( video ) uns: maxwell & jtk | thesa : ready up

[braidedwonder]

[ Video greetings from Jim Kirk and Duo Maxwell, who are both in what looks like one of the various tech rooms on Thesa Station. The only lights are emergency ones and glittering bits from the computers themselves. In the background, the blaring sound of an alarm siren is audible, though it's been muffled in here (possibly by someone disconnecting the speaker or shoving a sock over it, who knows).

Jim begins: ] As you're aware, the Natha left Thesa a few weeks ago, and the station has been in a state of low-power ever since. Stable, just running quieter. Today, though - [ he thumbs over his shoulder. ] Full-on emergency mode.

[ Here's where the braided pilot finally chips in, looking away from the screen he’s been typing and swiping away at in the background, throwing his braid over his shoulder with his typical candor, blue eyes finally turning to the camera to look at it instead of rudely staring off to the side to see what he could diagnose. ]

So, from what I can gather there’s nothin’ going on with the ship that would typically trigger emergency mode like this. Electricity is as stable as it’s gonna get, the shields are all up and there’s nothin’ within immediate range of the ship that the sensors show as a threat.. [ Duo pauses, clicks a few more buttons with a crease in his brow of concentration - ] .. so, yeah, there’s no obvious reason this is happening other than maybe the fact the Natha are gone for ..

[ A flick of a hand. ] .. Whatever they’re gone for.

But… [ There’s some weight to this, and that usually jovial or smirking face is dead serious as he looks back to the screen. ] .. all the training equipment is stuck in a conflict mode to teach people how to fight. Both physical combat as well as the flight modules for people who want to be that eager about it.

If anyone has any experience or clearances for the Natha’s mobile suits there’s training modules for that, and I’d be happy to offer to let you go against my mobile suit with the promise I’ll treat ya nice and gentle. [ Duo grins in that cocky way again, turning to Jim as if saying he’s done from here. ]

Following that, [ Jim says, exchanging a look with Duo, ] if anyone has spacecraft or advanced computer experience would like to come and be briefed on the situation, you're encouraged to do so, in case something happens to necessitate defending Thesa. [ The worry isn't just Thesa itself, of course, but the people asleep up here. ] I know most of us are focused on what's happening with the potential for a resurrected dragon, and this is horrible timing. Hopefully it'll remain a preventative measure up here.

Thanks.

[ Duo gives a little bit of a ‘saluting’ motion, though it’s clearly not military grade before turning back to his screens. ]

Looks like we’ll do best to be prepared on both fronts – everyone better be ready.

Comments

video / un: chocobro

[punshots]

S-so, what you're sayin' is...we might have to defend both El Nysa and Thesa?

[ Well, if that isn't a goddamn bitch of an unsatisfactory situation. ]

You think Thesa needs us more right now?

1/2

[willrevile]

If all goes well we won't have to do either, [ he says. Jim's taking this extremely seriously, but he isn't anywhere near panicked. (Almost like this is just another day at work, or something!!) ]

There's no identified threat up here. This is a precaution. Unlike on the planet - [ he shrugs. Rasyc, dragon. And looks over his shoulder at Duo-- ]

2/2

[braidedwonder]

Planet doesn't have a Gundam on hand, but I can solve that and drop Deathscythe from Thesa if need be. Or Barbatos can come down if we get a shuttle running. [ Duo doesn't seem too fussed either, really, stating the facts plainly, tossing his bangs out of his face. He's going to need a trim soon - ]

But Jim's right. The threat to the plant is greater because the threat is confirmed. Here the 'threat' could literally just be the ship pitching a fit because someone isn't here that knows all it's little maintenance needs.

Or the Natha's way of experimenting and seeing if we could work it out without them.

[punshots]

[ Either way they slice it, they're going of a lot of assumptions, and for someone as paranoid and anxious as Prompto is, having so little information about what's going on up on Thesa on top of everything going on planetside does not leave him with a good feeling. ]

Guess there's not much we can do up there beisdes wait 'n' see, huh? The dragon's the bigger threat right now.

[ Although... ]

Hey, I-I know this is gonna sound crazy, but...couldn't we just evacuate all of Wyver and Olympia up the the station while Ysverai does his thing? Not like the Natha are here to tell us not to. Kinda getting tired of keeping them a secret, anyway.

[willrevile]

I've thought of what might happen if we were pushed into that kind of ultimatum, [ he says. (It's not something he's discussed before with the Gundam pilot. Oops.) ] There are a number of factors to consider, both from a resource standpoint and from a psychological one.

We don't know, flatly, if Thesa is capable of sustaining that many people, awake, at once, or for how long. And we don't know if the natives would be able to handle it without endangering themselves, us, or the people in stasis.

[ Jim doesn't have an answer. On top of the problems posed, there's also the moral issue of how completely unthinkable it would be if the refugees evacuated the planet and left the natives to die. ]

[braidedwonder]

[ Well Jim, that's kind of you. Duo at least has the decency not to sneer about it too obviously or loudly, though he does make a face. For once he's more serious than he's ever been probably in front of other people to date, a sort of collected calm on his face though there's a certain...

Air about him. It's not directly threatening, persay, but the God of Death may very well be getting a redux right now in Thesa Station by the look of it. ]

The natives on Nysa don't know that Thesa is up here and I think that's for a reason. What the reason is who the hell knows - maybe it's because the Natha don't want to share and this is their pet planet for us, whatever...

[ But here's where a look gets tossed back toward Jim because he knows this is going to grate his gears. ]

If I have to take this station myself to get the refugees off of Nysa, I'll do it. It's supported us in stasis and with probably the right modifications and materials it can sustain those awake.

We can't sustain Khalo, Olympia and Wyver, though. There's absolutely no way.

[ And with all the removal of someone who's done this before: ] They'd be collateral damage on the Natha if that's what it comes to.

[punshots]

[ Sorry, buddy, but Prompto is definitely on Team Not-Leave-The-Natives-to-Die, even if it is impractical, and likely impossible. Not for a second can he put his life above those on the planet, and even if Thesa can't sustain them, there has to...there has to be something they can do for them.

And that is, of course, assuming Thesa would even be a safe place to take the natives. Maybe the Natha abandoned it because the Station is a lost cause. Dammit, his friends are still frozen up there...so many are still frozen up there.

This is all such a mess. ]

Not our choice to make, Duo. We don't get to decide who lives and dies here.

[ He sounds uncharacteristically direct on this point. ]

At least both cities are making preparations down here...maybe it won't come to anything like that. Maybe it'll all blow over and there'll be no dragon at all!

[ ...Not likely, he knows. ]

[willrevile]

[ The shift in Duo is almost palpable, and Jim's seen something close to it before, in ex-space marines, other warrior races - his gaze slides from his work to the pilot, though his expression remains neutral.

(Internal Marge Simpson noise. The last thing they need is more conflict if the Natha roll back in. And if they can make Deathscythe appear, they can probably yank it away.) ]

We're getting ahead of ourselves, [ he points out. ] I saw someone on the network discussing plans to protect civilians on the ground, and that's probably where our focus should lie. The station is locked down to very limited access right now, and we don't know if we can force it to do something like transport hundreds of thousands of people.

We should be able to get it to run a static simulation, though, to see if it's technically possible.

[braidedwonder]

You do if this ship can only take so much. Otherwise you play the game of whether you suffocate or starve first. [ Which is a much worse fate than he possibly even wants to think about. It's not nice - it's brutal, in fact, but in some ways it's fairly cut and dry for Duo.

He's set on surviving, whether that means stepping on people along the way or not.

Still, he snorts at Prompto's bit of optimism. ]

Wish I could think that way, Prompto. But a dragon's a dragon and any one I've ever seen is violent as hell. Granted, that was movies, so...

[ A shrug. Not a very good thing to base things off of shit like high fantasy films, he thinks. ]

How far can you really protect people on the ground from a dragon, though? At least for a duration longer than a few days, maybe? We don't have options other than scattering in to other areas but then you risk the logistical nightmare of not knowing the wildlife or the resources available in all those different scattered areas.

It ain't like Earth where we've got a general over view. Shit - we just found out about Khalo.

[punshots]

[ Prompto hasn't seen a dragon, per se, but he did see Leviathan's attack on Altissia and something tells him this won't be all that different. Which is...not a good thing, considering how that attack had devastated the city, but still. They had been able to evacuate all the civilians before the battle began in earnest, saving countless lives in the process, and if there's a chance of pulling off something similar here, then he has to believe it can happen. ]

If the Station doesn't work, there's..there's got to be other places they could go, right? There has to be somewhere that dragon can't get to. And if we can't figure something like that out...

[ He nods to JIm. ]

If you think you can run a sim, might be worth a try.

[willrevile]

[ Duo talks pretty hard, but Jim has a feeling there's a heart under there. He's been awful chatty about the prospects of protecting people, after all - but for now, Jim mostly just listens.

(Someday somebody'll ask him why he's working with teenagers half the time here, but, look: he was a genius teenager, so everyone can eat it, tbh.) ]

I'll do that, [ he assures Prompto. ] In fact I might as well boot something up right now. I'll let you both know how it turns out.

[ He throws Duo a thumbs up and exits the video feed. ]