Starlight

Korelevia wrote:

They had no warning. In an instant a city, so vibrant with culture, rich in history, was left in ruins. There are no words to describe the sight. The overwhelming silence hung like a cloud over the city, pierced only by the wails of the survivors and their rescuers. As the news broke accross Khessed and Korelevia billions looked up to the sky towards Brazoria, hands falling to their sides. News anchor's choked on their words as the first feeds came in through the Hermes network. The shock and grief shattered a hundred-year peace. Gone was the certainty of progress, of security. Replaced by the weight of silence.

President Cordova entered the Tactical Operations Center, the sounds of chaos paused as an officer rose and punched through the cacophony of frantic staff.

"Attention on deck! The President of the Federation"

The young Lieutenant Saluted, his resolute face contrasted amid the welled up tears in his eyes. Cordova looked out upon the sea of military and civilian staff alike, she could see their exhaustion, their eyes, whose tears had all been spent, whose only motivation now was to save those trapped in a Megapolis of fire and death.

"There is no understating what has happened. Thousands are dead, you know your jobs, you can do this. We will mourn later. For now we will do all we can. As you were."

The President was led into a small conference room where the Federal Security Council waited. Secretary Kilber rose and began the briefing as she sat down.

Madam President this is the latest intelligence we've gathered since detonation. Two hours ago the City of Pelta was devastated following the detonation of the Perseus' drive core 6km off the coast. According to logs pulled from traffic control the ship reported a security breach as it began it's landing sequence. Minutes later they failed to respond to ATC and began burning hard towards the city center. The ship then began a steep dive towards the water before it eventually detonated. It' is our belief now ma'am that in the last moment's of the ship's flight, her crew attempted to down the ship. Now we are not certain how, but it appears that whomever was in control of the ship at the time accessed and activated her self-destruct sequence prior to impact.

And the city? Do we have an casualty assessment? What is going on with the response?"

Madam President based on the blast radius we are estimating at least twenty-thousand dead and triple that injured. Local emergency services are paralyzed. The Fifth Brazorian Guard has been deployed to the city to aid in rescue but we recommend an additional deployment of 7,000 troops and support personnel from Khessed. The Navy is securing the system as we speak. All travel is restricted to medical and humanitarian flights. We have temporarily suspended all flight operations here in the Capitol with a Flight Restriction of 200 kilometers.

Cordova sighed heavily as she stood up and faced the council.

Get as many people in there as you need. I want to increase random inspections throughout the systems. We will find those responsible. We will avenge our people. We will exact justice.