The Plague Part 1
Posted By: monitor101
Date: 19 September 2003, 10:58 PM
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(The Virus was a master disease that plunged Sergeant Kurt Holmes and his men into a pit of death and betrayal at every turn. That is only the start of what is about to happen. But every story must have a beginning. This is the story of the start of the virus. This tells of the events of ONIs new Biological Weapons Division and how they genetically altered a virus and bacteria to create the ultimate killer. How a young Grunt named Nosliw fresh out of training, witnessed the first encounter of the Plague. How an accident shuts the entire project out. This is that first encounter twenty years before the events of the Virus)
(New Bisson 2, New Bisson system, Deforma river valley, 0300 PM, top secret ONI installation C23, year 2532)
A blanket of dark clouds hung over the Deforma river valley. A man in a thick parka looked up at the sheet of clouds that covered the landscape. The young man turned around and pulled a cigarette from his mouth and exhaled a cloud of smoke. The man was young in his early twenties. He had a thick mat of dark hair and a smooth face. His face always had a serious look to it.
"Hey Web you have a meeting with the brass in the tank Hood sent me up to tell you," a Dr. Brooks said.
Dr. Webber turned around and took one last puff of his cigarette. He threw into the grass and walked away to a hidden doorway. He and Brooks entered the top secret ONI building that went 25 floors underground. They walked along the main walkway in the first floor to an elevator. Webber pressed a button marked 16 and the doors closed.
"So have they started without me?" Webber asked.
"Yah Hood is on the line with them as we speak," Brooks said.
"So have they setup a deadline for the battle?" Webber turned to face him.
"Yah tomorrow that gives us little time to finish up," Brooks said.
"Ah shit!" Webber blurted. He banged his head against the elevator wall when it came to a stop and the doors opened up.
They exited the elevator and walked through a maze of corridors until they came to a set of double doors. One of the doors was marked: HANDPRINT AND RETINA SCAN REQUIRED AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.
Brooks and Webber each put their hand s on the handprint scanner and set their eyes in the retina scanner. In a millisecond the C23 installation's AI quickly identified them as authorized personnel and the double doors opened. They both walked in to see LT. Colonel Paul Hood director of ONI's Biological Weapons Division and overseer of the making of the Deforma virus.
Hood stood in front of five large TV screens; the screens were video and audio links to high ranking commanders and other important figures in the UNSC.
"Dr. Brooks Dr. Webber glad you could join us please take a seat. They both nodded and took a seat. The "Tank" was a small black room that Hood and other men used to communicate with the brass that were light years away in places like Reach and Earth.
"So now can we get to business how are you progressing?" Vice Admiral Preston Cole asked from one of the view screens.
"We are coming along very well Dr. Webber here can give you the lowdown on the virus and its progression," Hood said.
"The virus is coming along well as Director Hood said. We have yet to correct a few flaws in the combining of the bacteria and Ebola," Webber explained.
"Yes well can you tell me how you're going to make this super virus again?" LT Ackerson asked. LT Ackerson was a man who was fresh out of the Academy and already had an impressive CSV. He had enlisted for ONI black ops and this was one of his assignments to oversee the making of Ebola X.
"Yes LT I can we plan to take the Ebola Virus and a flesh melting bacteria from around these parts called Deforma bacterium, and combine their genetic code to make them as one. If we succeed then this will be a very deadly disease that could end the war in a second."
"I see and when do you plan on doing this?" Ackerson asked.
"We already have combined them several times but failed to succeed the code would not go together if the genes mix then and only then can the it be a virus and actually kill."
"Yes thank you Dr. Webber now Colonel Hood as of 01100 AM hours tomorrow we will set up a battle with the Covenant right on New Bisson 2 right by C23 and we will call back at 0900 hours AM to see if you have made the virus yet. This battle will be a test run for you guys to see if this little lab experiment works and if you don't meet the deadline or if the virus doesn't work then we're pulling your funding." General James West said.
"Yes sir we will have it done," Hood said.
"Now if you'll excuse us gentlemen we have a lot of work to do," Hood said.
"Good luck," Preston said and his image snapped off the screen as well did the others.
"Sir we can't do it in under 24 hours we still need time to prep the virus go through millions of strands of genetic code do-" Webber was cut off by Hood.
"I know I know but you heard the general if you can't do it then they'll pull funding and this whole project is scrapped so I suggest you get to it if you don't want millions of dollars to be spent on nothing and all that you've worked for to be in vain," Hood said and left the tank.
"Ah shit," Webber rubbed his eyes.
"What's wrong?" Brooks knew that that was always a sign that said something was wrong.
"Its gonna be a long ass night that's what lets grab some coffee and get to work," Webber said a he stepped out of the tank.
Thirty minutes later they were on level 12 with a coffee buzz and a load of equipment. Both men stood in a level-4 biohazard laboratory. Inside a HEPA (high-efficiency particle-arrestor suit) suit of better known as the "space suit", Webber followed by Brooks walked over to a massive bulky looking Electron microscope. Webber took a seat on a stool that was screwed into the ground, and set down a tray of pencil like tools. Brooks carried a metal case that on the top read: WARNING BIOHAZARD LEVEL 4 HANDLE WITH EXTREME CARE. Brooks took out a card and inserted it into a slot in the case. With a hiss the top of the case opened to reveal a cooler. Brooks with the most extreme care took of the top of the cooler and inside was a small Petri dish. He took out the dish and set it on a slot that came out of the microscope. Webber activated the microscope and it came alive. A screen in front of Webber snapped alive. He pressed a button and the slot with the dish on it rotated on a rotating platform over to Webber. Webber zoomed in with the microscope until he could see the separated microscopic particles of the Deforma bacterium and the Ebola particle.
"Give me the virus's genetic code and the bacterium's and put them into the computer," Webber said as he took out two little tools and activated them. Unseen to the human eye small laser magnets activated as well as cutting lasers.
Brooks aimed a Felix gene scanner that was connected to the computer and he aimed it the dish. Data began to scroll down the screen.
tagggaaatttcaggggaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaccccccccggggggggg
ttttttttttccccccccccccccaaaaaaaaatttttttggggggggggggggccc
cccccccccccccccccccctttttttttttttttttttttttaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaagggggggggggggggggcccccccccccccccccccccccccccttttttt
This was Ebola's and Deforma's genetic code mixed together. The a, t, c, and g stood for adenine, thymine, cytosine, and gunine-nucliec acids. The human DNA consists if about three billion bases of DNA a typical virus in the real world would consist of 7,000 bases the super virus's consisted of 500,000 but Brooks estimated that if they succeeded in genetically engineering the virus then it would consist of about 3,000,000 DNA bases. Brooks was amazed. He downloaded the information from his screen to Webber's screen.
Webber was about to perform micro surgery (A type of surgery where they are able to cut open cells and other microscopic organisms, a surgery that exists today). Webber took the magnet laser and the cutting laser and stuck them over the dish. Looking at the zoomed in display of the two microorganisms on his computer screen he slowly charted the genetic codes and matched the right ones.
"Okay now T to A easy easy G to C watch it T to G there you go no no no stop T to C not G there you go," Brooks instructed as Webber preformed the surgery.
Two hours later they had mixed the proper genes and Webber who had to hold the tools and with a light touch delicately combine the genes. He leaned back and watched as Brooks poured a vial of blood into the dish. The newly constructed virus immediately attacked the living cells and spread. Webber leaned back and took a deep breath. His hands had cramped up and it was hard to stretch them out.
"Well done we did it finally. Now we need to get some hosts so the virus doesn't die," Brooks said.
"Get some expendable soldiers down here and infect them we need to get this virus into bio- aerosol form for tomorrow. I'm going to go through decontamination and get a smoke and some coffee," Webber said as he got up and left for the exit.
He went through the decontamination process and put some clothes on in a locker room. He went for the elevator and went up to the cafeteria. He sat down with a hot cup of coffee and a cigarette. After smoking it to nothing and downing his coffee he went back down to level 12.
He came to an observation room. Standing next to him was Brooks. In the next air tight room was two soldiers who had been called down to this level they had no idea where they were.
"Did you get into an aerosol form?" Webber asked.
"Yep," Brooks said. They both watched through one of those windows where they could see through it but the people in the next room couldn't.
Webber watched as the men lounged around when a vapor like mist filled the room via air vents. The two soldiers first experienced nothing but when exposed to large amounts of the virus they both began to grab for their throats. One of them began coughing and he vomited until their was nothing left in his stomach and he began to vomit up his own entrails and internal organs. The other's skin began to melt and bubble and the screamed that it was too hot. They both fell to the ground and went into cardiac arrest they convulsed on the ground then thrashed for a second as the virus attacked their brains then they lay still. Their bodies still melted into a pool of melted flesh and blood. The pools then began to evaporate.
"Tomorrow we test on the Covenant with the brass watching then they lift the funding as well as legalize this whole project and pretty soon they will be handing out vials of this shit out to Marines as standard issue virus," Webber smiled. This was one hell of a weapon that could end the war in a second indeed.
To Be Continued...
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