The Joanna Protocol
Chapter 1
"The difference between Despair
And Fear—is like the One
Between the instant of a Wreck
And when the Wreck has been—"
Emily Dickenson
Jim sat in the Captain's chair, his yeoman at his right, signing off on various reports as she handed padds to him, one by one. He sighed. Reports were on the short list of the top three things that he hated about being Captain; no make that the top two things. On second thought, it was really the only thing he hated about being Captain of a Star Ship. However, needs must, so he was doing his Captainly best to do it quickly and efficiently. If he didn't Spock would be on him One. More. Time. about handing in his reports late and his yeoman would hover around him all day until he finished.
Uhura interrupted (bless her). "Captain, you have a priority call from Admiral Nogura, for your eyes only, Sir."
Jim stood hurriedly, handing his last padd back to the yeoman. "We'll finish these later, Rand." To Uhura, "I'll take it in my ready room. Spock, you have the con." Priority calls from The Old Man, were never a good thing, but anything was better than reports.
"Yes, Sir. Piping it in now."
Jim walked into his ready room to his computer, keyed in his encryption code and waited for Admiral Nogura's face to appear. "Good morning, Admiral."
"Jim, good morning." The Admiral's usually inscrutable demeanor was missing; he looked worried. Also, his unusual lapse into informality, made Jim's stomach tighten with nerves. Nogura cleared his throat and looked at the screen. His eyes, Jim noted idly were cloudy with fatigue. What the hell is going on? Nothing good, that's for sure, thought Jim
"Is something wrong, Admiral?" Jim asked the question through a tight throat. This was not about a mission, or a briefing. Was it about his mother or Peter? He'd talked with them just before they left Sansora, but only something very serious would prompt Nogura to make a personal call.
"Yes, Jim. Something is very wrong," he said. Then quickly, as he saw Jim's face, "not with your mother or your nephew, Jim. As far as I know they're just fine."
Jim drew in a deep breath and relaxed infinitesibly. "Who?" He asked, his mind running rapidly through all his command crew's family."
"It's Joanna McCoy, Jim."
Jim closed his eyes and swallowed hard. " Is she…." He couldn't even say the words.
"She's alive, but things are bad, Jim. SFM contacted Fleet. It seems that Joanna McCoy and her mother, Jocelyn McCoy, have contracted a form of Choriocytosis. Ordinarily, it would not have attracted any attention at SFM, it's not usually that serious a diagnosis, just a more serious type of respiratory disease than, let's say, pneumonia; not life threatening to humans, only for Vulcans and other copper based humanoids."
"But…?" Jim's face was pale. There was much more here he knew.
"Four days ago, Jocelyn McCoy and her daughter traveled off planet on a brief business trip. They traveled by public transport and came back three days later the same way. On the trip back, they both began to feel ill, and by the time they landed in Atlanta, at the shuttle port, they were both very sick, Joanna unconscious. A doctor was called to the terminal, did the preliminary tests, and identified it as Choriocytosis right away. He hospitalized them immediately, and began the antibiotic protocol, but when he did additional tests, he saw something he didn't like in the test results and put in a call to the Atlanta Federation Center for Disease Control. The AFCDC sent their top man. By that time, both Joanna and Mrs. McCoy were deteriorating rapidly; they were both in acute respiratory distress. Dr. Tyler made the decision to put them in a shallow coma with full respiratory support and in stasis. They're holding their own for now. He took blood samples, sputum samples, lung biopsies, and did every kind of test he could think of. We got the results today, Jim."
"Yes?" Jim's lips were stiff with dread.
"This is a whole different type of Choriocytosis. It has mutated, and not naturally. It was bio engineered. In Dr. Tyler's opinion, the virus was tampered with deliberately to make it lethal. Those people on the shuttle were the carriers, no telling how many people they could have infected if we hadn't moved so fast. We got in contact with all available agencies and doctors and rounded up every person on that shuttle within 16 hours. Thank goodness it was a small transport, only 12 people in it, and everyone they came in contact with has also been taken into bio protective custody. Fleet doctors were called in to help, including Tom Jeffries; We've had some more cases become active, all from the same shuttle company, but so far none of the others. They've all been identified and been put in level 4 quarantine and are being given medical support. We've issued a Level 4 bio hazard alert to all the FCDC centers around the world. It looks like some sort of terrorist attack. As soon as Joanna's father was identified, I was called in by the head of the FCDC to advice, so we could decide on a plan of action."
Jim, still very pale, looked at the C in C. "What did you decide, Admiral?"
"We'd like Dr. McCoy to take charge of the medical and research side of the Bio Terrorist side of this, Jim. He's the expert on Choriocytosis. I know he won't be treating his own child or his ex wife, but he'll be on site to consult and head up the research teams. So far, that's the initial plan. I've arranged for Dr. McCoy to be picked up tomorrow morning and transported to SFMC."
"Admiral, I'd like to accompany Dr. McCoy to San Francisco if it's possible. Maybe I can help. We can also recruit Gavin Bradford from SIS. He helped us a lot in New York and on Vulcan." Jim didn't say more; just a small reminder of those two missions when Nogura had asked the impossible and Jim and his crew delivered. He willed Nogura to say yes. There was no way he was letting Bones go by himself.
Nogura nodded. "I assumed you'd like to be included in the investigation and accompany Dr. McCoy to support him. Do you know the child, Jim?"
Jim swallowed hard. "Yes, Sir. She's an adorable child. She calls me Uncle Jim."
"I'm sorry, Jim." He sighed. "Do you want me to tell Dr. McCoy?"
"No Admiral. I'll tell him."
"Captain, this is Need To Know only. You may tell Mr. Spock, since he'll be left in charge of the ship, but no one else."
"Sir, had you thought of including Mr. Spock to help the bio hazard investigation teams? He is one of the foremost Scientists in Star Fleet."
"I had not, Captain. However, you raise a good point. Mr. Spock has an illustrious list of research publications, and has done some ground breaking studies. Can Mr. Scott handle things in both of your absences?"
"Yes, Sir. Our new orders are to map a new sector in the Delta Quadrant. It's a three to four week mission assignment. Stellar Cartography is preparing to begin in a few days."
"Very well, Captain. Brief Mr. Scott and Mr. Spock about your new orders. The three of you be prepared to board The Magellan tomorrow morning at 0800 ship's time. They will transport you directly to SFM. I don't envy you, having to tell Dr. McCoy about his child, Jim." Nogura sighed. He was a grandfather several times over, and adored his grandchildren. "Nogura out."
Jim got up from his chair. His body felt stiff and cold. He straightened his tunic and exited the briefing room. He bypassed the bridge and headed straight for the Sick Bay. He was going to one of the hardest things he'd ever done in his life; tell his friend that his only child was possibly dying.