Crashing Down: Preparation

[voidtreckermods]

Voidtreckers. I have picked up a catastrophe mission coming from system #78961112094711. Voidtreckers have urged me to be open with you all these last months and so I shall be transparent. The readings coming from this catastrophe are very unusual and I cannot determine the threats. Indeed there do not seem to be any threats in the system that would result in a catastrophe level mission.

This has been encountered before, in the Month of Egret on system #27462947582. This voidcraft was unable to ascertain the threats that could lead to a catastrophe. Known risks were calculated and mission goals created, but the Voidtreckers were put in unnecessary danger from the world destroyers.

From the data available it is not unreasonable to believe that the catastrophe facing #78961112094711 comes from the world destroyers. We still have little information. We do not have any way to stop the destroyers. However we have advantages that Voidtreckers did not have in the month of Egret.

We know what is coming. System #78961112094711 is Void Active. Voidtreckers have allies there. Saving the system is not possible but with five hours it is possible that many many lives could be saved by evacuating them to the void.

This voidcraft is sending a forward message to the ministry stationed on System #78961112094711. Due to the nature of arriving at catastrophe missions they will receive it not long before we arrive. But it should mean they are ready for us. This voidcraft has calculated mission goals to help voidtreckers organise but it should be noted that the most important goal is to save as many lives as possible.

The announcement comes out of the blue on day twenty four of the month of Quicksand. Not too long after breakfast when people are getting on with chores or other morning activities.

It is followed quickly by a holographic message setting out their team goals. They do not have all that much time before arrival, an hour or so to be prepared for the huge task ahead of them. The dressing carriage is open with warm coats, hats and other team-coordinated winter accessories.

How to prepare for such a challenge? It's going to be a very difficult day.

[OOC: This is a bonus extra for those who want to play out the preparation and reaction to the forthcoming event. It is forward dated until day 24. The actual event will go up on the 16th April and a conclusion on the 23rd. Though IC the event will only last one day.]

Comments

[najaran]

"How do we know this is one who we can't fight? The dragons fought a God! They didn't win alone, they didn't expect help to come, but because they were able to hold Baltheus off, help was able to arrive. I'm not looking to throw my life away, but I'm willing to risk it if it could be used to save lives. And my Cards agree. We want to help."

[motherofresistance]

Leia's gaze was harder than Naja had probably ever seen it. Much more the General than the mother. There was still warmth there, but it was wrapped around steel. "You're going to kriffing do this no matter what I say, aren't you?", she asked. It wasn't really a question, but she wanted to hear Naja say it.

[najaran]

"I am hoping not to have to. But I am not going to run away while people still need my help." She lifted her chin even though her shoulders were shaking slightly.

[motherofresistance]

Leia took a deep breath, then exhaled. "Believe it or not, I understand," she said. "But that doesn't mean I can condone your actions. I'd really hoped to spare you the trauma of dying, because even if you come back from it, that trauma is real, and lasting; I've seen it." She closed her eye for a moment, the steel briefly vanishing. "And I'm so, so tired of watching brave, well-meaning young people march off to their deaths. More than I hope you'll ever know."

Another deep breath, and the steel returned. "But if there's truly nothing I can say that will change your mind, then short of handcuffing us together, there's really nothing I can do to stop you. I'll look after your Woodfolk friends, but I won't pass on the message, because I suspect that Duo would disapprove of your choice just as much as I do. Understand, Naja, that if I do end up having to fish you out of a trunk after you're brought back here, that I'll no longer trust your judgment with regards to risk and danger on missions; I gave that trust to you freely, but if you take it and do something blatantly suicidal, you're going to have to earn it back."

"I'll always be here for you. I'll always care for you, and you'll always be able to come to me for advice. But this is one time I can't give you the answer you want. I love you, Najaran, but if you ultimately make that choice, I'll be very disappointed in you."

[najaran]

Okay, there wasn't a lot of open admission of love in her life. So that actually stunned her for a bit. Her master wasn't exactly the type to talk about his feelings. And she and Goligan teased each other more than anything. So yeah, those words... were a bit of a shock.

But once she processed, she shook her head. "I don't want to die," she said softly. "I don't even want to get hurt. I hate being hurt and I'm a bit of a coward about it..." she looked down at her shoes. "But... I can't just... The train made me run away once. There is nothing worse dying can do to me," she whispered, a tear rolling, than thinking about all the people who died knowing we promised to help and then abandoned them. Thinking about if I could have saved them. I want us to be able to evacuate everyone in time. I want someone to swoop in and stop the world destroyers so we don't have to evacuate people at all. But... even if I'm terrified... I have to try to help. I have to do whatever I can to try and help. I can't chose my life over theirs," she said in a trembling whisper. "I can't." Because one choice might kill her, but the other choice... she couldn't live with.

She put her hands over her face, crying.

[motherofresistance]

Leia reached out and pulled Naja into a hug. "I know that's what it feels like," she said. "I know it feels like running, and I know that sometimes surviving something like that can feel like the worse option. Believe me, I know. I was forced to watch my own world be destroyed when I wasn't much older than you are, and was powerless to do anything. Later, I felt other worlds die, and was equally powerless to prevent it. Every bit of guilt and anger and self-recrimination, believe me, I know all of that, have done all of that. And I understand how desperate you are to make sure that that sort of thing doesn't happen again."

"But Naja, believe me when I tell you that the kind of thing you're talking about isn't the way to accomplish that. It never is. It won't make you feel any better. It won't make the memories any easier to live with. And it won't buy back any of the lives that were lost. Trying to fight pain with more pain, make up for one death with another death- whether it's your own or someone else's-, is never the answer. I had to learn that the hard way. I don't want you to have to."

[najaran]

She cried into her. "It won't bring them back," she agreed. "But if it can stop others from joining them.... that has to be worth trying... it has to be...."

[motherofresistance]

"If it could," Leia said, rubbing Naja's back gently. "But this won't. Hopefully, we'll eventually learn enough, understand enough about the world destroyers that standing and fighting them, or else cutting them off at their source, will be a viable option. But that time isn't now. All trying to do what your planning now would do would be to add a few more numbers to the death toll."

"What we can do, now, today, is to save everyone we can, then take the knowledge we gain from this encounter and learn from it. Build on it, so we can work towards the day that we can end the threat for good. We can bring hope where there would otherwise be none, and we can keep the light alive."

[najaran]

"Do... do you really think if I die out there... without my SCA.... that I'll come back here anyway?" she asked after a long - well for Najaran - quiet moment.

[motherofresistance]

"I don't know," Leia admitted. "I'd like to be able to say yes, but I'm not going to lie to you. Not about this."

"I do know, though, that death is still death, even if you can be brought back from it. I know because I died back home. I know because I've seen others who died and were brought back, thanks to the nature of the previous world I was in. Regardless of whether your connection to the train holds true without actively wearing an SCA or not, if you die, you still die. There's no avoiding that."

"Do what you can today. Save who you can today. Then choose to live. Live, and save even more people in the future. Live and help bring hope to other worlds and people that would otherwise have none. When the time comes, return to the train with the rest of us. Live and continue to help keep the light alive."

[najaran]

She pulled away to look up at her. "But... if I would come back... then all staying and fighting does.... all it does that is bad... is hurt me. But staying and fighting, I could learn more. Like you said, learn more this time to be able to fight better next time... If all it costs is pain..." she swallowed hard. She considered herself... less than brave. But she could do this. She could take this on if it helped so many others.

Kigi survived so much, for so long, trying to keep the world together. She... She could do this.

Couldn't she?

[motherofresistance]

Leia shook her head. "That's not what I meant, Naja," she said. "Trying to stand and fight now wouldn't tell us anything we didn't already know about the world eaters; it would only further prove that they're lethal and incredibly destructive. By learning things I mean gathering sensor readings and data; things the Ministry is far better equipped to do than we are. You frankly don't have the capability to do that, and wouldn't know how to interpret what you found even if you did."

She was quiet for a long moment, as if considering what she was about to say next. "If- and only if- I thought there was information that couldn't be gathered any other way than getting in close to them, I might say it was worth the risk for you to try and approach them. But that's currently not the case. Trying to fight them head on now would be like trying to fight a tornado: foolish and pointless."

"And even when we are ready to fight them, I doubt it will be as simple as a contest of power or will. We'll need to know their weakness before we strike, not lash out and hope to get lucky. Because something tells me that when the time comes, we'll only get one shot. We'll need to make it count. And we'll need to act together."

"I think, ultimately, that may be why so many of us have been brought here from so many different places; to pool our strength, our skills, and our knowledge. To learn to come together as one, and to learn what we can accomplish by doing so. I know you're ready to act, to risk your life. And in the end, that may be necessary for all of us. But I'm asking you, as a parent, and a friend, don't take your cards and act alone. Wait until we're prepared. Until we're all ready to act. As one."

[najaran]

"But there are things we can learn," she protested. "They're alive, they eat things." Clearly eating is a sign of higher life forms to Najaran. "Maybe they can be talked to. Maybe one person standing up against them can get their attention. Or maybe I can't, but Thunderbeak can. Maybe Wall Of Stone can keep people safe. There are lots of things we can learn. And even if I just confuse them enough for a few more people to have time to escape... that's worth it! Especially if I come back after. I think I have to take this risk... If... It might be the best chance we have of learning more, and saving more lives."

[motherofresistance]

"I'm not sure 'eating' is the right word for what they do, despite what they're called," Leia said. "But I don't have a better one just now."

"Trust me though when I say that the only way to survive an attack by something like that is to not be on world when it happens. They don't just consume the life on a world, they consume the reality around it. The world itself will be gone. Do you understand that, Naja? Wall of Stone will have no ground to stand on. Thunderbeak will have no sky to fly in. The only way anyone will escape is by being tethered to a voidcraft. Which is why we're going there. And which is why we need to focus our efforts on saving as many as possible, not on trying to fight something that can't be fought head on."

[najaran]

"I never said don't try to save the people. But we can do both. And if we succeed in defeating the world eaters... then even more people are saved."

[motherofresistance]

Leia fell silent for a moment. "Diagad- the real one- was a whole world of heroes," she said. "They were still wiped off the face of reality by those things. You're going to throw not just yourself, but Gooligan and all your card friends to the same fate? Without so much as a plan?"

"Tell me Naja, and be honest with me. If a world of heroes couldn't stop these things in a head-on fight, why do you think you can? Explain it to me. Make me believe it as much as you seem to."

[najaran]

"Because you never know who can be the one to have the idea..." she said softly. "Who might be what is needed. I'm not smart like Joaquin or tough like Ganz or clever like Alta. But... together we got through all the gates of Bisteam. It took what we all had to offer. My Cards and Goligan and I... we may be few and small and I may not be all that strong or special. But that doesn't mean I can't help. Even if I don't know how yet."

But she was thinking now.

"But if that many heroes couldn't take them in a head on fight, and we tried that and failed too... Then we need a way to stop them that... isn't a head on fight..."

[motherofresistance]

"A way to stop them that isn't fighting them head on is exactly what we need," Leia agreed. "But if you want to convince me that you trying to fight them head on is a good idea in the meantime, you're going to have to try a lot harder than that. If you had a plan beyond simply throwing yourself and your friends into the fray and hoping for the best I might feel differently, but as it stands? All evidence points to what you plan to do being just a creative way of committing suicide."

[najaran]

"Then... help me find a plan...?" she asked, voice a bit small and plaintive.

[motherofresistance]

"That's part of what we'll be doing on this mission," Leia said. "Assuming there's time. Right now though, there's none."

"This time, the plan is to get those people out before its too late. It's a rescue mission, not a battle. The plan is to stick to the mission objectives, and be more prepared next time."

[najaran]

"So long as we can get everyone out," she agreed, nodding. She took a deep breath. Tried to control the fine tremors that ran though her. "Sh...Shall we?"