She sits in her new apartment on the Keepstar, when her coms
communicator goes off. It’s her little brother
Duncan, he is the head doctor of the Yggdrasil project that she runs. Thinking it is a social call, she picks up
cheerily with a huge grin on her face. It had been a while since she talked to
him, both have busy lives.
Accepting the video and coms request “Hey baby brother,
how are you?”
Duncan has dirt and dried blood all around him and his eyes
are wide with panic. The scene around him looks like her worse nightmare as she
knows he is working late tonight. “Lit get to the center immediately, we
have been there are a lot of casualties and deaths.”
He pans out the screen, the once 6 story building is a pile
of rubble. There is crying, screaming. People are calling out for help, fires are
burning. She looks at the screen in shock
and horror, like something out of nightmares.
She goes pale, her hands are trembling, having a hard time
keeping herself steady. She manages to
push out. “Who? Who would attack helpless people like this?”
Duncan has ash all over him as he turns to hear something. “We don’t know yet, but we are working on
it, just get here asap.”
She nods her head slowly; she starts walking toward the
clone bay almost in a daze. “I will head to the clone bay and jump
immediately. I am on my way. Put the alarm out to all staff, this is a
code red, all staff. Even though those
at the other facilities.”
Duncan nods his head “Will do, see you soon.”
She makes her way to the clone bay, sets the destination to
her Pator clone and within a few seconds after her consciousness is transferred
to the other clone. The clone vat door opens,
and she bolts out of it, quickly putting on clothes. Still very pale, she runs to the shuttle bay
that will take her down to Huggar to where the main facility is located. This was the first stop point for any refugee
that came to the project. Her right leg
is vibrating as the shuttle undocks and sets its course to the coordinates provided. She chews on her lip, trying to think who
would do this.
Her coms device starts going off again, this time it is from
one of the other facilities. She picks
up the call a woman’s voice with sheer panic in her voice. “Boss, we have
been hit, bombed, there are massive casualties.”
She raises a hand to her mouth and gasps in horror, thinking
about all the innocent people who have lost their lives tonight. Squeaking out,
“Who? Would do this?”
Just then calls come in from the other 5 facilities, she has
littered throughout the Republic. All of them report the same thing, they have
been bombed. She clenches her fists, her
knuckles going white. She is trying to piece
together, would do this to her and why.
She calls one of her generals of her mercenary group.
Waiting for him to pick up. Finally,
after quite a few rings he picks up sleepily. “Boss what’s up? You never
call this late, unless something catastrophic has happened.”
Her eyes a mix of horror and shock, as the shuttle starts its
landing protocol. She just speaks
quietly “Activate everyone, I don’t care how you do it, but I want the
mobilized within two hours. The projects
facilities have been hit, massive casualties.
Deploy groups to all of them to support the medical teams and provide
support should they be attacked again. This is an alpha code. I will be going
to the intake center on Huggar, send a team here too.”
The general’s eyes go wide with shock; he quickly nods his
head. “Understood, boss. I am on it.
We will see you soon.”
The shuttle lands as she steps out and takes in the sight
around her. Fires burn, smoke in the
air, bodies littered about. She moves to
find Duncan; she puts in the local communicator device that goes to all her
employees.
She steadies herself; she must be assertive and calm. Her people are looking to her for guidance and
leadership.
Activating the coms device, she speaks “All right folks,
I know everyone is in shock of what has happened. But let’s keep our heads about us. I want a triage center set up on the west
side. Heather, go get the mass casualty kit
and meet them there. We have run drills
for this, let’s put to the test. Red tags
for the most serious that need immediate attention, yellow tags for those that
need attention but can hold for a hour.
Green tags are for those with minor injuries. Black tags, well we know what they are
for. The military will be arriving
shortly to help us set up the triage centers.
Rebecca, start setting up the triage on the east side.”
She continues for triage centers to be set up in the north
and south as well. She calls over to the
other facilities, asking for video of the unfortunate carnage that has
happened. One after another, she sees
complete destruction a similar scene of what she is seeing around her. She gives orders to each facilities head and
tells them she will be on site as soon as she can after she stabilizes here. She lets them know that her merc group will
be arriving, to help with medical and security support, plus supplies.
Moving around the site, she gets right into the rubble. Directing people as she goes, she doesn’t have
time to feel right now. She wants to save
as many people as possible, sending a quick message to the RSS that they have
been attacked, all facilities. Not
waiting for a response, she returns to the scene. She goes right into the
middle where the rubble is the worst and starts moving picking up pieces,
thankful she is in her augmented clone that has increased strength. Machinery is starting to arrive, to help
clear the rubble. The sights she sees tonight will burn into her mind.
After about an hour, her militia starts coming in and
helping the staff. They set up tents, makeshift
operating rooms, makeshift hospitals and triage centers. They also set up a tent for those that are
unharmed, unfortunately there is not really anyone. The machines start clearing the large rubble,
that no one can move. Her staff that
were off started filtering in taking directions to different things that they
can help with. It’s all hands-on deck
right now.
She moves with precision, as she goes through the rubble,
finding survivors and those who didn’t.
As she goes through the rubble, her heart is breaking, but she is
furious as to who would do this. She stops
as she realizes she has reached deep enough in the ruins, that she sees sighs
that no one should see. Can’t help but
have tears falling down her face she realizes this is wreckage of the nursery. People come over and start, helping her move the
debris. She raises a finger to her lips
at those helping her, all of sudden she hears a few weak cries.
Her eyes went wide, realizing there must be a pocket somewhere.
“Move people, I hear cries. There is
a pocket, and we have tiny ones downstairs.”
Everyone nods and picks up the pace, hearing the cries get
louder and louder. They find a pocket in debris and there lie about 5 infants,
dirty, scared with some scratches on them.
She cries out in urgency “We got survivors here!!!!! Medical with
me!!”
People start running to her location, she goes into the pocket
where it is cramped for her but she doesn’t care. She makes soothing sounds to
the babies, letting them know they are safe now. Passing up, one at a time each infant. They create a chain of people as she passes
each one up. The nurses who receive the
infants as soon as one is in their arms, they run to the closest triage center.
This continues throughout the night, rinses and repeats. Finding some survivors, but a lot of dead.
Dawn cracks over the horizon, she gets a full visual of the carnage and tears
fall down her face in horror and a fury building in her trying to find out who
did this. One of her generals came up to
her, holding something in her hands.
The tall blonde Intaki woman, has a look on her face of
shock and disbelief as Lit realizes she is holding something metal like. “Boss, you are not going to like what we
have found.”
Lit looks at the woman, motioning her hands to give it to
her. The blonde hands it over as she
looks over the metal piece seeing the Cartel insignia on what appears to be one
of the pieces of one of the bombs. Her
eyes go wide in disbelief. “Why would
they do this? WHY?!!” She cries out.
Something crosses her mind as her eyes go wide again, and
she activates her coms device to call home on the planet she is on. A voice she recognizes picks up. “Darren,
move everyone down to the Keepstar now, wake up everyone. The twins safety is top priority.”
Darren cants his head to the side, clearly confused. He nods, “Of course boss, what’s going on?
I will get everyone on it now.”
She sighs with exhaustion, “For some reason the Cartel
has declared war on me. The twins safety
is at a high risk if they stay any longer at the estate, move them now, quickly
and quiet.”
He blinks, as it clicks in his head what she just said “Why?
I thought you were on good terms with them.
We will mobilize and move the twins immediately. But why is the big question.”
Shrugging her shoulders, she says with a exhausted and heavy
tone “I don’t know, I thought so too but obviously something has changed
drastically and I will never ever forgive them for this.”
Darren nods as he looks at her with sympathy, finally
realizing where she is and seeing the ghastly sight behind her. Horror flashes
across his face. “Tell me, they didn’t attack Yggdrasil, please tell me they
didn’t.”
A tear slips down Lit’s cheek as she tries to hold back the
deep emotion that has been brewing all night. “All of it, every facility,
anything associated with it, they burned to the ground.”
He nods with a sullen look.
“Take care of that, we got the twins.
We will move within the hour to the Keepstar.”
She nods and hangs up the call. Duncan walks up to her and looks at her
concerned. “You haven’t eaten or drank all night, come get some food,
please.”
She shakes her head and tries to wave him off. “How can I
eat and drink right now, they need me, all of them need me. This is my fault, all my fault. These deaths are on my hands.” She says with emotion crackling behind her
words.
Her brother shakes his head and just envelopes into a bear
hug that encompasses her. She starts to
sob uncontrollably, her knees almost giving out on her. Her little brother, who is quite a bit taller
than her, picks her up and takes her out of the wreckage to the side of the
food tent. Just letting her get it out
of her system, her whole body is trembling, shoulders moving up and down with vibration
of her sobs.
She made a motion for him to put her down, trying to wipe away
her tears. Shaking her head to snap herself
out of it. “I don’t have the luxury of fully breaking down, people are
looking to me for leadership and guidance.
If I fall apart, that won’t help them.”
Duncan nods and grabs her hand and leading her inside the
food tent. “Working yourself to collapse and exhaustion won’t help them
either. The next shift is coming in, eat
and get some rest.”
She follows him into the food tent, grabbing a bottle of
water, sandwich and some fruit. Everyone
has a solemn look on their face as they look around at all the volunteers. She puts her food down and sits down. But she hasn’t eaten yet, she activates her coms
device looping in every one of her employees across the Republic.
She clears her throat.
“I know everyone is in shock with the horrors they have seen tonight. Things that will be etched into our mind for
years to come. I want to thank each and
everyone from the bottom of my heart whether you are on shift or coming on shift
or still making your way to your designated location. We will rebuild, we will survive, we will
become stronger from this. We know who
did this, but we don’t know why yet. I
am arranging for trauma counsellors to come in across the cluster to each
location. Everyone is mandated to have
at least one session; this is not up for debate. Thank
you from the bottom of my heart and soul, it breaks with you. But let’s turn that heartbreak into righteous
fury and burn them to the ground every chance we get.”
Cheers erupt around her and through her coms at her words. “May
the Gods bless and guide us to remember those who have died tonight and save as
many people as we can,” Head of the facilities, I would like reports on the
dead and survivors as it progresses. If
you clear your wreckage also report to me.
I am available 24/7. We can do this,
and we will move past this. Literia out.”
She closes the coms, finally she starts to eat. Exhaustion finally hitting her, letting out a
yawn and rubbing her eyes. She has been up
for over 24 hours now at this point. After eating, Duncan takes a place to lay
down. There are multiple people lying
down that have worked over the night. She nods to Duncan a thanks, lying down
on a cot, bringing the blankets up. She
closes her eyes and all she can see is the images from the night that just
past, quiet tears from her eyes as she finally drifts off to sleep.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn." - Harriet Beecher Stowe
Don't give up when dark times come. The more storms you face in life, the stronger you will be. Hold on, your greater is coming. - Germany Kent
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