Other Worlds: V 2.0

[initiates]

Date & Time: May 21st, beginning at 0900.
Location: The Initiative Hold and all throughout Elmer's world
Characters: Anyone participating in the fighting, anyone staying behind.
Summary: Elmer's world is fought for and lost.
Warnings: Violence, death.

They reopen the portal at 0900, May 21st. The first scientist who stepped through was killed within thirty seconds; the rest who followed made it back through to Exsilium, albeit not unscathed. The portal was shut again by a panicked operator, although a second operator knew to keep the coordinates locked.

Within ten minutes, the alert had been sent out. There's no time to wait for the Transports to gather en masse; as soon as they have a sizable enough force to stand a chance at fighting through and clearing their gateway's location, the door is opened again.

Immediately inside the door is a desolate, grim scene. What had previously been the coast of Japan is now scorched earth, blasted sand, and little else. As the first point of contact for this world, it has undoubtedly suffered the worst. Here, the UE didn't stop at governments, financial centers, and capitols — the UE destroyed everything in sight. There are enough UE soldiers remaining in the broken country to give the Transports a difficult battle, although by now the bulk of their forces have moved on.

The Initiative will soon realize the necessity of opening more gateways, just as the UE had done. Transports will be deployed to London, Berlin, Paris, DC Washington, Moscow, Beijing, New York City, Hong Kong, Madrid. Through each of these windows, the destruction is staggering. Buildings are more husks than structures, everything that can burn is alight, and the death toll is off the charts. Blackened bodies seem to line every street, while pieces litter the ground among the rubble. There's no doubt that the UE has no need of the people of this world. They're after resources only, and anything and anyone already here is to be removed.

You can find UE soldiers everywhere. They move in coordinated squadrons of 20, and each of them carries a small arsenal. Even without their incredibly advanced and destructive weaponry, they're fearfully formidable. Each soldier, while still only human, is a genetically perfect clone, further enhanced by technological implants. They're all highly trained in physical combat. Even if you can disarm one of them, don't count on close-range attacks being any easier to handle. They've brought along cannons, small flying craft, and lightweight tanks. Each of these is the top of the line in terms of technology, geared toward destroying as much as it can, as quickly as it can. The United Earth is here to destroy, and they won't stop to wonder why their targets go from being civilians and scrambling, off-guard, comparatively primitive militaries, to trained and powered Transports.

For anyone staying at home, they'll find that any Initiative presence has withdrawn fully to the Hold. All Initiative employees are needed, and most of them in the med bays. The majority of the Initiative focus is on recalling and resurrecting fallen Transports, but attention is still needed for the living-but-wounded. Any Transports who stay in Exsilium and offer their help will have it immediately accepted; they'll be put to work in the medical wings, runnings supplies, or simply set at a machine and told to keep an eye on the numbers: Transport vitals, UE movements, and maps upon maps of changing statistics and colors.

At 1500, the Initiative will recall all Transport soldiers back to Exsilium and seal shut the gateway. The UE numbers are too great, their soldiers too powerful, and Elmer's world is lost.

Comments

[charming_jerk]

I can help ya. This is pretty much close to my world. Almost exactly the same. This is even my hometown. [He rubs his forehead, eyes squeezed shut for a moment.] So I ain't leaving till we get these UE fuckers outta here.

[have_hat_will_travel]

It's not happening.

We're the ragtag bunch of heroes, and this is the Empire circa act one.

New York's lost. This planet's lost.

All we can hope to do is make it extremely expensive for them to set up our turnaround later in the story.

[charming_jerk]

We can't just give up on it. We can't let the UE take over! That'll put them fuckin' light years ahead of us back at Exsilium.

[have_hat_will_travel]

And you expect to stop a military large enough to hit every major city on the planet, all at once, how?

This fight's unwinnable. It was from the start.

Grab what you can that'll make things more pleasant or will help you in the next fight.

[charming_jerk]

[He doesn't answer at first, he just rubs his eyes, grimacing. He gets up and starts looking through the weapons, since his won't last much longer. A regular woodsplitting axe isn't made for warfare.]

How can we just give up this place and the people that live here? Just let the UE kill 'em all?

[have_hat_will_travel]

Easily, for one reason.

We know there's a way to take it back - or rather, make it so it was never taken in the first place.

Remember what we Transports do? We manipulate the flow of time to reduce the UE's strength. Do it enough, and they become unable to have staged this attack before it even happened.

[charming_jerk]

You act like the Initiative is at all competant. If they were, this shit might not 'a happened at all. Same with all their other screw-ups.

[have_hat_will_travel]

Perhaps we could do better.

But we have to live first.

[charming_jerk]

That'll be a fuckin' miracle at this point. If I go down here, then fine. Least I went down tryin' to save Manhattan.

[have_hat_will_travel]

They can revive slain Transports. At least some of them.

I can't be sure I have that luxury. So I have to stay clear of the fight, and look to win another day.

[charming_jerk]

Yeah, but how many? People are gettin' massacred out there. How long can the systems for that shit hold out?

Why's that? There a specific reason?

[have_hat_will_travel]

Hard to say.

And... I'm sorry, I can't go into that one.

[charming_jerk]

[He just shakes his head.] I'll take your word on it. This ain't time for stories anyway. We gotta keep movin'.

[have_hat_will_travel]

You're right. There's more to do.

Take a few minutes and grab some guns and such, though. They'll be useful after this.