Did you ever sit down and watch GATE, and think:
'Ya, this is great and all, but if they're in a medieval-esk era, then why don't the advanced disease brought with the JSDF completely destroy the world?'
Well, if you did, here it is!
*** Ginza, Japan ***
"Doctor Marshall?"
"Eh- I'm awake, I'm awake…"
"Sir, we have reached Japan." At this, Doctor Marshall woke up, looking around. They were aboard a jet, flying from Geneva, Switzerland, making a few stops along the way, before arriving in Japan.
"We are making our final preparations for landing, the pilot wished for me to wake you up and ensure you are prepared for landing."
"Oh…" The Doctor rubbed his eyes with his sleeve, sitting up. He had been sprawled out over a table with his work, the doctor had been up for the last three nights looking over reports and making requests.
Roughly three months ago, a gate opened in Ginza, a month later, Japan's self-defence force, the JSDF, went in. A week or so later, the Japanese started releasing information to the public, specifically the UN. They revealed the tech level of the invaders, among other bits of information. What interested Doctor Andrew Marshall, part of the WHO and representing them in the conference, was the fact that the invaders seemed to be in a Roman tech level. Now, he was no historian, but what he did understand was the disease. Things like the common cold, or even the most minor of disease were barely even recognizable to their base form, meaning the disease had evolved to battle newer and more complicated medicines. If ancient Romans were met with the modern common cold, it could cause an epidemic as they did not have the immune systems or medicine to deal with it.
Which meant the JSDF was not just marching weapons beyond the gate, by diseases.
Andrew and his associates from the CDC and other disease control agencies tried to voice their concern but were silenced over the excitement of resources.
Following the conference, the CDC tried to reach out to the Japanese government but were ignored. WHO tried, but, again, Japan ignored them.
But oh how the tables have turned.
At some point during a soldier's time in the Special Region, he got a cold. He had been out on the field at the time, going to a trading mecca called 'Italica'. He was named 'Patient Zero', but his actual name was Yoji Itami. His disease started off calm, however, at some point, it radically mutated. The reason was not explained in the report made by the Japanese to WHO.
The report had been sent two months after the outbreak started.
The disease spread through Itami's squad like a wildfire, along with the city 'Italica'. While the squad's bodies had the natural immune systems to slow the disease's process, a young girl in their company, the name was not listed, died soon after contracting it. The city began dying quickly, forcing the JSDF to abandon it in hopes of not killing more soldiers. Unbenounced to them, the disease had already started in the surrounding town. The town had been built around the Alnus base.
By the end of the first month, 5,000 had died, primarily from Italica. The JSDF tried to contain and quarantine the disease, but this only managed to get their soldiers sick. By the end of the second month, 20,000 had died, 250 being JSDF personnel.
The problem only got further out of hand, fears that the disease would reach Ginza became the only thing talked about. Finally, Japan got their damn pride out of the way and ran to the UN, who ran to WHO. However, WHO is an international organization, and was already stretched thin. Unsurprising to anyone, the United States immediately jumped in, offering the CDC to help. Japan grudgingly accepted the help of the CDC.
25 WHO workers were sent, 250 CDC workers were sent. The UN also dispatched a task force of 3,500 with air and armor as a police to ensure the JSDF didn't fuck things up even more.
The plane, with the large WHO, or the World Health Organisation, painted on either side, landed, taxying to a designated drop off area. Several people stood, waiting for the arrival of the doctor. Once the plane stopped, stairs folded down from the side. Several people, Doctor Marshall among them, descended the stairs. Two men walked to the doctor, one dressed a white lab coat, blue jeans and a button down shirt tucked into that. The other was in a JSDF dress uniform.
"You must be Doctor Marshall!" The JSDF representative yelled over the winding down engines of the plane. He offered Andrew his hand for a handshake, which the doctor took.
"Indeed I am, and you are?"
"General Hazama, head of all operations in the 'Special Region', until recently!"
"Ah!" He released the General's hand, turning to the other man.
"And you must be Doctor Kazuo!" They also exchanged pleasantries as the trio entered the airport.
"I assume you have been briefed on the situation?" Hazama asked as they walked through the airport, getting confused and questioning glances sent their way. In answer, Andrew pulled out his folder, which had been tucked into his jacket.
"The basics, but it seems some stuff has been cut out."
"We'll have to explain everything in a more private area, right now, Doctor Kazuo has some things for you." Andrew turned his attention to the other doctor, who had lifted a briefcase he was carrying.
"Inside is your ID card, you will need that to enter any site or go nearly anywhere. Keep it on you at all times. There is also our full reports on the disease, a radio tuned to our channel with the UN, WHO, and CDC."
"You seem to have everything, but no gun to protect me?" At this, Doctor Kazuo's voice seems to harden a bit.
"That is the job of the UN Task Force present." He snapped, surprising the American doctor, who had only been half serious.
"Excuse Doctor Kazuo, the Americans have been pestering us about the same thing for ages now, but the government and UN put their foot down." Andrew guessed that 'Americans' was referring to the CDC.
"Understandable, who will I be given the complete briefing by?" General Hazama indicated to Doctor Kazuo.
"Doctor Kazuo, as I have been restricted from entering for a number of reasons."
"Is the gate under quarantine?"
"Half of Ginza is under quarantine. The Americans may have been unable to bring guns, but the UN had to fold in some places to make them play nice." Hazama explained as the exit the front door. Outside, a military convoy of two APCs and a Humvee defended a limousine. Several soldiers saluted the trio as they walked to the limo, where a suited man opened the door. Hazama stood aside, indicating in.
"Doctors." The two medical men said their thanks and got in. Inside, there was only one other person, a woman with a quite stern look on her face. She said nothing when they all piled in, and did not speak until they left the airport parking lot.
"Ah, Doctor Marshall, shall I introduce you to Doctor Amanda May, she was standing in as the head of operations until you arrived. She fixed Andrew with an icy glare but returned the handshake he offered regardless. Her grip was tight and her movements rigid. If you were to look past her icy exterior, she was quite attractive. She had black hair tied up in a ponytail, which went down to about her mid back. She had dark brown eyes, hidden behind her small, rectangular glasses. He had to guess she was in her mid-twenties.
"CDC?" He asked her. When she spoke, her voice sounded smooth, but very forced, as if she was insulted he dared speak to her.
"Yes, I read up on you, Doctor Andrew Marshall. Born in Baltimore, Maryland. Went to HMS. After you were out of school, you worked for a pharmaceutical company until twenty-five. From there, you moved to Switzerland after being referred by your old boss and joined WHO. You were sent to a number of places in your career, mercy missions to Ukraine, Somalia, Syria, just to name a few. You also were present on the WHO team working on the Ebola outbreak a few years ago. You became a very well respected doctor in your field, and was hand picked by Margaret Chan to come here and take over operations."
"I see you did your homework, Miss May. I am embarrassed to say that I didn't even know who was in charge of operations here until now, but let us hope for a good relationship with her on." She looked slightly taken aback, but before she could retort Hazama defused the situation.
"Well, how about a drink? This will probably be the last moment any of us get any rest." He pulled a bottle from the small refrigerator in the back of the limo, along with a few glasses suspended from the ceiling. He poured them all some of the drink, which continued to remain mysteriously unnamed to Andrew. After he set the bottle back, he raised his glass.
"To good health and the future!" They all repeated the cheer and drank.
The limo and its convoy stopped in front of a massive enclosed structure. Two UN peacekeepers stood guard at the main gates, both wearing gas masks. The trio of Doctor Kazuo, Doctor May and Andrew were all given their own masks by Hazama. Andrew pulled his security card from the right breast pocket of his jacket, which he had moved from the briefcase now in his hand. His card had been a bright shade of red, like Kazuo's own card. May's had been yellow, making Andrew assume that she had a lower clearance than they did. The two guards checked their IDs, then let them through. The gated in the area led to the main structure, UN peacekeepers patrolling around with dogs, and armed to the tooth. They showed their IDs to the two front door guards, who let them into the compound. They walked on wordlessly until they reached a pair of doors. One was marked women, the other men.
"We have to go through a quick cleaning to ensure we aren't carrying anything dangerous in," Kazuo explained as he took his jacket off, handing it to one of the guards. Andrew handed his briefcase over, then did the same.
"Guns or disease?" Kazuo smirked as he handed his glasses over. To the guard.
"Probably the both." The duo walked into the male side, May into the other. There, they stripped down completely and handed their clothes to the completely emotionless guard. They walked into the main room. After large amounts of chemicals, water and soap were used on them, they were let through. They dried off, changed, and met May on the other side.
"If you could kindly not take so long next time, Doctors." She snapped as they walked into hearing distance. Andrew just snorted as he straightened his jacket's sleeve. The next room was yet another changing room. They were let into separate rooms, men and women, changing into proper work clothing and put into hazmat suits. Everyone beyond this point was also wearing suits, now Andrew knew he was in the thick of things. This time they had to wait for Doctor May, so Kazuo had a chance to explain to Andrew the reason for the suits.
"This is as much for their protection as for our own. While we are being cleaned quite thoroughly, there may still be tougher diseases and bacteria. Don't worry though, when in base Phoenix or base Lucky Star, you are not required to be in the suit. Only when you are outside either quarantine area.
"Understandable." Following that, May left the changing room in her own suit. Kazuo mockingly checked the watch that he couldn;t see.
"Tut-tut, late."
"Typical woman." The guards next to them let out small snickers, but shut up under the glare of Doctor May.
"Well, if you are done cracking jokes, then we really should get moving." She pushed past her to fellow Doctors, who had to half run to catch up.
They finally left the building and found themselves at the gate. A car sat, waiting for them. The driver saluted as the trio got in. Amanda took the passenger seat, leaving the other two to the back seat. The car set off, all four of them silent.
"So, can you tell me the situation in this 'Italica'," Andrew said, breaking the silence.
"Bad. It was the epicenter of this whole disaster. The city had a population of upwards of fifteen thousand, that number has dropped by nearly nineteen thousand."
"And the other thousand?"
"JSDF personnel and random civilians."
"Oof."
"Oof, indeed."
"Where will I be for the duration of this epidemic?"
"I'm afraid we can't tell you that until we in a place we are sure that we aren't being listened in on, ah, no offense, soldier."
"None was taken, sir." The soldier said, his voice gruff and slightly muffled by the suit. Up ahead, a great light had appeared, the other end of the tunnel. Once through, the darker, smokier Ginza was made to look pitch black compared to the bright and sunny 'Special Region'.
"Welcome, Doctor Marshall, to the Special Region."
The car pulled in front of a large building, which was also fenced off and full of UN security forces in hazmat suits. No dogs, this time, as dogs cannot be put in a hazmat suit and still be useable. The guards saluted them after they entered the gated area. The three doctors showed their ID cards to the front door guard, who let them in. Once inside, they were run through showers again and allowed to wear their lab uniforms.
"Doctor Marshall, if you would come with me. Doctor May, you may go do as you please, I must brief Marshall on the situation."
"Of course." The woman said, her voice as icy as always, if not even more so. The now duo went up a few flights of stairs, entering a landing with one door. They entered without a word, opening to a rather spacious office.
"Take a seat, Doctor, make yourself comfortable."
"Thank you." Andrew sat down in one of the comfy chairs opposite Doctor Kazuo.
"Would you care for any refreshments or food?"
"Ah, yes, please." Kazuo hit a button on an intercom, which made a slight buzzing noise. They waited for a few seconds, then the sound of footsteps on the stairs came from outside the door. Said door opened, revealing a Japanese man in his military uniform step in, probably JSDF.
"You called, Doctor Kazuo?"
"Ah, Lieutenant Yanagida. May I introduce you to Doctor Andrew Marshall with WHO." As Andrew stood and tried to offer his hand, the officer gave a respectful bow.
"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Doctor."
"Ah… Quite." Andrew awkwardly took his seat again, looking quite uncomfortable.
"Anyways, Lieutenant, myself and my colleague here need refreshments. Doctor?"
"Oh, coffee for me."
"Milk of sugar?"
"Milk."
"Right, I'll have whatever tea is still here." The Lieutenant bowed without another word, leaving and closing the door behind him. Once they heard the footfall go away, they began talking.
"JSDF? I thought most of those guys were moved."
"Moved, but not out of the Special Region. Most are sick with this new disease, he was one of the lucky ones."
"Lucky? Looks more like he went from soldier to Butler."
"With the UN task force here, his job has become more or less pointless." The soldier returned, gave them their drinks, then left without another word. After they both took a small sip from their drinks, they began the briefing.
"Alright, I guess I should ask, how much do you already know?"
"The basics, you were very vague in your report to WHO."
"Good, we had to make sure the information wasn't enough to be incriminating. However, what I am going to tell you now, Doctor, cannot be repeated. Ever. This is all extremely confidential, only a few people knowing all of it, only two in this world."
"Who would that be?"
"Myself and Colonel Maximus Gorelli."
"Not Doctor May?" Kazuo smirked, folding his hands.
"You must understand everything we tell her is instantly reported to the US. Everything she knows we have told the public, all open knowledge. We know she had tried getting information out of our people, and yours, but none are budging."
"Where are the other twenty-five WHO workers?"
"All at Lucky Star, a large chunk of the CDC, including Miss May herself, are being moved back here."
"That explains her shortness with me."
"Oh, she had been like that since she realized her charm wasn't getting her anywhere."
"Ah, anyways, where is the patient zero, Yoji Itami, I think it was?"
"Dead, as of yesterday. We had to give him an injection. He was choking to death, and we couldn't stop it. We decided to finish it so his death was far less painful." Andrew spat out his coffee, looking at Kazuo like he was insane.
"You killed him?!"
"I'm afraid after all those that have died, we knew there was nothing we could do for him. Once they get to that stage, we know it's over for them."
"But, the reports said it was a common cold! Hell, we could just drive down to the local pharmacy and get medicine to stop it, or at least slow it down!" Kazuo sighed, putting his head in his hands.
"This is where things get… Odd. Doctor Marshall, I am going to tell you a story, and no matter how insane or ludicrous it may seem, I must ask that you not speak till I finished, is this acceptable?"
"Of course…"
"Good, now this all started two months ago when Lieutenant Itami and his recon team went to the city of Italica, a huge hub for trade in the local Empire, the ones who attacked Ginza. At some point, he caught a common cold and began coughing heavily, as reported by one of the surviving members of his team. He went on, however, at the time not realizing the damaging effect the common cold alone would have on the locals."
"Alone?"
"Doctor, please."
"Of course, sorry, please continue." Kazuo cleared his throat and went on.
"As I said, the common cold would be bad enough for the locals. However, one of the three natives in his group, a young girl named Tuka Luna Marceau, was an elf, and therefore held magical abilities, one of these being the ability to cure disease." Once again, Andrew spat out his coffee, coughing. He set his cup down.
"WHAT?!" Kazuo smiled a rather depressing smile.
"That's how I felt after learning this as well, but, please."
"O-of course, go on."
"Anyways, she believed she had healed him, and it seemed she had. For that moment. After that, they took part in the Battle for Italica, and they returned home. Itami was tasked with visiting the national diet but suddenly grew
extremely sick on the way back. They rushed him back to base, where his condition got worse. To make matters worse, almost the whole squad contracted the disease, along with one of the natives in the group. She was the first casualties, dying within three days of getting it. Lelei La Lena, fourteen. After this, the medical teams caught on to what was going on and tried to cut them off from any other contact, this was before we learned the disease had not been destroyed the first time, and just assumed that Itami had simply contracted a regional disease. That was wrong, the common cold had been severely mutated, making it untraceable, deadly, extremely infectious and VERY efficient. It took over Italica within the two months, most of the JSDF personnel being moved into quarantine. This has worked so far, but a lot were already infected before this came to their heads."
"Dear God… Has there been any immunities?"
"Yes, actually, three." Kazuo pulled out a folder, opening it and revealing three pictures with papers attached.
"The first is the 'elf' Tuka Luna Marceau. We don't know her actual age, but she is estimated to be sixteen or seventeen based on her looks. As mentioned before, she was the reason the disease spiraled out of control. She was emotionally crushed by this who turn of events, and was moved into protective custody of the UN task force for a number of obvious reasons." Andrew looked at her picture. She looked young and very pretty. Her hair and eyes were dazzling with the blond and blue colors respectively.
"Next is Rory Mercury, her age is also unknown, however, she has proven to have near superhuman attributes, extreme strength, and speed. It is assumed twelve to fourteen, based on her looks." This time, he was slightly taken aback. She did look young, no doubt about that, but there was something about her that just rubbed him the wrong way. She had dark black hair and eyes with red lipstick. Her smile was seductive, something he did not like seeing from someone her assumed age, her eyes, however, were a completely different story. They had a sinister feel to them, someone so detached from reality that killing would be a sport for them. He shivered and moved on to the last picture.
"This is Kuribayashi Shino, Sergeant First Class. She is the only confirmed JSDF soldier or personnel, that is immune to the disease. We learned this when she was the only one in her squadron to not come down with the sickness." Andrew set down the picture with the others and took the folder. After he put it in the briefcase, he turned his attention back to Kazuo.
"What is the progress on the disease? Do we know how it works?"
"None. We have no idea how it works."
"WHAT?! What the hell has the CDC and WHO been doing while they've been here, twiddling their thumbs?!"
"We have been working, Doctor, but things have been tough. We have lost a large amount of personnel, the UN task force has been busy with dealing with the small uprisings in Italica. The amount of sick and not sick have been challenging to sift through." Andrew groaned, rubbing his temple.
"This is going to be a fucking nightmare, I can already feel it… Where am I going, and when?"
"Lucky Star base, Doctor Marshall. Best of luck to you and godspeed."
My thanks to the guy who pointed out the formatting. I have no idea what happened, but here is to it working this time around.