33
Though General Derricote’s office was no larger than his own, its stark white color made Kirtan Loor feel more vulnerable. He would have preferred waiting to deliver his message to the Director from his own office, but the delay the trip back would necessitate would not be acceptable. Ysanne Isard would be furious with what he had to say, so he saw no reason to compound her anger.
On one knee, he refused to look up when her image burned to life in the General’s office. “What is so urgent, Agent Loor?”
“General Derricote’s estimates of the incubation period for the Krytos virus in Sullustans was generous.”
“What?” Loor could not see Isard’s expression, but her voice sounded as it might if he had told her that the Rebels had just showed up with a Death Star. “Generous in what way?”
“Generous in his favor. He promised you ten days until the Sullustans began to sicken, but a dozen appears more correct. And …”
“There is more?”
“Yes, Madam Director. The virus has resisted airborne transmission. Contact with virus-laden fluids and tissues will still infect another individual, but fluid contact is still required.”
“This is impossible, Loor, and I hold you responsible for all this. Look at me!”
Loor lifted his face and saw molten fury roiling in her left eye. “General Derricote gave me false information.”
“He did that at Borleias, but you found him out.”
“But I didn’t have to be tracking Rogue Squadron’s activities on Imperial Center at the time. I was worried about your deadline, which came and went today.” Loor hesitated and found himself cringing in anticipation of her reply.
“The deadline was based on a ten-day incubation period followed by a week-long terminal cycle. This throws everything off.” Isard’s image towered over him. “What are the transmissibility figures? Is the virus jumping from species to species?”
“Flesh contact with ten ces of viral fluid results in a twenty percent infection rate and the virus is viable for thirty-six hours outside a host, longer if the conditions are warm and moist. The virus can be frozen and thawed without lost of viability or lethality. If the virus is actually injected or injested, as little as one cubic centimeter is enough to infect a subject.”
“And species migration?”
“General Derricote projects …”
“Projects! I want results, not projections.” Isard’s hologram slammed a fist into an open palm but the sound relayed by holo-link sounded muted and weak. “Order Derricote to begin replication of the current virus strains and release all of them into the water supply.”
Loor again bowed his head. “I anticipated your request. Derricote says that in four days he should have sufficient supplies to take care of the planet.”
“Tell him he doesn’t have four days. Full replication and production begins immediately and batches go into the water supply when they are complete. I want it done now. I will tolerate no more mistakes, his or yours, do you understand?”
“Yes, Madam Director.”
“And one more thing, Agent Loor.”
“Yes, Madam Director?”
“Your last report on the Rogues indicated this evening appears to be when they are taking their first step at liberating Imperial Center. It is too soon. I won’t have it. Scatter them, kill them, deal with them. This time tomorrow I do not want to have to worry about them.”
“As you wish, Madam Director!”
Isard’s image vanished revealing Derricote standing in the doorway to his office. He applauded politely. “That was a wonderful performance.”
Loor snarled inarticulately and came up quickly. He buried his left fist deep in Derricote’s stomach, then clouted him on the side of the head with a roundhouse right. The heavyset man stumbled sideways and slammed into the wall. He tipped shelves, overturning countless boxes of datacard journals, then abruptly sat down on the floor and wallowed in them.
Part of Loor basked in the disbelief on Derricote’s florid face, but even that feeling of elation did not dull the rage in his mind. He grabbed a handful of Derricote’s tunic and hauled the corpulent man to his feet. “You have placed me in mortal jeopardy because of your incompetence.”
“Incompetence!? We are traveling paths that were previously shunned here. I have done the best I could. The fact that my efforts do not live up to specifications designated by those who have no idea about the true nature of …”
Loor slapped the man hard with his open hand, then tugged him out of the office. “First, your technicians are to start manufacturing the Krytos viruses in their myriad forms and start injecting them into the water supply. Now! You have lied about how long it will take to kill aliens and I’m not sure I trust your transmission figures so I want as much virus as available being used now as possible. Including the experimental versions.”
“But …”
“No buts, General, just now.” Loor’s nostrils flared. “What else have you lied to me about? Is it as deadly as you say?”
“You have seen the results, Agent Loor.”
“Yes, I have seen the results, but not all of them.” Loor dragged Derricote stumbling after him through the laboratory to the hallway where the victims were kept. Loor tossed him on ahead and Derricote spilled to the ground in the sanitized corridor. “I will not pay for another of your mistakes, General.”
Glancing to the right, Loor could see Quarren beging ning to melt, so he turned away and studied a huddled group of Sullustans. They clustered around two small children who were vomiting violently. Half the adults tore at their own hair, pulling it out in great clumps. Some reeled away, others just fell and trembled as if being shaken by a Cyborrean battle dog.
Loor looked back down at Derricote. “Madam Director wants bacta to cure the Krytos virus.”
“It will.”
“Have you tested the Sullustan version for a cure?”
“No, there is no need to waste bacta …”
Loor kicked the man in the thigh. “Wrong answer, General. Get up here.”
The General stood and Loor shoved him toward the transparisteel wall. “We will test the efficacy of bacta on the virus, General.” Loor looked at the Sullustans and saw one adult desperately mopping vomitus from a child’s face. “Those two, the child and the adult. Test it on them. I want them to survive, General, do you understand me?”
“Mother and child? How touching.”
“Don’t mock me, General. The child is younger and the disease has clearly ravaged it far more than the adult. And that adult, she is caring for the child. She can tell others how to care for victims of this virus, accelerating the desired effect on the Rebellion.” Loor shoved a comlink into Derricote’s fat hand. “Get your people in there now and save them. Do it.”
“Or?”
“Or I give you a taste, here and now, of what the Rogues will face tonight.” Loor smiled coldly. “I guarantee, General, you’ll like it no better than they will.”