**Possum Kingdom, Toadies**

Mike chewed absently at the stub of his cigar. So far his first deployment as captain of the Nathan James was shaping up to be more rewarding than he expected. He spun his tall chair a quarter turn to the right and glanced at the picture of Mason and Bertrice that he'd pinned to the visor above his bridge station. The extra day spent in Jamaica had been worth the lost time. The island had been hard hit and those that survived were cautious about coming to the Kingston wharf to shake hands for the cure. But seeing those two crazy kids so happy had given him hope that things were turning normal once again. Although it was a huge loss to his crew, he couldn't argue with Chandler's decision to grant Lieutenant Mason's request to stay in Jamaica and organize distribution of the contagious cure across the Caribbean. It allowed the Nathan James to get to Panama three days ahead of schedule after all. And it was only temporary. Mason would be back, better than ever in no time.

"All ahead, quarter." The bosun directed the helmsmen.

"All ahead, quarter. Aye." For all his years in the Navy he'd never been through the canal. In better times they would have had a party to celebrate. Some of the crew might be planning a party for all he knew. But tonight he would be entertained by the harbor master and his assistant instead. Chandler and Michener had made it clear that this mission was part humanitarian, part diplomatic so he could hardly refuse the invitation. The good thing about the slow passage through the canal was that he could go ashore and catch up while the ship kept moving forward, albeit slowly.

At precisely 1730 he and Commander Garnett met by the gangplank. Her dress uniform was freshly pressed and she'd put on a little lipstick. Otherwise, Andrea was the same old Andrea. He was relived to have her by his side. "You ready for this Commander? You know diplomacy is not my best skill."

Her mile wide grin put him at ease. "I'm always ready for a dinner that doesn't involve a tray Sir." Behind her, the three crew tasked with starting the distribution of the cure laughed and nodded in agreement.

"No Sir and Ma'am tonight. I insist." He held a hand out indicating that she should proceed him across the small gangplank extending from the pumphouse of the first lock. Once they all crossed he turned and gave a quick send off salute to Master Chief who was sure to be watching from the upper deck. Almost immediately two petty officers hustled out to fold up the retractable stairs and there was a flurry of action at the bow where ropes began to be cast off.

They met their hosts just inside the pumphouse door. The small waiting room was filled with people, some in uniform and others in various forms of tropical formal wear. A wiry man, a little more balding than Slattery himself, jumped to action as soon as he saw them, striding forward confidently. "Commanders! Thank you so much for joining us." He extended a hand and gave each of them a firm shake as he made introductions. "I'm Alex Rivera and this is my assistant, Ms. Shaw."

Ms. Shaw turned speculative eyes on Mike, giving him the kind of once over he usually expected someplace like a nightclub, not a professional dinner. But then again, the woman was exquisite. Her blond hair was pulled into a sleek twist without a single stray hair or pin showing. Her dress hugged lush curves and displayed neatly toned legs. After he shook Rivera's hand she didn't wait for an invitation taking his hand in a firm shake while looking him straight in the eye. "Call me Allison, please. And welcome to Panama," she purred. He bet anything that if he had eyes on the back of his head he would have seen Andrea rolling her eyes.

"Ah. Thank you. And I've brought some colleagues, the Nathan James' Chief Engineer and Executive Officer, Commander Andrea Garnett. And of course, as we discussed earlier today, our team to begin transmission of the contagious cure."

Allison barely acknowledged Andrea but at the mention of the cure Rivera's smile brightened even further. "Wonderful. Everyone here is eager to get started. Can we proceed with that immediately?"

Andrea stepped forward. "We can." She explained how the cure worked and emphasized that they were running out of injectable doses so it was imperative that the people who received the cure today passed it on immediately. "Do you have three volunteers to receive the injections and start the chain?" She motioned to where PO2 Gilbert and his team were setting their cases on the small Formica topped reception desk.

Mike looked around the room. Most of the people were milling in small groups, talking softly and watching the meeting with speculative glances. Based on their attire he guessed most worked in offices. He shook his head. "We need to maximize the doses we have. These are the wrong kind of people."

"Well naturally I thought myself and Alex would volunteer, and my secretary Marium too." Allison flicked two fingers to call over a petite woman modeling similar business attire as herself from the sensible nude pumps to the perfectly proportioned pearls at her ears. "She's not a US citizen though so if that's a problem I can find someone else."

Andrea did a double take before pasting on what Mike knew was her grin and bear it smile. "Oh no, you misunderstand Mike. The thing is, we only have three injectable doses and the recipients only stay contagious for about seven days. So we need to make sure to give it to people who have lots of person to person contact and maybe some that will carry it farther south. Can you find us some school teachers, truck drivers, nurses, waiters, people like that?" Next to Shaw's perfectly made-up face Andrea's angry red flush was glaring and Mike wondered what had angered her so much. It was just a simple misunderstanding.

Rivera laid a calming hand on Shaw's arm. "I think we can manage that. Perhaps Marium can work with our staff and round up some people while we enjoy the meal. Shaw relented, although her stiff pivot on one heel shouted her frustration loud and clear.

Andrea nodded to Gilbert and the young man hurried to introduce himself to Marium. That accomplished she squared her shoulders. "Alright Rivera, please, we're eager to hear all about how you kept the canal open through everything."

Mike had no problem letting Andrea take the lead. In addition to being unquestioningly capable, it freed him up to observe their hosts and surroundings. As Rivera led them down a few flights of stairs and out to a small courtyard Mike noted the absence of trash and dirt. Many of the places they had been had obviously fallen into disrepair during the outbreak. "How did you keep this place up so well?" He asked Shaw, who was trailing Andrea and Rivera with him.

She looked around almost as if she hadn't even noticed. "We all did our regular jobs during the quarantine." He recalled clearing that apartment complex in Chicago with his son-in-law when they first began distributing the cure. God how he hated the word quarantine now. Her brow furrowed. "Rivera took his orders to restrict entry into the facility very seriously. I have to tell you that for a while he wasn't very popular around here. Although Panama followed everything the US did, there was a three day time lag between when we closed ourselves off and when the country closed its borders. Ships were stuck in port and people inside the facility were cut off from their families with no notice. The first two months were dark days."

"Why only the first few months?"

Her perfectly sculpted brows became angry slashes. "Well, the people outside were mostly done dying by then. I suppose you missed all that while you were safe on your ship in the Arctic."

He felt a pang of what he supposed could be termed survivor's guilt. "It was a huge gamble, sending us to the Arctic. All it would have taken was one person infected and it would have spread through the ship like fire. I guess that's why no other major ships survived, at least that we know of so far."

Shaw grimaced. "That and the fact that one ship went rogue and scuttled every other destroyer and carrier in both the third and seventh fleets."

"What!" Several heads turned at the roar of Mike's voice. "How could that even happen?"

"Oh come on Allison, we don't know that's exactly how it happened. And the CnR Pact took huge losses too." Rivera volleyed.

"Well if you ask that guy claiming to be the new president of California, it was part of a conspiracy by the US government to leave us defenseless against Russia." Shaw compromised.

Andrea stepped in. "That's asinine. Most of the ships probably sank because without someone to run all the onboard systems and without fuel they would eventually run into trouble one way or another."

Rivera shook his head. "We'll see if we can find some news footage somewhere. It happened back in August when maybe only 15% of the population had been infected. Society hadn't completely broken down yet but as the worldwide war broke out, China and Tikhey Russia, oh yeah you probably didn't know that Russia fractured early on, made a pact with China, and came for our arsenal. They would have succeeded too if those ships weren't removed from their reach. But after that, it went downhill fast."

Reeling from the news, Mike looked around. The complex was mostly various shipping offices and customs warehouses. "How did you survive?"

She pointed toward the east. "Did you see that big Dutch ship moored a few miles out?" He vaguely recalled a container ship with an orange hull, but then again, there had been several ships offshore, as there often were around major ports of call. "Well we made a deal with them. We brought them freshwater in exchange for goods from their containers. They kept several enclaves going around Panama City."

"Weren't you worried that once one of their customers got the flu they'd become a typhoid Mary?"

"No, we worked out a protocol. They would come in and dock and use the overhead cranes to offload a container. Then we would come in and wash it and dry it for three days before opening it. There was no human contact or surface contact either way."

"Sounds like a good system. Nothing has been so heartbreaking as seeing communities that suffered because they became afraid to help one another. Whose idea was this system?"

She pulled her posture so straight he could have used her as a model for any group of new recruits. "It was my plan. Before the Red Flu hit I was the director of customs logistics."

They had caught up to Rivera and Garnett as they talked. "Commanders, I hope you don't mind the decor of our dining room. This was once a cube farm." Rivera opened a door into a large office room. Conference tables of different sizes were arranged into long rows with one small table set off by itself perpendicular to the others. The setup reminded Mike of a medieval hall.

"It smells delicious." Andrea wasted no time heading for the separated table where gleaming china was already set out on a white tablecloth. "You didn't need to go to all this trouble for us."

Rivera smiled graciously as he pulled out a seat for Garnett. "It was no trouble. Well, at least not for me. Allison is the one who handled everything. But I should say, we have had it easy in many ways. Once we decided we had the right to use the goods we got form the container ship, I have to admit we have been living a little like kings."

Allison's heavily made up cheeks hid any modest flush she might have had. "Well, it was the least we could do to receive the carriers of the actual cure. But don't get too excited yet. I hope you like fish because it's the only kind of non-canned or dried meat we've had for a long time."

They settled into a discussion of how Rivera might help spread the cure. "You know, in my position here I've met people from all over the world and all walks of life from visiting dignitaries and officals to the lowest dock hand." Rivera waved his fork as he leaned over his plate. "And I am sure that this is not going to be a one size fits all kind of thing. If I was in a position to advise Michener on this, I'd say he has to step very carefully as you distribute the cure worldwide. There's a lot of cultural nuances that are important in statesmanship and I'm not sure that Michener is up to the task of creating foreign policy in the entirely alien landscape we're faced with."

Mike leaned back and chewed the final bite of an excellently prepared snapper as he considered Rivera's words. He and Chandler might debate Michener's fitness in private but they'd been careful not to express doubts in public. Andrea had a response ready. "Well, I think we are going on the assumption that the cure is above the games of statesmanship. This was a global crisis and it deserves no less than a global solution. It would be wrong for us not to bring it to everyone else as fast as we can."

Shaw set her fork down next to a nearly untouched fillet with a distinct click. "I think what Rivera is being too nice to say directly is that Michener should be taking advantage of this opportunity. Every contact he has with the other powers around the world sets the stage for new relationships with those countries for years to come. Sailing around and showing up unannounced, in a random order no less, is no way to go about it."

"Well no one has complained so far." Andrea's eyes flashed as she defended their orders. Of course, Mike remembered, she knew about Michener's struggles but she hadn't been there and seen him in his darkest hours. Mike suspected there was more that even he didn't know. But he did know that Michener was all they had and like him or not, he was rightfully Mike's boss.

"But so far every country you've contacted is used to being in receivership to other, more powerful, countries. Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba even here in Panama, we're all more than happy to take aid. What happens when you go to someplace like South America or Europe or Asia and just start in whatever city you land in? What if it's perceived as an attempt to subvert each countries sovereignty because you didn't go through diplomatic channels, whatever they may be? Michener needs to staff up and do it right from the start."

Rivera sighed at the way Shaw's volume rose with her impassioned speech. "Please forgive my colleague. She tends to hold her opinions very strongly."

Mike cleared his throat. "Thank you Ms. Shaw, for sharing your opinion that is. Michener knows he needs people, but his hands are somewhat tied by the fact that we're still trying to figure out if there are people alive with the kinds of skills and knowledge for those jobs."

Andrea's posture stiffened as she set down her napkin and crossed her arms over her chest. "Unfortunately, even if he wanted to, Michener can't really hire anyone. We have no congress. And believe us when we say he's trying hard to get one in place. But what was the count of Senators and Representatives this morning Mike?"

"3, and he made one of them Vice President."

"Yeah, so less than 3% of the senate has survived. Her face pinched for a moment. "That's actually better than the rest of the population. But you know, this is one of those times when checks and balances gets in the way. There's no power to do anything without a budget and there is no budget without a congress. In some of the states, the sitting Governor doesn't even have the power to appoint someone so they have to sort out how to have an election as quickly as possible while still keeping it fair and honest. In other states, there hasn't been continuity in the state government so figuring out what they're even allowed to do is a problem."

Shaw pushed her plate back from the edge of the table and gave a subtle flick of her hands to one of the waiting servers. "This county started from nothing once before and it can do it again. Maybe it won't be exactly the same. Or maybe, like the first time, we need to go through an intermediate stage first. Either way, we," She waved a finger between herself and Rivera, want to help make it a success."

After the desert and coffee Rivera and Shaw led them back the way they came. An idea had been tugging at the back of Mike's consciousness like a trout testing a juicy worm. "Tomorrow, while the ship makes its transit of the locks, we get a bit of a break. How about you to come with us to the ship and we can call into St. Louis together. Who knows, maybe Chandler can get Michener on the line and you can tell him your concerns yourself."

"Oh, well, we don't need to go to such…" Rivera began before Shaw cut him off.

"I think that's an excellent idea." Shaw's lips curved up at the corners, a little too much for a smile out of politeness but less than a full on grin. The effect reminded him of a cat they had long ago that used to bring mice to the bathtub and then watch them struggle to climb the steep sides for a while before going for the final pounce. It made him wonder exactly what her end game was.