Beyond Hyperspace Book 2- From the Edge of Extinction

From the Edge of Extinction 

The Pan-Con spaceship Challenger sat quietly at full power-up on the almost deserted launch pad. He was curious because he knew there hadn't been very many flights lately, mainly because there were few crews remaining to man the ships. The entire Sexton Space Port was equally deserted. He was shocked at the lack of activity at the once bustling hub. I guessed the Plague saw to that, he thought. As he neared the control building he realized it had only been three years. Three years to place the entire planet of Terra on the very edge of extinction. 

It had started as a simple mistake. Really just a small mistake but the consequences were immeasurable. In less than thirty months over one third of the planet's population, more than two-hundred-million were dead.  

In 2230 Terra was divided into three massive confederations, the Pam-Continent Consortium, Trans World Union, and Eastern Star Alliance. Instead of pooling resources, petty jealousies kept them at constant odds with each other. The Terra confederations had been competing against each other for years and it was the result of their intense competition which directly contributed to the catastrophe. 

The trouble all started when the Eastern Alliance deep space explorer Eastern Star made an accidental discovery. Exploring a region at the edge of the system they stumbled on to a small planet toward the inner circle of planets which had similar characteristics to Terra. The Captain quickly named it Terra II. 

With barely time for a cursory inspection, the crew's findings indicated that this might just be the place for colonization. A quick trip home for a refit and then an extended exploration was the plan. They had to hurry though, to beat the other confederations to the prize. 

As they made departure preparations, one by one the returning surface exploration team went through an extensive decontamination process. That is, all except one. The last crewmember was running late for her shift and decided to skip a few steps and failed to complete the entire process. As she left the de-con chamber for the ship proper she didn't know that a deadly virus was leaving with her. 

Later when the ship docked at the Eastern Space Port Number One the service crew, upon opening the hatches, found the entire ships crew sick or dead. In a matter of minutes the airborne virus had found a new home.  

The plague spread quickly and worked in three phases. First phase had the symptoms of a common cold. In the second phase the patient's condition worsened to that of pneumonia. The third phase was coma and death. The mortality rate after contraction was one hundred percent. Unfortunately, nothing on Terra could stop it and the death toll was rising daily. 

*** 

He heard someone call his name and quickly moved through the empty lobby to an open doorway. 

"Come in James. I'm glad you're made it" Sitting behind a massive oak desk bearing he emblem of Pan-Con Space Command was Admiral Joe Smith, his old friend and mentor. 

"Hello Admiral, how are you? I was beginning to think no one was here."  

"James, there are just a few of us left now, the plague hit the space forces really hard. The Alliance Space Force has been virtually wiped out and most of the Trans World force is gone." 

"Really? I didn't know it was as bad as all that. Of course I haven't been getting much news lately up in the Northern Territories." He owned a hunting lodge on the back along the border and had spent most of the last year there. 

"Unfortunately it is that bad, and getting worse. That is where you come in. We have been able to put together short-handed crew for you. We want you to take the Challenger and go to T2. T2 was the slang for Terra II used by most spacers."