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 for the kind reviews!
"Rival Riders"
Chapter 34
"Are you absolutely sure about this, Benson?" Coleman asked.
"I'm positive. The mucus sample from the nostrils came back positive, the tissue samples all confirm the diagnosis," Benson replied.
"I see. How the hell did this virus get into the country?"
"That's a question I want an answer to as well," Benson stated. "At this stage I have no reports of any other equine having the disease or showing any symptoms of the disease."
"Do you have the name and contact details for the owner?"
"Yes, I do."
"I think our next step would be to contact the owner and have him come in to the department to answer a few questions. Once we know his movements we might be able to narrow this down a touch to where this horse contracted the virus, where he has been since and the possibility of any other horses having caught this virus."
"Exactly what I was thinking, Mr. Coleman. I'll get right onto it."
"Thanks, Benson. Once you have contacted him, let me know when he will be here as I'll need to arrange a meeting between him, you and Cornes and a few of the others here."
"I will let you know as soon as I do."
"Thanks, Benson."
"I'll be in touch shortly, Mr. Coleman."
# # #
"It looks like she's got the same cold as Orion, Heero," Duo said, placing his stethoscope back around his neck and patting the mare's neck.
"Damn. I had hoped that by isolating Orion we'd manage to stop it from spreading to the other horses."
"Colds as you know are very contagious. I did warn you this could possibly happen, Heero," Duo said with a smile. "I wouldn't worry too much, we'll take her up to the surgery stables as well and isolate her there with Orion. Just keep your fingers crossed that none of the others have contracted it – although it's highly possible they will."
"I know," Heero replied with a sigh. "Guess there's not much I can do about it."
"Nope, there isn't," Duo replied with another smile. "Don't worry too much, colds will run their course and then after about ten days you'll have them starting back in work again."
"Thanks, Duo. I guess I'll gather all her feed bins and water bucket and take them up to the surgery stables."
"I'll give you a hand."
Walking back between the paddocks to the surgery stables, Duo's cell went off, the vet pausing to answer it. "Maxwell Veterinary Practice, Doctor Maxwell speaking."
"Duo? It's Zechs."
"Oh, hi, Zechs. How did you get on with Romeo at Treize's?"
"That's what I'm calling you about. It looks to me like Romeo has the same cold that Orion does."
"Ah, I see. Nataku definitely has it too, we're just in the process of moving her up to the surgery stables to isolate her with Orion."
"Good idea. Duo, have either Shini or Jester shown any symptoms of coming down with a cold?"
"Not yet that I'm aware of, Zechs."
"Treize and I were talking about what we were discussing earlier, all three horses that have colds right now were all at Werribee together and that it's a possibility that they could have caught the cold from a horse there."
Duo paused for a moment. "I still think we could be right, Zechs. It's strange that both Nataku and Orion have come down with a cold within a day of each other and now Romeo too. It's certainly a coincidence and worth thinking about, especially given the incubation time of a cold."
"That it is. I'd be keeping a close eye on Shini and Jester over the next few days, see if they start to show any symptoms."
"That makes perfect sense to me."
"No worries. I'll see you tomorrow at work."
"Will do." Duo cut the call and placed the cell back in his pocket. Picking up the feed bin and water bucket he continued his journey to the surgery stables and let his husband know of the latest developments, including his and Zechs' theory in relation to how the horses could have caught the cold in the first place.
# # #
Benson opened the door to the small conference room in the office section of the Department of Agriculture's headquarters. "Just in here, Mr. Nagaski." The Japanese man nodded and entered the room.
Around an oval table sat six people, those people rising to their feet as the pair entered the room. "Ah, Mr. Nagaski, thank you for coming in," Coleman said as he stepped forward and extended his hand. The Japanese man shook the offered hand and looked expectantly at Coleman.
"Mr. Nagaski, I'm Darren Coleman, director of the New South Wales Department of Agriculture. This is Wayne Jens, our Head of Resources, Oliver Poole, Public Relations, Eric Shaw, Head of our Biosecurity, Ron Allen, Chief Tech in our Laboratories, Doctor David Cornes, assistant vet and Doctor Kevin Benson whom you've already met." Coleman introduced the various people in the room, each stepping forward to shake the man's hand as they were introduced. With the formalities out of the way, Coleman indicated for Nagaski to take a seat, the rest of the group following suit.
Once everyone was seated, Coleman cleared his throat and looked directly at Nagaski. "Mr. Nagaski, firstly let me extend my condolences on the loss of your horse."
"Please, call me Hikado," Nagaski replied, "and arigato."
"Hikado, we have asked you to come here today as the unfortunate death of your horse and subsequent autopsy of your horse has raised some serious concerns and there are several questions we need to ask you. I trust we will have your complete cooperation in this inquiry?"
"Of course. I will help in any way I can," Hikado replied.
"I will hand the floor over to Doctor Benson who will explain some things to you." Coleman sat and Benson rose to his feet.
Flipping open the folder on the table before him, Benson scanned his notes before addressing Mr. Nagaski and the assembled group. "Given the sudden and unexpected death of your horse, Hikado, it is normal, standard procedure to perform an autopsy on the deceased animal to find out the cause of the death. During the course of our investigations, several samples of fluids and tissues were sent to our Laboratories for testing. The result of the autopsy showed that the horse had inflammation in the lungs, trachea and nasal passages. There were also fluids other than the usual ones found in the nostrils and samples were sent to the labs for analysis along with samples of the lungs and trachea. The rest of the horse showed nothing at all to have caused its death."
"I see," Nagaski said, his attention still firmly on the vet.
"The samples were analyzed and the results confirmed. All samples returned a positive result for the Equine Influenza Virus, subtype H3N8. Mr. Nagaski, your horse died from this virus." Benson paused and looked up from his notes. "Mr. Nagaski, were you aware that your horse was infected with this disease?"
The Japanese man looked shocked at the result of the autopsy and gazed numbly ahead for a moment before regaining his composure. "No, I wasn't aware that Yang had the virus."
"Yang?" Benson questioned.
"My horse's stable name. Yin Yang Yo was his full name," Hikado whispered and dropped his eyes, struggling to come to terms with the results.
"Ah, I see. Hikado, have you heard of the Equine Influenza Virus at all?" Benson asked.
"I have heard of it, but I really don't know anything about it," Hikado replied.
"For the information of everyone here I will quote from an 1872 report by James Law, the Commissioner of Agriculture for the year 1872: 'An epizootic specific fever of a very debilitating type, with inflammation of the respiratory mucous membrane, and less frequently of other organs, having an average duration of ten to fifteen days, and not conferring immunity from a second attack in subsequent epizootics.' End quote. Furthermore, the Equine Influenza Virus is divided into two main types. The equine-1 virus; H7N7 which affects heart muscle, while the equine-2 virus H3N8 is much more severe and systemic. The disease is primarily spread between infected horses." Benson paused for a moment to look around at the faces. Most wore looks of shock and concern. [1]
"Hikado, as I said before, your horse died from the Equine Influenza Virus H3N8. Given what we know of this virus, as you can appreciate we hold grave concerns for the equine industry here in Australia. Up until now, we have never had this virus here, none of our equines have any immunity to it. The disease has a nearly 100% infection rate in an unvaccinated horse population with no prior exposure to the virus."
As the words of the vet sank into the heads of those present, the true enormity of the situation at hand started to become clear.
Coleman stood up and took the floor. "The ramifications that this disease can and possibly will have on the equine industry here in Australia could be devastating. Mr. Nagaski, it is imperative we know yours and your horse's movements exactly; from when you came into the country up until the horse's collapse at the show."
Hikado put his head in his hands for a moment. Finally raising his head, his tormented eyes looked directly at Coleman. "I am so very sorry. I had no idea my horse was carrying this disease, if I had, then I would never have brought him to your country. I will do my very best to give you every piece of information I can."
"Thank you, Hikado."
# # #
Yawning and scratching his belly, Duo shuffled out into the kitchen. Noting the coffee pot on the go, he fetched a mug and spooned sugar into it. Milk followed and then the coffee, Duo stirring on auto pilot. Sitting at the kitchen table, he yawned again before sipping at the hot beverage. Slowly but steadily the caffeine began to infiltrate his system and wake him up. The sound of the back door opening had his eyes turning to the kitchen doorway and a smile graced his lips when Heero stepped into the room.
"Good morning," Heero said as he walked across to plant a kiss to his husband's lips. "I was going to bring you a cup in bed," he added with a nod to the coffee Duo held.
"That's okay, I was awake – sort of and thought I'd better get up."
Heero fetched himself a mug and poured the thick coffee into it. With milk and sugar added, Heero sat opposite his lover. "I've fed all the horses, including Orion and Nataku," he informed.
"How are they all?" Duo asked. "How are Shini and Jester looking? Any signs of them catching the cold too?"
"Shini and Jester seem to be just fine, nothing unusual at all. The others are all okay too as far as I can tell. Nataku is pretty much the same as she was yesterday but Orion appears to be a little worse."
"Worse?" Duo's head jerked up, his mind fully awake now.
"Hai. He's still listless, hasn't eaten hardly anything at all and the discharge from his nose seems to be a bit thicker and a lot more of it," Heero replied.
"I see." Duo frowned, he didn't like the sound of that at all. "I'll go get dressed and come take a look at him."
"Thanks, I'd appreciate it if you would. June's not here yet, but she won't be far away."
"Okay. I'll be ready in a few minutes." Duo left the kitchen, mug in hand and went to put his clothes on.
#
"You're right, Heero, he is worse," Duo said and patted the black neck. Orion looked positively miserable. His temperature was up, breathing a little labored and his nose was constantly running. Duo didn't like the look of that discharge either.
"Hi guys, what's wrong?" June asked, walking into the surgery stables to check on her horse. Seeing both Heero and Duo in Orion's stable she immediately went on alert.
"Orion's not looking too good this morning, June," Duo informed the woman. "His nose is running quite a bit more than I would have expected it to; it's also a very thick discharge. I'd like to take a couple of swabs and check it out under the microscope if that's okay with you?"
"Sure, go ahead. Anything you can possibly do to make him more comfortable then I've no objection at all," June replied.
"Thanks. I'll take the swabs now and look at them after morning consults." Duo left the stables to fetch the items he needed from the dispensary.
June stepped into the stable and petted the black neck. "He doesn't look at all happy, does he?" June commented.
"No, he doesn't. He appeared worse to me this morning when I came to feed them so I thought I'd get Duo to do another check of his condition. I hope you didn't mind me calling him in," Heero said, still holding the lead rope attached to Orion's halter.
"Of course I don't mind, Heero. You never have to ask for permission to call Duo in if you suspect there's something not right with him. I'm grateful that you have. Did he eat much last night?" June moved to the feed bin to take a look.
"No, he didn't. Most of his feed was untouched; I've emptied it out and put in a smaller, fresh feed, but so far he hasn't shown any interest in that either," Heero told her.
"Poor boy," June murmured and petted the horse. "Once Duo's finished with his swabs I'll clean up his nose for him, that might make him a little more comfortable."
"Good idea. I've got Nataku's to do too."
"Shame we can't just hold a large tissue over their nose and get them to 'blow', you know, like you do with children when they have colds?" June chuckled.
Heero mused on that thought for a moment. "I agree, it would be easier, but I don't think they make tissues large enough."
"Don't make tissues large enough for what?" Duo asked, stepping back into the stable at the tail end of the conversation.
"For horses to be able to blow their noses in," June supplied.
Turning to look at the woman, Duo gave her a funny look. "Somehow I don't think a horse could hold a tissue with hooves like that and I don't think I want to know the rest of that conversation either." Slipping his hand into his pocket, he pulled out a couple of vials and swabs. "Could you hold him still, Heero? I need to run these swabs around inside his nose and I don't think he's going to like it much."
"No problem." Heero took a firmer hold of the lead rope and also placed a hand on the gelding's halter as a backup. "All ready," he told his husband.
"Right, here goes." Duo stepped forward and ran one of the swabs around the inner nasal passage of the horse. Placing the swab into one of the vials he carried he quickly pulled out the second swab and gathered some of the discharge onto it, sealing that into a vial a couple of seconds later. "Thanks, I'm all done now."
Releasing the halter, Heero stepped back a touch and unclipped the lead rope. Orion hadn't moved throughout the entire procedure, only confirming to Duo just how ill the horse must be feeling.
"I'll let you know this afternoon if I find anything on the swabs, June."
"Thanks, Duo. I appreciate all you're doing for him. Is it okay for me to clean his nose out now?"
"Yeah, he'll appreciate that."
"Anything else I can do for him aside from more of the vaporub?"
"Not that I can think of at the moment. Hopefully these swabs will give me a more detailed diagnosis and then we can use a more specific treatment for him. Being a cold though, there's not a whole lot more we can do for him, just keep up with the vaporub, keep his nose clean, keep the medicine in his water and keep him warm. There's no point in giving him antibiotics as the cold is more of a viral infection and antibiotics won't have any effect. If he does develop an infection in his lungs though, then we can probably treat that with antibiotics, but that's something we will have to wait and see if it develops or not."
"Okay, thanks for that."
"No problem. I'd best be off to the surgery then, consults start soon and I've got a couple of patients in the kennels I need to check on." Pocketing the vials, Duo left the surgery stables to return to the smaller surgery of the main practice.
# # #
"Thank you, Hikado, for answering our questions so far. You are free to leave now, however, please remain at your current residence as we will probably have further questions for you over the course of the next few days," Coleman said.
"I will remain where I am for as long as you require me to," Hikado replied. "I had planned on attending several more shows, but..." Hikado took a deep breath. "All of that is now cancelled for obvious reasons. I do have one question though."
"Yes?"
"What will happen to the body of my horse?"
"The Department will hold onto the body for now as we may need to conduct further tests. Once any further tests are complete I'm afraid the horse will have to be cremated. It's the only sure way to destroy the virus," Coleman replied. "I'm sorry."
Hikado lowered his head for a moment. "It's quite alright, I do understand and I have no objection to Yang being cremated. Thank you, gentlemen, I will take my leave now." Hikado bowed to the remaining people and escorted by Cornes, he left the conference room.
"Well, gentlemen, I don't think I need to let you know we have some serious work ahead of us here," Coleman said to the remaining personnel.
Cornes returned just as Coleman was about to start the ball rolling on the measures they needed to put into action.
"Eric, Hikado said his horse came into the country with several others from Japan. Some went to Eastern Creek quarantine station, others to Spotswood. I want you to track down all of those horses, find out when they arrived, how long they spent in quarantine and where they went from there. We need to know every place each horse has been to and is currently at."
"I'll get right onto it," Eric replied.
"Benson, I want you and Cornes to find out if any horses in Japan have come down with this virus before or after these animals were imported into Australia. Especially check the areas where these horses came from, the likely route they would have traveled to the airport and how long they spent in the air."
"Okay, Coleman," Benson said and made several notes on his notepad.
"Oliver, as our public relations man I will need you to start getting the word out to all registered and practicing veterinary surgeons in the states of Victoria and New South Wales. From what Hikado said, the horses were all remaining within the two states so I suggest we start with just those two states. Depending on what Eric finds out regarding the movements of those horses we may need to alert other states' departments too. I'll contact the Agricultural Department in Victoria and let them know exactly what is going on."
Oliver nodded.
"Ron, is there a vaccine for this disease?"
The lab tech thought deeply for a moment before voicing his thoughts. "There is a vaccine, but we don't have it here in Australia. Other countries around the world that have suffered from Equine Influenza epidemics in the past developed a vaccine and now most horses in those countries are vaccinated."
"Can we import the vaccine?"
"We could, but it will take several days to arrange to import it and then the amount we can get will depend on what is available in other countries." Ron could see the frustration mounting in Coleman's eyes. "Whilst we don't have the vaccine here, I'm pretty certain that if I could find out the exact chemical compounds used in making the vaccine from another company then we could manufacture our own. I think it would be a quicker option," Ron said honestly.
"Okay, Ron. I'll leave that with you, see what you can do in regards to making a vaccine." Coleman looked around the table once more. "I want each and every one of you to keep your eyes and ears open, report back to me immediately you have something. Oliver, while you're contacting the many vets out there, please ask them if they have had any suspect cases, anything at all that could remotely be connected to the virus and make a list. Also ask them to immediately report any cases they come across."
"Of course," Oliver stated.
"Eric, when you do manage to locate all those horses that came into the country with Hikado's, the properties that they are on will be under immediate quarantine. No horse is to enter or leave the property; any persons entering or leaving the property must undergo a chemical wash of their footwear and any clothing and skin that may come into contact with the diseased animals."
"Do we have chemical wash here?" Eric asked.
"Yes, we do. Ron will be able to arrange the delivery of whatever amounts you need. Speaking of which, Ron, could you order more of it? I have a feeling we're going to need quite a lot."
"I'll put the order in as soon as I'm back at the labs," Ron replied.
"Gentlemen, I know all this might seem a bit on the overkill side of things, but given how rapidly Equine Influenza spreads, more so in an unvaccinated equine population, we will need all the measures we can put into place. This disease has the potential to cripple the equine industry here in Australia. Aside from the recreational horseman, this disease has the potential to bring the racing and pacing industries to their knees, the follow on through the breeding and stud programs would be devastating. And then there are all those who rely on the equine industry for employment; the trainers, jockeys, reinsmen, stable hands, grooms, feed merchants, farmers, farriers, saddlers... the list goes on. The equine industry here in Australia is the third largest industry and faces the loss of millions of dollars should this virus be allowed to spread."
All faces around the table took on grim expressions as Coleman's words hit home. Should this virus manage to hit epidemic status then the horse industry would be in ruins. It could take years for it to recover.
"Gentlemen, you all have your tasks, please, get to them and keep me updated at all times as to your progress. I'll call another meeting once we have further information. Thank you."
People got up, murmuring amongst themselves as they left the conference room to attend to their designated tasks. Coleman watched them leave. He had every faith in his team that they would all be doing their best to bring this disease to a halt.
"Oh, god, if ever we need a miracle, it's right now," Coleman muttered to himself.
# # #
Duo pulled the swab from inside the vial and smeared it across a slide. Carefully taking the slide he slotted it onto the stage plate of the microscope and clipped it into place. Turning the machine on he waited a moment for the machine to warm up.
Placing the vials to one side, Duo fetched a couple more slides, smearing a little more of the samples onto them and adding a couple of different chemicals to each one. Satisfied, he turned back to the now warmed up microscope, turned the base light on and peered down the eye pieces. Adjusting the fine focus, he slowly brought the microscopic world into view.
Having studied the first slide for a couple of minutes, Duo placed the second and then third slide onto the stage plate and twiddled the focus knobs again. He frowned as he gazed at the world through the eye pieces. The cells he could see were familiar, but different. It was like they were mutated in some way. Duo leaned back and closed his eyes for a moment. There was a faint, niggling in the back of his mind, but he couldn't put his finger on exactly what it was he was seeing.
Having searched his mind for the elusive thought and gotten nowhere, he decided it was time to do some further research. Switching the microscope off for the moment, he left the consulting room and stepped back into the surgery reception area. Several veterinary science books sat on the bookshelf in the reception area, Duo running his fingers along the spines until he located the one he was looking for. Pulling it out, he flipped to the back and the main index.
He located the section he needed and lost himself to the words and images on the pages. After several minutes of reading, the cold hand of fear began to lodge in his gut. With book in hand, Duo stepped back into the consulting room, turned the microscope on again and fetched a clean slide. Reading from the text he smeared some more of the mucus sample he'd taken from Orion onto it and added the recommended amount and type of chemical to the slide. After waiting a few moments, with shaking hands he slipped the slide onto the stage area of the microscope and clipped it into place.
Drawing in a deep breath, Duo forced himself to look down the eye pieces. What he saw there was an exact replica of the image in his text book and turned his blood to ice.
"Oh my god," he whispered.
tbc...
[1] The Equine Influenza virus did manage to make its way into Australia back in 2007 and almost crippled the entire equine industry here. Whilst a lot of this fic will be based on what happened here, there will also be slight variations to suit the plot line of this fic.
I am taking all my information on Equine Influenza from the following sites: wiki/Equine_influenza and wiki/2007_Australian_equine_influenza_outbreak
I will also be using some of my own personal experience and knowledge of the disease.
The direct quote from the 1872 report and following information in this fic is taken from the first of the above sites.