( 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

[chosenfake]

[Jade is always right. Unlike ages ago, Luke doesn't discount what he says just because he doesn't want to hear it. Jade is correct in that this is a war, and the civilian casualties are unimportant to the other side. Not only that, but the Initiative has only slipped further, unable to protect the city and its people from previous bombings, plagues, and everything else.

He balls his hands into fists. He's trying not to tremble.]

All of that is true, but-- but I can't forget about them! They're victims of this war, just like we are, but they're being abandoned by the people they trusted. From the beginning, I could tell the Initiative didn't really help their people. There was no ruler, no one to help rebuild or protect, but the exiles still believed that they might be free someday.

No one... should be left alone like that.

[clinical]

I agree.

[Luke, too, is right. Luke doesn't know it, but Jade believes that Luke is more often right than he is wrong. In matters of any real worth. That sensitivity to the truth of the moment is one of the things Jade admires about Luke.]

Even if we change history to prevent these deaths, in this moment, these people have been wronged terribly. Nothing can undo that fact.

[chosenfake]

[He lets out a breath, slow and easy, trying to calm himself.]

I hate this war. I hate the UE, and I hate what the Initiative has done to us... but I hate this war most of all.

[He thinks back on something Riku said.]

I just keep thinking that it's not as simple as winning. Even stopping the war might not be enough. Stopping the enemy won't suddenly make the Initiative care about their people.

[clinical]

[Jade has thought much the same thing, though along different lines. He does not trust the Initiative to be dramatically superior to its enemies, should it have their power.]

You're likely correct. But forcing people to care for others isn't an easily accomplished task. Nor is it without moral complications.

[Jade is in the habit of posing problems, but—and he would not easily admit it—he has trust in Luke's critical thinking. In a situation like this, he wants to give Luke room to come to conclusions on his own.]

[chosenfake]

[At least he's not freaking out anymore. He's taking slow breaths, just... thinking it through.]

Jade...

What if helping those people and helping the Initiative end up being two different things?

[clinical]

[Calm, practical, ruthless.]

Then, I imagine, we will need to decide where our priorities lie.