Blue Plague

17-27FY The Blue Plague sweeps the Frontier. Scientists believe it was a new Sathar attack. The plague was not immediately detected and had a chance to mutate. It is believed that vermin were infected and placed aboard a ship by Sathar agents. The ship made several stops on the Frontier and the plague spreads rapidly. It is called the Blue Plague because of its earliest symptoms are large blue welts that appear about the face and extremities. These welts leave horrible black scars even if the victim survives the plague.

17FY Plague is believed to have started on Mich/Beta aboard the merchant ship Tocany. Flight records showed that the Tocany followed a flight path taking it to Hargut/Gruna Garu, Quintos/Alpha, Kischen/Delta, Dawn/ Gamma, Gollywog/White Light, and Arkham/Epsilon.

17FY With the Plague beginning to show up, ships are now required to pass health inspections. The Tocany refuses to comply at the Arkham/Epilson system and escapes out of the system after being chased by militia assault scouts. It turns up eight weeks later in the Pale/Truane’s Star system.

17FY The Tocany is found heading for the planet Pale but is destroyed by the Spacefleet cruiser. However a shuttle from the Tocany is later found on planet. Full investigation begins into who might have been aboard.

18FY Five star systems become so infested with the Blue Plague that the Council of Worlds, the diplomatic organization of the UPF, requests all races to recognize a quarantine of these five star systems. The systems names are redesignated by Greek letters instead of their true names*. General Order 7 states “A spaceship seen leaving one of these systems is to be destroyed by Spacefleet before it has a chance to spread the plague any further. No questions asked.”

19FY Hargut, Pale, and Gollywog suffer massive population losses due to the Blue Plague. All three planets are temporarily quarantined. It is believed that since these are all older established worlds they are better able to deal with the Blue Plague

19FY The Medical Services Organization is founded. Funding and equipment pours in from most of the Frontier worlds. Gretl Grohn is named as the MSO Chief Surgeon.

19FY The Saurian government on Kischen/Delta realizes that their race is much more susceptible to the Blue Plague than other races. With a death toll estimated at 95% they begin an evacuation of this their homeworld.

20FY The Council of Worlds, requests all races to recognize a permanent quarantine of these five star systems. Any survivors on these worlds are forced to remain. The Saurian Evacuation Fleet jumps to a neutral empty part of space to rendezvous.

20FY The systems names are redesignated by Greek letters instead of their true names*. General Order 7 states “A spaceship seen leaving one of these systems is to be destroyed by Spacefleet before it has a chance to spread the plague any further. No questions asked.”

20FY The Saurian evacuation fleet arrives at Minotaur/Theseus. Those few not in suspended animation request to disembark. Panic and fear grip the planet as they fear the Saurian survivors will spread Blue Plague to Timeon. Only the intervention of Star Law and Spacefleet

24FY Vaccine for the Blue Plague is discovered at the MSO Center on Morgaine's World. A system of forced inoculations for every being in the Frontier is started. This is met with resistance and occasional rioting by some as either being against their beliefs or a violation of their rights as UPF citizens.

25FY The Mechanon menace on Volturnus first comes to the UPF's attention, but cannot be dealt with because of the Blue Plague has almost all of Spacefleet and the Militia Navies engaged in enforcing the new quarantines and travel and trade laws.

27FY The Blue Plague is eradicated from inhabited planets in the Frontier. In total, 17 billion victims fell to the plague

28FY Very tough laws and penalties are laid down by both the UPF and the Council of Worlds concerning the intersystem transportation and handling of flora and fauna. Star Law is given jurisdiction over planetary imports and exports.

28FY After much debate and medical examinations the remaining Saurians are given a large tract of land on Lossend/Timeon and much assistance in building a new city. Residents of Lossend/Timeon accept this but not without several incidents. A smaller group of Saurians remain on Minotaur/Theseus.

*Although each of the star systems had other names, it was decided to change them for two reasons, 1) to make military coded messages easier and 2) as a relief because of the extreme emotional loss connected with each of the planet

RUMORS

While Spacefleet maintains quarantine of the infected worlds, many believe the systems are not as “dead” as the UPF says and that the UPF is actually using these planets for particular purposes or that other things are going on that the UPF does not want the citizenry to know.

Planetary Rumors

Quintos/Alpha-A UPF established colony with members of all races present. Here the quarantine has been partly lifted and “salvage crews” are allowed to go down to the planet and retrieve what they can. Only small groups are allowed and each must go through rigorous medical examinations upon their return to the orbiting armored space station. Rumors of constant firefights between the salvage crews over rights to claim.

Mich/Beta-The newest Yazirian colony and the place the Blue Plague started, it is rumored that the Sathar were not responsible for the Blue Plague and that is was actually a mistake by the Godco terraformers. Since a loss of confidence in Godco would result in a complete breakdown of the terraforming process and seriously disrupt UPF expansion plans, UPF, Godco and/or Spacefleet are conducting numerous experiments to determine what really happened. And maybe some other things like creating creatures similar to the Sathar attack monsters, which are against UPF law.

Dawn/Gamma-A human colony established by Gollywog/White Light although at the time of the quarantine 30% of the population was other races. The extremely mutable Blue Plague virus is said to have caused the survivors here but to have their DNA changed and numerous “mutants” with both physical and mental abilities not seen anywhere else. The planet is kept from making contact with other planets but the UPF is said to closely monitor it and occasionally “take samples”. This is supposedly where many of the Star Law Psi Corps recruits initially came from.

Kischen/Delta-Homeworld of the Saurian race. Here it is said there is a much larger Landfleet presence than any other quarantined system. They are their supposedly to run a special prison on one of the moons. But it is also said that units go there for special training and that massive construction on the planet has many different training environments. Most of which are exact replicas of megacorps headquarters and facilities.

Arkham/Epsilon-A mixed race and newest of the colonies starting by a religious movement called Worshippers of the Old Ones. Believed to be an Ancients worshipping cult, all of them refused evacuation before the quarantine. They reportedly state that the great convergence was soon to take place and they must stay. Now many among the quarantine squadrons say the system is haunted. They report frequent strange sightings and having violent nightmares while on duty there. It is known that while other systems have one year tour of duties, those in the Epsilon system stay only three months.

General Rumors

1.      The UPF or Spacefleet or one or more of the megacorps or several criminal organizations use the quarantined planets as a dumping ground for those they do not want around anymore but not killed. Whether a barbaric planet wide no guards prison or a luxury holding pen the rumors vary greatly.

2.      One, some or all of the quarantined planets are becoming overrun with Vimh. With no other species to hold them back they are developing new cultures and that Spacefleet is holding them in and not keeping others out. This one usually goes along with 3.

3.      The Vimh are immune to the Blue Plague. In fact the Vimh were created by the Medical Services Organization as the only way to make a vaccine against the Blue Plague. Once the Blue Plague was dealt with the Medical Services Organization could not bring themselves to destroy them so instead just released them out in the Frontier to find their own way.

4.      A form of the Blue Plague developed which infected the robots on those worlds. Similar to the Mechanons these robots have become intelligent and seek to leave the quarantine for their own purposes.

5.      The Sathar have established bases on one or more of the planets. How they get past Spacefleet is the hot topic of debate.