Author's Note:

1) This story has nothing to do with the Skies trilogy or Last Stroke of Midnight

2) This story moves back the events of Gate so that the real life events occur somewhere after the time period represented by the anime, but before the end of the story as described in the LN. Everything else follows the existing Gate cannon.

3) The world is really crazy right now, please do not expect consistent chapter releases. They'll be ready when they're ready.

Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

-From the 1964, modern version of the Hippocratic Oath

APRIL 2020

Italica Clinic, Italica

Mari Kurokawa felt like she had been glued to the screen of her laptop for the past several weeks. Article after article, e-mail after e-mail… she wanted a direct uplink to the Internet like they had at Alnus, but the regular batch of stories and webpages arrived once every few days instead, like she was a researcher trapped at an Antarctic base for the winter. As a medical practitioner, everything she was seeing made perfect sense, and she had studied the topics while at school. As a regular human, it felt like something out of a dream or movie.

"Kurokawa-san?"

The words of her patient snapped her out of the distracted state and brought her back to the swab in her gloved right hand. "Oh, right," she said, taking another look at the color. "That's an abnormal pH. Based on the evidence I have here, I'm going to diagnose this as a yeast infection and prescribe you one dose of Diflucan. I'm also going to need to ask you to stop taking oral contraceptives for a week while it does its job."

The winged demihuman on the table, Mizarii, returned her an annoyed pout. "And what shall I do about business in the meantime?"

"Have you considered changing careers to something less… intimate? If you learned to read Japanese, I could probably get you a desk job."

Mizarii shook her head. "This is what I grew up with, and what I know. It is hard enough keeping up with all the new things your people bring to our world. I know that I'll never understand one of those." she gestured back towards Mari's laptop. "What's so great about that, anyway?"

Mari turned the laptop to face her. "It's a way of getting messages and news. Think of it as a way of sending and receiving letters."

"What does that one say?"

"It's an article from a news station… does Falmart have formal news? Town criers? Proclamations? Anyway, it's a news site called NHK, and this is a story about something that's happening back in Japan."

"Do tell. I've seen some of the equipment in that picture because you use it too. Is the story about physicians?"

Mari bit her lip. "I suppose so. It's about a…" she searched for the right word in Imperial, "…plague."

"A plague?" Mizarii grinned. "I'm amazed that you still have those. I expected that you had created some special machine or medicine to get rid of them."

"For most of them, we did. This is a new one though, so we don't know how yet–"

"I meant that as a joke!" Mizarii's eyes had flown open in shock. "Eliminating plagues! That's crazy!"

"It's not as crazy as you think," Mari replied. "In fact, there's one really easy trick that even people in this world can learn quickly."

She leaned in as if she was about to impart some amazing secret and Mizarii leaned in as well, eager to hear what she was about to say.

Mari smiled and answered, "Wash everything frequently."

Mizarii gave an exasperated sigh and dropped off the examination table. "There you go about washing again. When it comes to healing rituals, a quick prayer to the gods takes far less time, and is much less expensive. And even then, what's the point when I can just come here and take one of your pills if things go wrong?"

"Antibiotics and antifungal treatments don't fix everything," Mari folded her arms, "And our services won't last forever. Someday, we are going to ask you people to start paying for treatment. Even in Japan, medicine is not free."

"Then I'll deal with those things at that time," Mizarii said with a shrug. "Thank you for your services, Kurokawa-san."

As Mari watched her go, she chuckled and shook her head. Some patients, even in Japan, were consistently stubborn about heeding their doctor's advice. Most of them beat the odds somehow, so she wasn't really worried about Mizarii. She'd probably cave if the discomfort got bad enough, but would otherwise continue working as she had for years.

Still… she looked back down at her computer. The situation described by her colleagues at the JSDF Central Hospital in Tokyo was troubling, but for whatever reason she was not worried. The Gate was a choke point for travel, and that meant that anyone who came through was thoroughly checked, and so nothing like that would ever make it into the Special Region.

That was the theory, at least.

Formal Manor, Italica

"We call it COVID-19, which is short for Coronavirus Disease - 2019," General Hazama explained. "And it is proving to be most troublesome."

It was the first time that Hamilton Uno Ror heard the term, and she liked to consider herself better educated that most of the other women in the Rose Order. When the Japanese had first come through the Gate, it had turned out to be her penmanship and reading abilities that had helped her Princess forge a peace between the two worlds, not her sword skills. It was probably because of this that she had been chosen to accompany Pina through the Gate, and while she liked to think that her experience in Japan made her better-educated on the foreigners than anyone else in their world, meetings like this continued to prove that they still had much to learn.

Earlier that morning, Hazama had sent the princess an urgent message warning of potential supply chain interruptions from the far side of the Gate. Pina, wary of anything that could impede her success in the civil war against Zorzal and the Imperial Loyalists, had agreed to an immediate meeting with the General, which lead to this first news of a plague.

On the couch beside her, Pina leaned forward in consternation. "How does the existence of a plague threaten supply chains?"

"The disease is transmitted through direct contact or small water droplets produced during a cough," Hazama explained. "Because of this, the best way to stop it from spreading is to isolate all the workers from each other. If everyone is isolated, then it becomes difficult or impossible to work."

"That seems rather extreme," Pina said. "The Empire has fought during plagues before, and I fail to see why one would impede a more technologically advanced country such as yours."

"I think this is less a matter of capability and more a matter of culture," said the soldier next to Hazama. Lt. Yanagida pushed up his glasses and explained, "As I'm sure you've already observed, your highness, Japan places a much higher value on human lives, regardless of rank, wealth, or employment. A death of fifty people may be typical to you, but a massacre to us. Due to this, we are hesitant to risk our own population, especially when it is civilians rather than the military that are placed at risk."

Hamilton somewhat understood where the Japanese might be coming from. Their refugee-town at Alnus was an excellent example, as was their 'Geneva Convention' and rules for treating prisoners. She had always found it paradoxical, given that when the Japanese committed to war, the tools they put to the task made it as efficient and ruthless as possible. Thorough death or thorough salvation with nothing in between.

"Rest assured," Hazama said, "As long as our supplies last and the Diet approves, you will continue to have our military and logistical support."

"I see." Pina replied, and Hamilton knew exactly what she was thinking. They already knew that Japanese support for the war beyond the Gate was mixed at best. This wasn't reassurance Hazama was giving them; it was a warning. "Thank you for calling our attention to the developing situation, and I wish your government all the best in its management of the problem."

Nods, bows, and the two Japanese soldiers departed. Only once their footfalls had faded from the hallway did Pina turn to Hamilton and ask, "What do you think?"

"Me?" Hamilton's hand drifted to her temple as she thought through everything that had been discussed. "It's hard to tell what to think. On the one hand, I doubt that Japan would withdraw everything, unless faced with another war on their side of the Gate. If the price of the reparations are anything to go by, they have too much to lose by completely abandoning us."

Pina raised an eyebrow. "I sense a 'however'."

"However, they are skittish, and their response to an outbreak of a disease here would be just as severe as their military or civil rights responses." She looked up at her leige and asked, "What do you suppose that might look like?"

"I do not care to find out," Pina sighed. "I am told that Colonel Kengun is preparing for another push towards Telta in hopes of catching the main body of my brother's forces. If possible, I would like to meet them in the field, but I am worried about the situation here as well… would you object to working from Alnus on my behalf? I'll keep Panache here in Italica to look over my father and Lady Formal in case you need them."

Truth be told, Hamilton wanted to be at her lady's side. It must have leaked onto her face, as Pina said, "The abilities of your mind are greater than the abilities of your sword-arm. I need you here."

Hamilton looked down, defeated, and nodded. It was true, after all. Everyone else in the Rose Guard thought her too girly to be a soldier, and times like now she truly hated it. "If this is where m'lady needs me to be, then this is where I shall stay."

"Thank you. I'll arrange for accommodations," she smiled. "It'll be fine, Hamilton. The Japanese have overblown their concerns in the past. They have proven invincible so far, why not now?"

And yet, Hamilton wasn't so sure. It was very much unlike the Japanese to call a council with the Princess over trifling matters, particularly now that she had been declared head of state. Was there something that the Japanese truly feared? She recalled the incident at Hakone, but at that time their guards had been Itami's squad alone. What could be troubling enough to worry even the Japanese General?

Hamilton took a deep breath and shook her head to clear it. Pina was right. In this place, the Japanese army was functionally invincible, and they had nothing to worry about.

Alnus Base JSDF Medical Ward

Professor Urushibata had assumed that exploring the biology of the Special Region would involve some deep, backcountry trek like some of his previous trips to the Amazon, Congo, and Antarctica, but reality had been complete different; the biology gladly came to him.

He had been asked to come to the Special Region to study Xenobiology, and upon exiting the Gate he had barely seconds to ask, "Where are the demi–" before a bunny girl ran up to them, buried the wheelchair-bound Lieutenant Yanagida's face in her oversized chest, and squealed "Ah, Akira-san, it feels like it's been forever!"

Indeed, the prospect of demihumans had caught his attention and imagination ever since the elf-girl had appeared at the Diet in Tokyo for an interview. The pictures that made it to his desk had left him with even more questions. How are there humans on another world? Is it convergent evolution? If so, how? If not, how does that explain the demihumans? Are they the same internally too? Are the animal parts aesthetic or do they serve a true biological function? How do they integrate with the human(?) physiology? Do their brains process things the same way? What genetic factor dictates humanlike versus animalistic genes? Is their gut flora more similar to humans or animals? How are they all able to speak despite different oral anatomy? On and on and on.

Fortunately, the JSDF medics had no idea where to begin treating a demihuman, and Urushibata was more than happy to borrow their equipment and lend a hand. Sure, it involved frequent consultation with his colleagues back on Earth, but the ability to get his hands on so many rare breeds of demihumans with such ease and frequency made the medical wards feel like a buffet, and at the moment he was so stuffed that he wasn't sure which of nearly fifteen academic paper topics he should work on first.

This afternoon Dr. Kenzaki had called him over to assist with a male Leonoid. He had already worked on other cat-people in the past, but Leonoids were closer to cat or lion morphology than human, and so the chance to look at one was immediately interesting for biomechanical reasons. As he was about to step into the patient room, Kenzaki stopped him and held out a paper face mask. "He has a cough," the doctor said. "You know protocol."

One of the biggest concerns of operating in the Special Region was the possibility of an infectious disease not native to Earth somehow spreading to Earth. Most university students knew the story of Smallpox in the Americas, and so the danger was obvious. Thus far, the JSDF forces had been extremely lucky, and nothing novel had been discovered beyond a handful of STDs. If anything, the Special Region's aliments and Earth aliments were so similar that an Early-Gate theory had emerged among his colleagues claiming that the Gate had opened on Earth several times before, and either the two worlds had already mixed, or Earth organisms had already conquered the Special Region's biosphere. Regardless, there was still a possibility that something unusual had evolved in the last few thousand years, and no one wanted to take any chances.

Their patient barely fit on the checkup recliner. Urushibata guessed that the Leonoid was around two and a half meters in height. Though tall and muscular, the man was curled up on his side, coughing and wheezing. After he was introduced, Urushibata borrowed a stethoscope and said, "This is a device for listening to your lungs. Could you take a deep breath for me?"

The weary demihuman shook his head, placed his hand on his chest, and managed "It—" before dropping into another series of coughs.

"Chest pain…" Urushibata muttered. "Did he mention any other symptoms?"

Kenzaki folded his arms and said, "Aside from the cough? He's running a fever. There's also a sore throat and congestion, but those might be tied to irritation from the constant coughing. It could also be the other way around, since he wasn't able to give me a clear answer on which symptoms started first. I was going to give him some amoxicillin and send him home, but I was hoping you'd offer some additional insight."

Urushibata tilted his head to one side. He had taken some veterinary classes, but he wasn't a licensed veterinarian. "I agree that it's a respiratory infection of some kind… I'd like to cross-check respiratory infection symptoms in big cats to see if we could narrow this down. May I use your laptop?"

The doctor directed him over to the machine, and as he was about to type the address for his preferred veterinary database into the URL bar, he noticed the other tabs that Kenzaki had open.

Now that he thought about it, there were a number of human diseases that could be transferred to pets and vice-versa. Instead of going to his planned link, he opened up google instead and typed in a very different search.

He got his response immediately. April 5. A zoo in New York.

Urushibata took his hands away from the keyboard and looked back over at the demihuman. How close had he stood? What had he touched on the way in? Had Kenzaki touched the demihuman before giving him the mask? Was the mask enough?

And the worst question of all: What if I'm right?

"Dr. Kenzaki," Urushibata said, his voice low and serious. "Do we have any COVID-19 test kits on-base?"