Let's Play: Shattered Earth

[doom3607]

The Intro begins!

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Date: Thursday, May 11, 2197
Time: 0231 GMT
Location: Low Earth Orbit, International Space Station 2 (ISA Orbital Platform #001)


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Alarms. Sirens. A voice over the intercom.

The captain woke up suddenly. The hell? he thought, reaching over to turn the intercom on.

"This is the captain, what is it? And can it wait until morning?"
"No sir, no it can't. ISA headquarters wants you on the line, now. Why... you'll see, soon."
"Fine. Up in a minute."

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The captain glided into the communications room, displacing the lieutenant stationed there. He switched the main videophone to the dedicated line to ISA headquarters in Geneva, and saw the heads of the Administration there, looking decidedly ill.

"Good morning. What's the emergency?"

The head of Observation stepped up to speak, which in and of itself immediatly alarmed the captain. Observation was tasked with spotting threats to Earth, and, if necessary, redeploying one of the DSCVs to eliminate it. If he was alarmed...

"Captain, something's come up. It looks like... we missed one. An extremely large comet, it looks like almost the size of Pluto originally, came into the inner solar system along the plane of the solar system on the far side of the sun. It managed to miss slamming into the sun, but it got slingshotted around at extremely high velocity. On a collision course with Earth."
"Wha- how did you miss that!?!?!?!?"
"It was coming almost right out of the sun, hell it was actually in the corona! You know we can't look into that, and what were the odds of something actually making it through that?"
"I- I understand. Anything else?"
"Yes. The comet seems to have fragmented significantly, enough so that it seems unlikely it will actually manage to hit Earth hard enough, or with enough pieces, to actually wipe out humanity. But enough of it will assuredly hit to wipe out most of civilization."
"How long to first impact, then? How long do we have to get people to safety?"
"... The first impact is in five minutes, captain. It'll hit just of the coast of Australia, and a second chunk is projected to hit ten minutes later in the Sea of Japan. The comet will take twenty-seven hours to pass Earth completely, barraging the daylight side. One of our people put it best, on hearing the news: 'With the dawn comes the fire.' By dawn in Geneva, or what's left of it, tommorow, nothing will be left."
"What do we do? What can we do?"
"Nothing. There's nothing you can do. We did manage to get the Secretary-General on the phone, though, and he agrees on our one, final order to you: Attempt to uphold, and, if necessary, reinstate the ideals of the UN, assuming anything at all survives. Now if you don't mind, we'd like to spend our final hours with our families, and I imagine the crew will want to say goodbye to its families, too. For the last time, goodbye, and good luck."

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The comet has just finished with its bombardment of Earth. Most of human civilization has been destroyed. Almost all coastal areas have been destroyed. Low-lying areas are flooding rapdily due to all the water vaporized by ocean strikes raining down again. First things first: Who are you? List name, rank, age, a short description, and position (job, not actual location) on the station.

Available ranks:

1 Captain
1 Commander
2 Lieutenant Commander
7 Lieutenant
28 Ensign

Once people have signed up initially, we'll move on.

[Scottish Ninja]

OOC: Can I grab one of the Lieutenant Commander slots? I'll post more in a bit but I have to run out just now.

[doom3607]

OOC: Sure.

[OmegaChief]

OOC: How's this look oh Doomy one?

Name: James Taylor
Rank: Commander
Age: 29
Position: Station XO
Description: Relatively young for his rank, James has a great desire to prove that he has earned it which can lead to him being a little overbearing at times, as well as perhaps a little too by the book, but how the recent destruction of human civilisation will effect him has yet to be seen. Physically he stands just under average height, with regulation length brown hair and brown eyes, it has been noted that in general he looks pretty average and non-descript and has tended to not stand out at all on any crew photos.

[Zixinus]

I've never heard of this game and have trouble finding anything. Can you please give a link to what it is actually like?

[doom3607]

Wait, the L.A.M.E. team is based on an actual game? 'Cause neither is this. I sorta stole and tweaked the idea from a book. And good, OmegaChief!

Edit: I'll see if I can remember the name of the book. If it has one, I'll link the wikipedia page.

Edit, Again: Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. I just made it farther into the future so the players could start on a space station.

[Hawkwings]

Goin' straight for the top!

Name: Jacob "Hawk" Prycin
Rank: Captain
Age: 42
Position: Station Dictator Captain
Description: Tired of constantly being passed over for promotion by buffoons, charlatans, and weaklings, Jacob engaged in an extended campaign of misinformation, blackmail, and sabotage of his competition to gain his position as Captain of ISA Orbital Platform #001. It's a good thing, then, that everyone who suspected is now likely dead. He is competent, proud, and not afraid to get his hands dirty to get the job done. His favored underlings enjoy extensive privileges, but in exchange he demands more from them than others. He cannot stand suck-ups and laziness, and remains eminently fair in his judgments as befits an officer of the ISA and likely the commander of the last remnants of the UN. Surprisingly, he holds the ideals of the UN in high regard, though he feels that he does not live up to them.

The Captain was in the main observation room during the impacts, watching them all as they destroyed human civilization.

[Zaune]

Name: Jake Grey
Age: 31
Rank: Lieutenant
Position: Information and Communications Technician/Range Safety Officer

Bio: Easygoing, slow to anger and not especially ambitious or assertive, British expat Jake is not cut out for high rank in the Service and knows it. When the news of the comet came, he was about to put in a request to be rotated back to planetside duty in order to spend more time with his family.
A frantic phone call assured him that they were safe, at least from the short-term effects, but Jake is desperate to reach the surface as soon as possible. Unfortunately, that take a while; he's a competent technician and a fair shot, but no leader.

[doom3607]

So.. four people. I'll wait for Scottish Ninja to post his guy, then start, I guess.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Name: John Ravensburg
Age: 27
Rank: Liuetenant Commander
Position: Operations Officer/Second Officer

Bio: Tall, lean, with dark hair, John Ravensburg is the classical epitome of the British officer. Fast-tracked for promotion, with a determination and drive to reach the top spot. Originally considered as a candidate for early promotion and Station CO, but his prospects were (unknown to John) sabotaged by then-Commander Prycin. Consequently has an intense dislike for his CO, whom he perceives to be a born fool and a neandthal thug, but restrains it behind his sense of duty. Most commonly sticks up for junior officers facing the Captains wrath, and is never afraid to speak his mind.

A born leader, a fast thinker and a very capable officer and leader, these traits come at the expense of a family. A few brief flings back on Earth never went anywhere, and he remains completely focused on doing his job.
Spoiler

Damn you Hawkwings! beat me to the top spot. Geuss I'll jsut have to upstage you. It's on!

[OmegaChief]

((Psst, Eternal Freedom, I already nabbed the XO spot >.>))

[Eternal_Freedom]

Psst: OmegaChief, Ops Officer/Second Officer is distinct from XO. Basically, think Data's role compared to Riker's

[Scottish Ninja]

Name: Andrew McNair
Age: 31
Rank: Lieutenant Commander
Position: Logistics Officer
Description: McNair (or "Andy" as he prefers) is a laid-back lanky man in charge of the station's supplies. He butts heads with Ravensburg on occasion, but though he is no particular stickler he always manages to get the job done, which tends to moderate their conflict. He tries to avoid having to meet with the Captain. Has a semi-notorious skill at scrounging and jury-rigging; whatever someone needs, McNair can usually get it for them.

[OmegaChief]

Psst: OmegaChief, Ops Officer/Second Officer is distinct from XO. Basically, think Data's role compared to Riker's

Psst: I stand corrected, sorry.

[doom3607]

So we have the top four officers and a Lt. Good, good. Now, to begin. Oh, and all officers without players get refered to by rank only, please, so players still have freedom in naming and gender selection.

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Day One, Year Zero ATC
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The crew has been gathered in the station's mess hall. The comet stopped falling half an hour ago. Many of the crew look as if they have been crying recently, for obvious reasons. Fortunately, there have been no suicides. The captain, XO, and Lieutenant Commanders are on a platform at one end of the room. This is a meeting to decide what the crew should do now.
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Any questions about exactly what resources the station has available can be adressed to the crowd, I'll have generic ensigns with positions related to what you asked about answer. Questions about what exactly basic technology is can be addressed to me, directly.

[Force Lord]

Name: Rafael Negrón
Age: 30
Rank: Lieutenant
Position: Security Officer
Description: Rafael, known better as "Icy Ralph", is in charge of Station Security. His cold personality and aloofness has created not insignificant friction with the station's personnel, and he is known for his efficiency in dealing with what he determines to be threats to the station's functioning. Despite his harsh exterior, he still has a heart, though he is reluctant to show it. He fears for his family's safety, making him even more withdrawn.

[Force Lord]

The Security Officer barges into the meeting, an angry look in his face.

"No one told me about this meeting?!"

[Eternal_Freedom]

"Take a seat Icy, it was kinda laid on at the last minute. The usual schedules have gone out the airlock."

John turns to Captain Prycin:

"If I may captain, I believe the first question that must be asked is how long we can remain on the station. McNair? Can you or one of your quartermasters sumarise the supply situation please?"

[OmegaChief]

Commander Taylor looked particularly glum as he sat in his chair, making an apologetic hand gesture to the Security Chief.

“Sorry Icy, I thought everyone had been informed… eyes kept drifting to the view during the checks…”

With a small sigh he refocused on the meeting.

“As a related question to how long we can remain in orbit, it might be best to know the fuel situation for our craft, to know how many trips we can take.”

[Zaune]

Lt Grey cleared his throat. "Sirs, if I may interject?" He straightened his uniform cap, a nervous habit. "Fuel may not be an immediate concern. Some of you may not be aware that the Russian government's policy is to keep the majority of its military reconnaissance satellites grounded at Plesetsk in peacetime, along with a large reserve of fuel and lifting bodies; I'm not familiar with the exact numbers, but the guesstimate I read in Aerospace Week two days ago was that they have enough for a hundred and fifty recon-sat launches. The place used to be an ICBM launch-facility and it's much further inland than Guiana or Kennedy, so unless they took a direct hit the facility should be useable."

[Mr. Coffee]

Add Mister Coffee to the roster. Give me something big and shooty and point me in the general direction of the enemy.

[doom3607]

"big and shooty" would be in the emergency supplies, all right. Ten variable output electron bolt guns. Use a laser to charge a pathway through the air, then fire a bolt of electrons down it. Can be set to anything from a light shock to equivalent to a hypothetical .75 caliber assault rifle. And ammo is not a concern, thank you cold fusion. So ex-Marine or something for you, then.

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An ensign at the back of the room says "Food and air aren't a problem, remember we got that supply shuttle last week? We've got enough for six months, minus a week of course, and any surviving launch sites should have the means to fill up air, and as for food, there's always raiding supermarkets for canned food. And we all know power is a non-issue for the next couple of years. Wear-and-tear on the craft might be, though, there were only a few hundred XR-11s in the first place, and most of them operated out of launch sites near oceans. So it'll be hard to get parts for the Ravenstar-10s, unless the manufacturer survived. Since it was in Florida, well..."

[FaxModem1]

Name: Charles 'Chuck' Woods
Age: 22
Rank: Ensign
Position: Security personnel

Chuck is a kid who was serving his tour, waiting for the the years to end so he could go get a business degree. He is known for having a big heart which is in stark contrast to the head of security. Unknown to the rest of the station, Chuck was able to smuggle in a kitten with the last supply drop. With his kitten, he was planning on touring the Earth in one of those old vintage trucks once his service was up. Looks like his plans are now forever changed.

[Eternal_Freedom]

"Given the supply situation Captain, I suggest sending down several heavily-armed Security swuads to collect as many supplies as possible from the surface. Canned food, bottled water whatever they can find. They should also bing up as much fuel as possible."

Lt. Com. Ravensburg looked down at his feet momentarily.

"I don't have a family back home. But I know that a lot of you do. I would say then Captain that we let anyone who wants to leave to find their families, if they can. As for myself, I'm going to stay aboard, and keep ISS2 running as long as I can."

[Hawkwings]

"Our supply situation is of course our first concern. Lieutenant Commander McNair, I want you and your team to do a thorough inventory of everything we've got on board. Every last bendy straw and packet of fruit juice must be accounted for. Most important are the supplies critical to station operation of course, as well as the equipment for the small craft. Once you have that, make a list of our most needed critical supplies and get it to me."

Turning to the other senior officers, Jacob continued, "Next step, we need to get in touch with survivors left on Earth. Lieutenant Commander Ravensburg, you will head up that project. Lieutenant Grey, assist him. Get in touch with whatever ground control stations are left. And listen for active radio transmissions from the surface. We need information on the situation dirtside. Once you have some info, draw up a list of areas for further investigation, including possible sending of ground teams."

Addressing the security commander now, Jacob said "Lieutenant Negrón, start assembling away teams. We're going to need to head down to the surface eventually, and we need capable and drilled teams to investigate, carry out orders, and protect themselves and our shuttles."

Finally, turning to his XO, Jacob said "Anything else you can think of, Commander Taylor?"