson noted, unless the formula suffers some kind of issue from standard innocu-spray methods...
The MedTech managed to stick the first time with so little pain that it was actually easier than using a hypogun-it hurt less.
Lots of practice... he watched Suvarov cringe slightly before the needle hit.
"Okay, the innoculation takes about twelve hours to penetrate through your system, but you are now free to enter the main part of the station." The MedTech said, while signing a cardboard card and handing it to him, "This is your shot-record, your people can update your Clan records at your leisure, but I would recommend keeping this on your person for a while-not all our systems can handshake Clan databases."
A red light turned green over the inner doorway.
The door opened, and an officer in full uniform-cut to accomodate a similar skinsuit, stepped in.
Nelson looked the woman over. She was small, at the lower end of 'mechwarrior sized, with a darker asian cast to her features and short, yet thick, black hair tinged lightly with grey, and the permanent flushed veins of a spacer that has survived decompression. her left ear sported a single gold stud, and her uniform had Lyran Captain's tabs with a gold bar set at the apex-a Commodore's rank, on a pseudoleather flap. Her collar ranks were rather less familiar, but the nametape said simply "Li". Tough. he thought, at least, tougher than most Inner Sphere natives in Militia commands... He searched his memory of the Watch briefings on this world, and the profiles the InterClan Watch had on worlds in this region, specifically.
Li...veteran of the 3039 war, pilot, decorated. Dropship commander in the 3039 conflict, decorated for a high-risk extraction...
"Welcome to the Kowloon system, I'm Commodore Alicia Li, commanding officer of the Coast Guard. YOU are Khan Nelson Elam." The woman spoke with a much thicker accent-the singsong and pronunciation were very much native to this place... "Why are you here?" Li asked.
"I wish to engage your Duchess in diplomacy." Nelson said.
the woman's skeptical expression was unrelenting. "Clanners very rarely bother with diplomacy, and never high-ranking warriors unless they've already had a fight...why are you here?"
at this point, the Seeker spoke up, "We are engaged in historical research, specifically research pertaining to your world and its involvement in the war against the Usurper." Suvarov spoke fast-and-frantic, imitating the tone of many scientists when other priorities interrupt their work.
Li's expression shifted. "Goliath Scorpions...yeah, I read you guys are nuts for history-I actually Believe that line a lot further than the 'diplomacy' thing-it fits your profile better..."
Nelson gritted his teeth and bit back the urge to swat the annoying native right then-and-there. "You can see why we would need to use diplomacy, now, QuiAff?" he seethed.
"Sure. You do not want to trash the goods before you have seen them." Li replied, carefully enunciating the english into a very close approximation of "Pure" Star League English, "While your people are getting innoculated, then, you can have a guided tour of the base-if you really ARE interested in that period, we have a pretty decent collection of stuff from the campaigns of the 171st here-almost as good as the main office down at Vin Drin Lap on Kowloon."
"AND I want to meet your Duchess." Nelson added with special emphasis, "The Seeker and I are VERY interested in your history, but we would also like to discuss...futures with someone in charge."
