24 MAR 3302

Authorities at Wilkes Orbital have announced that the recent appeal for Ceremonial Heike Tea has been a significant success. Personnel at the starport launched the appeal when they discovered that the individuals recently rescued from the Blue Hand Gang were infected with a strain of the Cerberus Plague.



The galactic community was unequivocal in its support of the appeal, resulting in a massive influx of deliveries to Wilkes Orbital. Governor Lawrence, the station's principal administrator, released a statement to the media:



"Thanks to the swift response of the galactic community, we are now in a position to treat those infected by the Cerberus Plague. The surplus Ceremonial Heike Tea will be stockpiled to ensure that any further outbreaks can be immediately neutralised."



Since news of the epidemic first broke, questions have been raised about how Professor Palin and his colleagues could have been infected by the pathogen. Drusus Kane, head of an Imperial counter-insurgency unit in the Achenar system, offered his opinion:



"The chances of these individuals being contaminated by accident are extremely small. I believe the abductors deliberately infected Professor Palin and his colleagues, possibly in order to disseminate the disease among the wider galactic population. Fortunately, on this occasion their plans were not successful."