✧04

[bi_otic]

Who: Kaidan Alenko
Broadcast: Fleetwide video!
Action: Vaguely planetside, if desired
When: Today!

[The second Kaidan turns on the feed, the sound is distant and barely controlled chaos. He's moved into a side room near one of the space ports in the area, and the air is filled with the buzzing and chiming of a great many comm feeds going off in rapid succession, the constant chatter of traffic controllers almost a drone of noise over the top of it all. In addition, the noise outside can just be made out - the terrified shouting of civilians and the low whir and roar of engines as shuttles come and go.

Kaidan doesn't look scared at all. Strained, at best, but his gaze on the camera is one of steely focus.]

I've done what I can to reach out the Lyukite military to help coordinate their efforts down here. I'm sure most of the captains are ready and willing to lend their ships, but if we deploy our shuttles we can double our efforts.

I need a count of how many operational shuttles we have in the fleet, their capacity, and the names of a pilot for each that's willing to do some heavy duty for the next couple of days, and then I'll patch that list over to the command center down here so they can add us to the schedule of evacuation and supply runs.

The more smoothly this runs, the better.

I've had to stand by and watch a world get destroyed because I couldn't do anything about it. [His voice cracks, just a little] But not this time. Not a chance.

Comments

[bi_otic]

[It really IS insane, and making sure the movement of those ships is coordinated is exactly what Kaidan is concerned about.]

Kaidan Alenko. I run security on the First Breath. I'll be taking shuttle rotations once I get all this sorted with the people in charge.

[There's little else he can do. Shooting at the meteor isn't an option, sadly. He asked.]

[astrobleme]

Okay. Got it. It's good to meet you, sir, in spite of the circumstances. Just so you know, you can... Anytime, you can send me a message, and I'll answer as soon as possible. I'll be making myself available, no matter what.

[There's a longer pause here, one where Shinji might say goodbye or else ask a few pertinent questions, but...]

Hey, you said... in your original message, you watched what happened before, when you couldn't do anything... [...] It's the same for me, too. Pretty much the same thing. So that's why I want to do something this time. Anything I can do. At all. [Shinji isn't sure why he's confessing his deep shame to a stranger, other than to underscore how serious he is about being useful.]

[bi_otic]

[Shinji seems like a good guy - genuine and eager. Those are traits he can respect. The Lyukite people didn't really ASK for their help, but given that the Fleet is in the position to provide, it obligates them in a sense. Not that everyone feels this way.

He listens, impassive on the surface but inside anger boils at what Atroma is forcing them into. It seems like too common a sentiment.]

I get you. In a way we're lucky we have time to react at all. Time to plan, not so much, but the people in charge here didn't waste any time. So, neither can we.

[He sighs] Seems to me there's a few too many of us who have had to lose a world or almost lose one. Something tells me that might not be an accident.

[astrobleme]

Yeah, I... I didn't get any warning at all, before, so this is just... uhm, like you said, we have this much time to do something. We'll do something for sure. [Shinji exhales messily. He doesn't say that he's the reason for his world suffering not only one, but two doomsday catastrophes. The possibility that it could happen again still paralyzes him on a bad day, but he's trying hard to hold himself together. This planet, here and now, needs all the help that it can get.]

Not an accident? You really think so? Because that would be... so messed up.

[bi_otic]

I think it's possible...yeah. And 'messed up' sounds like it's right up Atroma's alley, if you ask me. That's one of the reasons I'd like to try to find a way out.

But...[He lets out a breath, even though it doesn't look like he's internally starting to seethe at the manipulation]...right now that doesn't matter. We have a job to do, even if they've forced our hand here.

[astrobleme]

[A way out. Shinji, of course, wants to regain his freedom as much as anybody else... but not if it means having to go back home. He'd rather die than go back home. He'd rather be dead. So it's always a little bit unsettling whenever he hears talk of escaping or overthrowing Atroma somehow. (That's an understatement.)

Absently, he starts rubbing at the front of his neck, where the DSS Choker used to rest, and then he says,] Yeah, uh... I think the... the hardest thing might be convincing people to evacuate the planet. There's going to be some who want to stay, even though it's... a death sentence, basically...