Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, it belongs to Bandai, Sotsu and associated parties. I just borrow the guys from time to time and return them a whole lot happier. I do own the plot and any other characters, especially the equines, that you will find in this fic. Please do not take them without permission. Written for pleasure not profit.
Pairing: 2x1x2, 3x4, 13x6, H+C
Warnings: Yaoi, lemon, sap, angst, vet themes, AU
Rating: NC 17
Betaed by Karina *snugs*
Summary: Set 2 years after Equus and Heero is doing so well in his own business that he's taken June on as a working pupil. The qualifying shows for the International teams are well underway and it looks like it will be a good year for Heero, his pupils and horses... until Mother Nature steps in.
AN: This fic, although a complete work of fiction is based partially on fact. I will add notes at the end of chapters where necessary to clarify events and provide links where needed.
Dedication: To Leslie and Karina. Leslie for giving me the original idea for Equinity and encouraging and supporting me through the writing of all the fics thus far in the arc. And Karina for not just taking over as my much needed beta, (poor woman needs a medal!), but for also poking and prodding Fred until he went on strike, refusing to work on anything at all until I let him start this. Needless to say, we managed to come to a compromise... Fred gets to write a chapter of this one week... the next week he has to write a chapter of 'Bound'... Did I ever tell you all I hate my muse? :-)
Fic 5 in the Equine Intervention Arc.
Commenced December 2013 – ShenLong
Thank you to all out there who are reading and a warm thanks to those who have left feedback. I appreciate you kind comments and hope you continue to enjoy as the drama unfolds. *hugs* Shen :-)
"Rival Riders"
Chapter 36
With the samples taken from Romeo, Zechs placed them in a sealed container and then into the trunk of his car. "I'll test these as soon as I'm back at the surgery. Once I have a result I will call you and let you know. In the meantime, here's a bottle of Betadine solution. Dilute it by adding twenty milliliters to every liter and wash your hands thoroughly in it after handling each horse. It will hopefully help to stop the spread of the infection to the other horses." Zechs handed over the brown bottle.
"Thank you," Treize replied, taking the offered bottle of strong antiseptic solution and passing it to Otto.
The groom took the bottle and scanned over the instructions written on it. "I'll take this to the tack room and make up several spray bottles of it now," he said.
"That would be good if you don't mind, Otto."
"No problem, boss." Otto left to make up the solution.
"Just remember, the stables are in quarantine as of now. No horse is to leave or enter the property until further notice," Zechs reiterated. "If this does turn out to be another case of EI, I'll contact the authorities and let you know what they advise."
"I'll wait to hear from you then," Treize said with a small smile. He glanced around as he stepped closer to the car and his lover. "Thank you for all you've done so far, Zechs." Treize leaned in and placed a gentle kiss to his lover's lips.
"I just wish this was anything but a suspected EI case," Zechs sighed.
"Not much we can do about things now," Treize said. "Best thing to do would be to focus on getting the sick horses better and trying to control the spread of it."
"Yeah, good luck with that," Zechs muttered. Picking up his own spray bottle of betadine, Zechs sprayed his shoes and then his hands, wiping his hands off before placing the bottle back in the car and getting into the driver's seat. "I'll be in touch soon."
"I'll be waiting for your call." Treize stepped back as Zechs started up the car. Waving his lover off, Treize shook his head and sighed. With a heavy heart he returned to the stables.
# # #
Eric's ears pricked up with Doctor Maxwell's words. "Two suspected cases of EI?" he repeated.
"Yes. I thought the horses had a cold at first and so we isolated them just to be safe. One began to show signs of getting worse so I took some swabs this morning and did some tests. I had a niggling thought in the back of my mind and double checked my text books. I've never seen, treated or heard of a case of Equine Influenza here before so I was naturally cautious. I did the recommended tests from the text book and they came back positive," Duo informed the man.
"I see. Thank you for taking things seriously, Doctor Maxwell and for notifying us of your diagnosis. Do you still have any of the samples remaining?"
"Yes, I do. I wasn't sure if you would need them to confirm my diagnosis or not so I saved them anyway."
"As you can appreciate, it's not that we don't trust a vet's diagnosis, but given the disease we are dealing with here, the department would like samples of any suspected or confirmed case to be sent through so we can do our own tests to confirm the result and put into place the appropriate measures to try and control this disease."
"I can have them couriered through to you if that would help?" Duo stated.
"Thank you, that would be ideal. I certainly wouldn't suggest sending them through the post!"
Duo chuckled. "No, I agree with you there. Mr. Shaw, I know this is probably not the right thing to ask, but do you have any idea how this disease got into the country? Also, the Vet Board said the department was already dealing with a suspected case of EI."
Eric sighed. "I might as well fill you in, Doctor Maxwell as the department will probably need to release a press statement sooner or later in regards to this infection anyway. Yes, we have had a horse die whilst competing at a high profile event and as such an autopsy is required to find the cause of death. During the course of that autopsy we discovered the horse died from complications caused by the Equine Influenza A Virus, the strain subtype H3N8; hence the request for samples from the equines you have discovered suffering from the disease. We will need to confirm not only that it is EI – not that we're doubting your diagnosis – but also if it is the same strain as the one the deceased horse had."
Duo felt his blood run cold. "The horse that died, it wouldn't have happened to have been the one competing at the Sydney Royal, would it?"
"Yes, it was."
"Ah, I see."
"Doctor Maxwell , these horses you have diagnosed, we will need to know where they have been over the course of the past two months and I mean all movements. The deceased horse came in from overseas with the virus already present that we can tell. Unfortunately, it didn't show up until a day or two before the horse competed at the Sydney Royal. It came over along with a few other horses from Japan, some thoroughbreds, the others were the Japanese jumping team for the Nations Cup."
"Fuck!" Duo felt as if he'd been doused with a bucket of icy water.
"Doctor Maxwell?"
"Ah, sorry about that, Mr. Shaw. The Japanese Nations Cup competitors, you said?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Mr. Shaw, the two horses I'm currently treating were both in the Australian Nations Cup team at Werribee."
Eric groaned. "That would be where they caught it then."
"There were something like three hundred horses at Werribee over the course of that week," Duo said, his voice almost a whisper.
"And every one of them would have been exposed to the virus," Eric finished.
"Mr. Shaw, you obviously have a lot to deal with so I won't take up any more of your time. I'll have the samples couriered through to you immediately and I'll await your result. Meanwhile, could you advise me of what measures you'd like me to put into place? I have already quarantined the jumping stable these horses were at and also my own, surgery stables."
"Thank you for that. I'll have our resources department contact you shortly and let you know the procedures we will need you to follow."
"No problem, I'll wait for their call. Good luck, Mr. Shaw and if there is anything I can do to help, let me know."
"Thanks, Doctor Maxwell, we're going to need all the luck we can get."
Duo hung up the phone, his mind whirling with thoughts. First thing he needed to do though was to contact a courier service and have the samples sent direct to the Agricultural Department.
# # #
"Finally," Benson sighed as he hung up the phone.
Cornes turned to look at his boss. "Success at last?"
"Yeah." Benson dry washed his face before looking to his assistant. "I now have it confirmed that Japan did have a small outbreak of EI around the time that these horses were due to leave the country for Australia."
"At least now we know exactly where it came from instead of assuming," Cornes replied.
"Yes, there is at least that much. Now the problem is, how to contain it and prevent the spread of it throughout the entire horse population." Benson sighed again. "This is going to be a near impossible task."
"I agree with you there. Aside from this horse, it all depends on where the others have been – still are for that matter."
"I'm afraid this is going to be a logistical nightmare, Cornes. I hope the others are having some luck, especially in tracking down where these horses have been and gone. The rate at which this disease can spread – more so in an unvaccinated equine population – is phenomenal. Within a couple of days we could have hundreds of horses affected."
The phone rang and Cornes answered it. Hanging up again after a few moments, he turned to his boss. "That logistical nightmare you were talking about?" Benson nodded. "Well, it's started. Eric just took a call from a vet down south a bit. It appears he has two cases of EI."
"Oh, fuck."
"Eric and Darren want us in the conference room five minutes ago."
#
Entering the conference room, Darren Coleman looked around at his assembled 'crew'. Taking a seat at the head of the oval table, he placed a folder down and opened it up. A pen was removed from his shirt pocket and placed on the note pad sitting inside the folder. Clearing his throat, he looked to the men sitting around the table.
"Gentlemen, I've called this meeting for two reasons. The first to find out exactly where you are all up to in your respective tasks and secondly to implement a plan of action. Before I go into details of what I have been doing, I'd like to hear from you all. Benson, how is it going with tracking down the disease and how it came into the country?"
Benson opened his own folder and related his findings thus far to the director. He explained how the Japanese Department of Agriculture had eventually, albeit reluctantly, admitted to having had a small outbreak of EI around the time the horses were shipped across to Australia. He also informed everyone of where those horses had been headed upon leaving the quarantine facilities. "I'm still assisting Eric in tracing the movements of some of them and we hope to have all that information very soon," Benson concluded.
"Thanks, Benson, good work," Coleman stated. "Continue to assist Eric to trace the other horses and give me a detailed list of exactly where each one has been once you have all the information, please. Once that's done I want to know why this disease wasn't detected at the quarantine station."
The head vet nodded. He wanted to know the answer to that too.
"Ron?"
The technician looked up from his notes.
"How are you getting on with a vaccine?"
"It's slow going. I've contacted several countries and have the procedure I need to make the vaccine itself, but..."
Coleman raised an eyebrow.
"As you may or may not know, put simply, a vaccine is usually made from dead cells of the disease you're trying to prevent. The only available source I have of this virus is the deceased equine in cold storage. I need to harvest enough of the EI cells to grow cultures of the disease. Once I have enough growing I can then neutralize the virus and make the vaccine. Given the amount of time it will take to grow enough cells to make one shot of vaccine and the amount of the vaccine we're going to need, it will take some time before there's enough available."
"How long?" Coleman whispered.
"I'd estimate between two to three weeks."
"Shit!"
"Coleman?" Eric interrupted. When the director's attention turned to him, he continued. "We don't have that sort of time. This disease is already spreading rapidly through the equine population."
"I know," replied Coleman.
"If I could get more of the virus cells I can cultivate faster," Ron said with a sigh.
"Hold onto that thought for a moment, Ron. I might have a way to help you out in that," Eric said. Opening his own folder, Eric began to fill the others in on what he'd learned of the movements of the imported horses, finishing up with the phone call he'd had from a Doctor Maxwell in Salsbury within the last hour.
"Doctor Maxwell is sending through samples he's taken from both horses he's diagnosed as having contracted the EI virus for us to double check and confirm if it's the same strain. I would suggest that if it is confirmed that the virus is the same strain we could approach the owners of those horses and ask for permission to take blood samples which will then enable Ron to cultivate more of the cells and hopefully have a vaccine available much quicker," Eric finished.
Ron's eyes lit up at the prospect. "It certainly would help us out a heck of a lot if we could," he stated.
"Gentlemen, before we go down that path, there's a few other things we need to discuss," Coleman interrupted. "The first priority is in regards to containing this disease. Did this Maxwell say what measures he's put in place? Also, did you find out where those horses have been, where they could have contracted the virus from?"
"From what Maxwell told me, both horses he's treating were a part of the Australian Nations Cup jumping team. They were at Werribee for the competition; the same place our deceased horse competed." Eric waited a moment for that bit of information to set in. Seeing the looks dawning on everyone's faces, he continued. "Yes, there were over three hundred horses at the Werribee equestrian complex during that week of competition – all of them have been exposed to the virus and all have now gone back to their respective homes. Aside from that, many will have traveled to and competed at other events since Werribee. Given this horse competed at and also died at the Royal show where there are in excess of four hundred horses competing there over the course of the week – each one of those has also been exposed to this virus."
"Christ, this is rapidly becoming a national disaster," muttered Oliver, the public relations officer.
"You don't have to tell me," Eric replied. "Doctor Maxwell has already placed the suspected stables under quarantine, along with his own surgery stables as that's where the sick horses are currently being treated. I did advise him we would be in touch with further procedures and any other measures he will need to put into place."
"At least there's a small consolation there," Benson piped up. "Someone does have a brain and has already taken the appropriate steps to try and contain this virus."
"Doctor Maxwell came across as a very responsible vet when I spoke to him," Eric replied. Turning to address Coleman, Eric spoke again. "Given what we already have on this disease and the fact that there are well over eight hundred horses out there that have been exposed to the virus already, not to mention the numbers that have possibly been in contact with the other horses that arrived from Japan, this is something we can't handle on our own. Coleman, we need to involve the media in this."
Darren Coleman closed his eyes and sighed. "You're right. As much as I hate to say it, we are going to need the assistance of the press to reach anyone and everyone who could be affected by this. Oliver?"
"Yes?"
"Have you got that letter you were doing up for all vets ready yet?"
"It's just about finished," Oliver replied.
"Good. There's a few things I'll need you to add to it which I will tell you about after this meeting. Once the letter is finalized I want you to send it out to every single registered vet and vet practice in the states of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. I'll advise you later if we need to notify the other states' practices and relevant authorities. Benson?"
"Yes?"
"When those samples arrive I want you and Cornes to test them; Ron can confirm with you once you've done your tests."
"I'll get right onto it."
"Wayne?" The resources manager looked up. "I want you to be ready to start to dispatch the necessary chemicals and hazmat gear to those practices that report cases of EI and have them placed under strict quarantine until further notice. We will also need a large map to note down where each infected horse and properties are located. That might give us some indication of where this disease is spreading and possible future cases."
"I'll have everything ready to go as soon as it's needed," Wayne replied.
"Eric, I'll need you to work with me to put together a statement for the press. We will also need to notify the government and come up with a strategy to try and stop the spread of this disease."
"No problem, Darren."
"If there are no further questions gentlemen, I suggest we all get to it, time is of the essence here." Coleman closed his folder.
The group all gathered together their paperwork and shuffled out of the room, talking quietly amongst themselves as they did so. Eric remained behind with the director.
"Do you think we will be able to stop it?" Coleman asked wearily.
"Stop it?" Eric shook his head. "No, I think it's already too late for that. But, we should be able to contain and manage it if we start to take action now."
"It's going to be a long, tough battle."
"I know."
Coleman pulled out his note pad from the folder. "Note down the main things we're going to need to inform the public of in relation to this outbreak. I'm going to contact the Premier and bring the government up to speed. We will need their permission before we go public with this."
"No problem." Eric pulled the note pad towards himself. "Good luck with the government."
"Thanks. I'll be back shortly." Coleman scraped his chair back and left the room to make his call.
"Where to start?" Eric muttered.
# # #
Zechs returned to the Maxwell Veterinary Practice and removed the container with Romeo's swabs in it from the trunk of his car. Locking the car he made his way to the surgery. Stepping inside he could hear the low murmur of a voice and followed the sound to the reception area where he found Duo just hanging up the phone.
Catching sight of the blonde vet from the corner of his eye, Duo hung up the phone and turned to face the other vet, a grim look on his face. "How did it go at Treize's?" he asked.
"As well as could be expected," Zechs replied. "I've got the samples from Romeo here. Any chance you can assist me with the tests as I've not done one before?"
"Sure, no problem. I had to look it up in my old text books myself as I'd not done one before either," Duo replied and made a move towards the consulting room.
Following along behind his boss, Zechs continued. "I've put Treize's stables under quarantine pending the result of these tests."
"Thanks. I've been in touch with the vet board and Department of Ag too."
"What did they say?" Zechs asked as he handed over the container with the swabs in it to Duo.
"The guy I spoke to confirmed they have a horse there that died from complications due to the EI virus. It was the one that died at the Sydney Royal."
"Shit!"
"It was also one of the Japanese Nations Cup team members."
Zechs groaned. "Could this be any worse? There were heaps of horses competing at Werribee. Come to think of it, there would be well in excess of two hundred competing at the Sydney Royal too."
"More like around five hundred at the Royal," Duo replied. Having fetched slides and the chemicals needed, Duo set the items out on the bench top. "There, that's all the stuff we need for the tests."
"Thanks." Zechs began to prep the slides, putting a sample on two and adding the chemicals as Duo told him. The first slide was placed on the staging area of the microscope. "What is the Department of Ag doing about this disease?" Zechs asked as he peered down the sights to gaze into the microscopic world.
"The guy I spoke to said he would get someone to contact me with what measures they require me to put into place, but for the moment quarantining the properties and washing down with betadine is a must," Duo replied. "Oh, they also want me to send through samples from Orion and Nataku to confirm if the strain of EI they have is the same as the strain that the dead horse had. I guess if Romeo's tests come back positive for EI too then I'd better include samples from him as well."
"At least they are starting to act on it," Zechs muttered. "Ah, crap."
Duo raised an eyebrow. "I take it the result is not what you wanted?"
"No, it isn't," Zechs replied, pulling back from the microscope. "You take a look."
Duo duly peered down the eye scopes to take in the result of the tests. The sight that greeted him was one he was fast becoming familiar with. "Definitely EI," he confirmed quietly.
"I was hoping it wasn't," Zechs sighed and slumped in his seat. "I guess I'll need to notify the Department too, and Treize."
"Give them a call now, Zechs and let them know I have a courier coming with samples already so I'll include one from Romeo in that batch."
"No problem." Zechs got up to make his call leaving Duo to add Romeo's samples to those of Orion's and Nataku's to await courier collection.
By the time Zechs returned, Duo had cleaned up the consulting room and put away the microscope. "How did it go?" Duo asked.
"Okay. I've given them all the information I could and let them know a sample would be coming through with yours for them to test. Now I have to break the news to Treize."
"Yeah, not easy is it?" Duo said.
"You're right there."
"Speaking of which, I'd better let Heero and June know of the results of my conversation with the Ag Department." Just as Duo was about to move there came a knock at the surgery door. "Ah, that's probably the courier service." Duo went to open the door.
Zechs followed him out a moment later with the samples.
With the paperwork dealt with, Duo and Zechs left the surgery to grab a quick coffee before resuming their tasks of letting the riders know of the Department's response to their horses infections.
tbc...