( open ) i'll fly you to the moon and back

[initiates]

Date & Time: September 21st - September 30th, 11:59 PM
Location: The Hold, the Moon Base
Characters: Any/all.
Summary: The Transports are evacuating to the Moon Base. Those on the Moon Base try to settle in and figure out their next move. Setting info can be found here.
Warnings: Talk of nuclear warheads and reference to immense loss of life. Please contact the mods should any individual thread get graphically violent or anything else of the sort.
Note: Use date and location tags in your subject headlines! Such as "On the moon, 23rd onward" or "On the spaceship, 25th" or "down at the Hold, 29th."

The Hold is a flurry of activity, grim faced members of the Initiative group directing supplies and people with the subdued air of people facing their own doom, and wondering at how to process the knowledge. None of the Initiative appears unaware of what will happen; their eyes linger on the Transports, expressions pleading, hopeful, doubtful, or immeasurably sad in turn.

Every eight hours, the space ship is sent back up with a load of people and supplies. The pilots are worked until they can't; the AI stolen ages ago by the Initiative greets and corrals people and supplies at both ends, and in the middle step between.

The network continues to broadcast on narrow channels between the Moon Base and Exsilium, up until the time that all connections are lost, with the carrier located en route to Exsilium. The first airship will pass by without dropping anything, but it's too early to celebrate. At a six hour delay from behind, the second airship arrives, and with it, the dark promise of the Black Code's nuclear weaponry.

The six hour window allows for time for those left behind, either by choice or circumstance, to be pulled to the Moon Base with the successful activation of the Transport Pad. New characters will ultimately arrive with the remainder of those not yet on the Moon Base, all in time to witness the explosive contact of the nuclear warhead with the ground of Exsilium live on satellite.

But until then, there's only the hurry, the silence, and the potential for full out rioting should the Transports spread word to the Exiles inevitably left behind to face this fate.

Comments

b

[oncearanger]

[Billy is feeling rather hopeless by the end of it all. Yes, he understands that this was the logical course of action, and he's loaded his memory crystal with plans and ideas for things he can build on limited supplies, but he still feels the heavy burden of guilt from all those deaths on his shoulders.

He's decided to stay alone for a while...but this plan is impeded when he encounters a woman and a cat in the first spot he'd intended to take.]

That's an interesting companion you have there.

[He doesn't even know why he says it. It just seems right.]

[ladyspitfire]

[The dog notices Billy first and lifts his head from where he's been grooming the cat. He chuffs out a bark, quiet but not threatening, as if trying to converse with the man. But it gets Elissa's attention and she turns around to see who's addressing her. It's no one she recognizes, thank the Maker; she can't look her friends in the eye just yet in the face of her failure.

She casts her glance to the dog and cat - a silver tabby - and gives a crooked attempt at a smile, poor in its attempt.]

There was a cafe that housed a lot of strays back in the city. A friend of mine loved it. If nothing else, I figured I owed it to him to bring one.

[She raises an eyebrow.]

Unless you meant the dog.

[Atticus wags his tail, tilts his head, and whines pleasantly.]

[oncearanger]

I'm glad.

[Though it still stings that they couldn't save the humans. He looks at that dog and sighs, shaking his head.]

It's easy to feel isolated with everything that's happening. We're in this bubble of a cage, while down there...

[ladyspitfire]

While down there, the damage is already done.

[If not now, then soon. It matters very little. She shakes her head as well, turning back to the window just briefly.]

And there's little we can do until the Initiative finds a way to fix everything.

[oncearanger]

I know we're largely powerless...but I don't think we're entirely powerless.

I was working to restore the lab until they pushed me out over exhaustion concerns. And there are plenty of places we can assist.

[ladyspitfire]

You would try to do the same here, then?

[He'd need supplies, though.]

And there's the matter of getting real food here, resources. They've spoken about the need for Transports to go on missions again.

[oncearanger]

We can find freeze-dried food, not a problem. I know of several space museums from my era that we could purchase from.

We'll find a way.

[ladyspitfire]

...Space museums?

[She's still lost about some pieces of technology here.]

But it's not just finding a way here. If we succeed, if we can fix this wrong, can you still say we can be capable of looking those people in the eye again? Will you be able to speak with them, to act like everything's fine, even when five hundred thousand of them are dead?

[oncearanger]

[He bows his head]

No. I'll always remember what happened.

But if we'd stayed...I agree it's very likely that we would all be dead, and the fight would be over.