Chapter 18

The following new characters appear in this chapter:

Prawut Thavornsin

Professor of Political Science, 5’-8’’ tall, 145 pounds, 50 years old, thick hair mostly black with some gray on the sides

Sompung Phootnuan

Political Science student, interpreter, male, 5’-5’’ tall, 125 pounds, 22 years old, black hair, brown eyes

Jong Sonthimen

Political Science student, interpreter, female, 5’-3’’ tall, 115 pounds, 22 or 23 years old, long black hair, brown eyes

Venerable Srisuwan

Young Monk who had contracted the virus, 5’-6’’ tall, 130 pounds, 22 years old, shaved head, brown eyes

We were up early the next morning, but by the time we got our people out on the parking lot to start PT, the Marines were well into theirs. We had skipped PT on a lot of days while getting the unit set up here, but I had put it back on the training schedule starting today since we were pretty much operational now.

Later, Commander Bentley joined Trish and me at breakfast.

“The Monk, Srisuwan, is much improved this morning. Between what Technician Atchine and her people did for him and the shot of vaccine that I gave him last night, he is much better and should be able to return to his Wat in a few days,” Dr. Bentley told us. This was good news, but he had more to say.

“You should have all of the local people working for you vaccinated quickly to ensure that they don’t come down with this disease. How many are there?” he finished.

“There are the six who work in the kitchen, and the drivers and forklift operators, which amount to eight more,” Trish told him before remembering something else. “Oh yes, there is also the man who transports the kitchen help,” she finished.

“So fifteen, that’s not too many. They should all be vaccinated quickly. We should also start vaccinating a select group of our people to ensure that the vaccine is effective on our people and has no harmful side effects,” he recommended.

“How large should this group be?” the Colonel asked in concern.

“Something between a dozen and twenty would be best. Don’t include anyone who you will need for the next week or so, as we will need to monitor them to be sure there are no unusual side effects. There may be some minor problems but that’s not unusual with any vaccine,” he assured us.

“Sounds like a squad of Marines and five or six of our people,” I suggested.

“That sounds reasonable, and we currently have enough extra people to do that before we start operations to clear out the guerrillas. It will take that long to work up plans once we get the translators on board,” Trish said before remembering something.

“We’ll also have a couple of translators coming on board. They’re need to be vaccinated also,” she told Bentley.

“How many military people do you have with you?” he asked.

“There are 63 people and 13 Partners in our unit, and the Marines have 225 or so people,” Trish told him.

“So about 300 or so that will need to be vaccinated plus the local national people working for you. That would be about 320 or so, leaving you with something like 200 doses of the vaccine. You might want to consider vaccinating the families of those working for you after you have taken care of your people,” Dr. Bentley suggested.

“Will the vaccine be safe for our Partners?” Trish asked in a concerned voice.

“Doctor Mellifont will be drawing blood samples from each species of Partner today to see if they are being affected by the disease. It will depend on whether the disease was specifically designed for humans or for all living organisms,” he told us.

The drivers and the kitchen help had arrived on time today and ready to go to work. The first shuttle landed just after 0800 hrs. and was quickly unloaded as there were plenty of hands to help with that.

At 0830, Captain Desjardin was ready to leave for New Bangkok to look for translators. She drove Tiger Team’s Operations truck and had a security detail of four armed Marines plus a Corporal in charge of them. Being Special Operations, Della was also armed. She said that she had a few other things to take care of there also.

While all of that was going on, the Colonel, Greg, Joel, and I with assistance from the S-2 and S-3 NCOs worked on the support section for each Team that would be going out to the major cities on the main continent initially, and later to the north continent and the south continent if possible. There was a lot to work out such as transportation, and resupply for each Team to mention just the major problems. In addition to our Team members and their Partners, each Team would be taking a Marine Platoon with them, so there was a lot to consider.

Just before noontime, Commander Bentley returned to speak to Trish, Greg, and me.

“My laboratory team on the Pasteur has discovered a problem with the vaccine,” he told us when we met him in Trish’s office.

“What kind of problem?” she asked in a controlled voice.

“It’s not a huge problem, but it is one that we needed to be aware of,” he told us. “It seems that the local vaccine has been specifically tailored for those of Asian descent. It works very well on them, but it has problems when used on those not of Asian descent. There are serious side effects that we would not want to have our people endure. So basically, all of the vaccine that you have can be given to those working for you, their families, and any others that you may choose,” he informed us.

“What about our people and the Marines, plus the pilots and other crew members of the shuttles?” Trish asked.

“The really good news is that this virus is very similar to one that we and the medical profession have already dealt with. There is already a very effective vaccine available, and our lab people can produce more than enough to take care of both your unit and the Marines, plus any of those who were on the shuttles,” he told us to looks of relief from all of us.

“Will that include our Partners also?” I asked him.

“Yes, it will, but they will require a larger dose than most of your people, at least the really large ones will,” he told us.

“And our avian Partners?” Trish asked in concern.

“For some reason, this virus doesn’t affect birds,” he told us.

“It will be another day or so before the lab can produce enough of the vaccine for all of our people,” he told us with a smile. We all exhaled in relief.

“That’s very good news,” Trish told him also with a smile, but she had more to say.

“When should we begin vaccinating those working for us?” she asked.

“As soon as practical, but probably before they go home tonight, I would think,” Dr. Bentley advised us.

“Will it affect their work? Will they need a day off or something similar?” she asked.

“No, it should only produce a bit of soreness in the arm where it is injected,” the Doctor told us.

“Okay, how about tonight just before they go home. The drivers first as they usually leave before the kitchen help. What about their families though?” she asked.

“I would think that would be more of a transportation problem than anything else,” I told her.

“We’ll need to ask them about their families tonight,” the Colonel agreed. Greg also had some news for us.

“After yesterday, I finally got some information from the security people for the space station about those two who had attacked us. They had been dodging my calls to them ever since we arrived. It seems that the prisoners were shot by someone from a building across the street from their headquarters when they were being delivered there for interrogation. They never found the sniper,” he told us but didn’t sound like he believed that for a minute.

“That all sounds very convenient for them,” the Colonel said in a hard voice in agreement.

“They may not have made it off the space station alive, the way things seem to work around here,” Greg agreed.

In the meantime, I was calling Atchine to alert her to the need to vaccinate the drivers and the kitchen help later today.

“Kim, Jensen. It appears that we will be vaccinating the drivers and the kitchen help this afternoon before they get off from work. Where would you like to do that?” I asked.

“Not up here. We don’t have the room for a lot of people. How about in the mess hall? We can move a few tables aside and line them up to move through the vaccination line. How many are we talking about?” she asked.

“About 14 or 15 people. Later there will be a couple of translators. Also, once we get it worked out, there will be their families, but we don’t know when, where, or how many just yet. We’ll need to see about transportation for them or possibly for us. Nothing else is firm yet on that,” I told her. We had moved all of the vaccine up to the medical section yesterday afternoon.

“What about our people?” she asked.

“The lab people on the Pasteur are preparing a vaccine for our people and the Marines. We should have it in a couple of days,” I told her.

“We’re going to need more needles to vaccinate everyone. Even sterilizing the ones we have, it would take more than a day to vaccinate everyone,” she told me.

“I’ll bring that up to Dr. Bentley,” I told her before breaking the connection.

Captain Desjardin returned just after 1300 hrs. with three people. She was all excited, but the Marines with her only seemed a bit bored. The three people with her were all Thai. One was an older man, and the other two were younger. One was a male, and the other was a female. Both appeared to be about 21 or 22 years of age. Della took them to the Colonel’s office after releasing the Marines on her security detail. I did notice that all of the Marines had things that they had acquired in the city. I followed them to the Colonel’s office. We were joined shortly by Lucy and Joel.

“Sir, I found some people who would make excellent interpreters or translators,” she told the Colonel before bringing each of them forward to introduce them. She started with the older man.

“This is Professor Prawut Thavornsin. He teaches Political Science at the New Chulalongkorn University in New Bangkok,” Della said in introduction. The Professor was a bit over average in height for a Thai at about 5’-8’’ tall but a bit thin at maybe 145 pounds. His thick crop of well trimmed-hair was still mostly black with only a bit of gray on the sides. He appeared to be about 50 years old.

“Sawat dee, krup,” the professor said in a Thai greeting. “I understand from the good Captain that you have a degree in Political Science, Colonel,” he said next. Trish smiled.

“Yes, I have a PhD in the History of Politics in the 21st Century,” she told him to a surprised look from him.

“Have you taught Political Science?” he asked next in a friendly voice.

“Yes, I taught for five years at the University before joining Special Operations,” she told him. He smiled and bowed to her before Della brought the other two visitors forward.

“These are two of the Professor’s senior students,” Della told us before introducing them.

“The first is Sompung Phootnuan,” she said in introduction. He is a young man of about 22 years of age, about 5’-5’’ tall and maybe 125 pounds with the usual black hair and brown eyes of the Thai.

“The second is Jong Sonthimen,” she said pointing to a young woman of about 22 or 23 years of age. She was about 5’-3’’ tall and maybe 115 pounds with long black hair and brown eyes.

“They all speak and read Standard and Thai,” Della finished.

“Welcome all of you,” the Colonel said as she rose to greet each of them with a Thai greeting, but she looked at the Professor with some confusion.

“Are you interested in being a Translator, Professor?” she asked.

“No, I’m not here to be a Translator. The Captain persuaded me to come out here to explain the ramifications of what happened yesterday,” he told us.

“There has been a change in the political landscape then,” Trish said with a smile.

“There has been a tremendous change in the ‘Political Landscape’ as you put it,” the Professor began in what sounded like his lecture voice.

“The Woo Clan, though they have always been a small clan, have been a very aggressive one. They were always very careful of who they allowed to join their Clan even by marriage. They have ruled the main continent and the north continent for the last 75 years. They controlled trading, the rice harvest, and most of the government of Owen’s World. The other Chinese families and clans were afraid of them, as were the Thai Clans. They had their own private army of gangsters and off planet soldiers to enforce their will. Nothing was done without their approval. As a result, their Clan was extremely wealthy.

“They were the ones who saw the profit to be made in the sale of rice to other worlds. They were also the ones who started buying up rice farms and combining them into huge farm complexes, and putting the smaller farmers out of business. Other Clans joined them in this for not only rice but other agricultural products putting even more people out of work and off of the farms that had sustained their families for generations.