Red Nexus #Wattys2015

Crisis Call

The Command Bridge was intensely rushing around as everyone constantly worked to get everything prepared for the launch. Knowing how long of a process it was to get everything started, they had to be in sync with one another to smoothly be able to take off. The experts sat at the bridge awaiting command from their leader. Due to having to leave before scheduled, the training for the workers were cut short, and most were figuring it out for the first time.

The bridge was populated with the brightest minds and most powerful technology created at that time. Everyone monitoring their screens with their ear pieces connected with their teams for constant communication throughout the ship. Though some had actual computer screens at their respected areas, others wore screened glasses that generated displays and controls for them, and followed their head movement. This was designed to save space and allow those who are more mobile to be able to attach the screen and controls wherever they may be as long as the glasses are worn.

The main door slid open, as General Dallon walked in and sat down at the captain's chair. He put on his HoloRift Lense and tuned them on, allowing him to see all the displays of the HoloRifts. The computers were starting to run at full power as General Dallon finished logging in.

 General Dallon pressed a button on his earpiece as a beep was heard, "Contact Dorian." Another beep sounded signaling the command taken.

Seconds went by until finally a voice was heard, "Dorian here." A hearty voice sounded through the speaker.

"Dorian I need you to report to me the status of the Engineering deck." General Dallon commanded.

"Ah, well sir everything is starting to move according to the schedule. The final shipmates have reported in and are in uniform and working." Dorian hesitated for a second, not sure whether to speak his thought. Still he continued, "The only problem is the crew hasn't finished training so we are literally going from more instinct than skill."

General Dallon shrugged it off not caring for excuses, "Unfortunately, we need to be prepared to launch in six hours no matter how prepared your team is. Our safety greatly depends on what your team does and I expect you to do it perfectly."

Dorian felt a little aggravated from that response, "I'll do my best sir, just know where my team stands."

"Just know where the world stands Dorian! Remember that!" He heartlessly demanded, and ended the connection.

    General Dallon rose from his feet, and turned around looking for Kira. He pressed another button on the earpiece allowing him to speak to the entire Command Bridge, "Kira, come to the captain's chair immediately."

Kira nervously ran over to General Dallon. Always intimidated by his presence she looks down at her tablet. Right as she arrived in front of him she quickly fixed her hair and glasses, though they were fine, she did anything to possibly help her feel more secure around General Dallon. To her, he was a natural born kill, ruthless, heartless, and she could almost prove he had the very gates of Hell be in his eyes alone. "Yes...yes sir..." She stuttered.

"Get a hold of yourself!" He shouted at her, "And tell me when we are going to be prepared fully to launch off this rock!"

Kira typed on her tablet to access the information. "According to how everything is going with those who have checked in, we should be ready in under six hours. In other words ready to leave at twelve."

"I can do the math!" He protested in anger as she jumped back. She moved closer hesitatingly. "Now, tell me how many people have checked in civilian wise, and how many have arrived since we have sent out the Crisis Call!"

She pulled up the information and read it out loud, "Again, according to our information we have gathered, we have 267,000 who have checked in so far, and we are still missing roughly 300,000 still." She continued to pull information, "Also with the sudden rush of people coming to the ship, and we not fully preparing for that number of people all at once we will be leaving possibly over 100,000 people behind by the time we launch!" She said confounded that it was such a big number reported.

General Dallon felt the same way, but made his opinion more vocal, "What! That is more than a fifth of the ships population we will be down!" He complained, "We can't risk losing that many people!" He lied. Frankly, he could not care who was lost, but being leader meant keeping those below on his good side, so that he may keep his power. "Anything we can do to save them?"

 Kira had a surprised look on her face from General Dallon asking for her advice though the only reason he asked was to think out loud. "Uh...sir?" Unable to answer firmly since her mind went completely blank petrified from his question.

"You're no help! He responded rather boldly towards her. "Could we gather the army together and gather those stranded on the roads?"

"Either way, it could cause some mass riots of people trying to get on." Kira guessed. "This is the end of the world and the only chance of survival is getting on this ship, I'd say that they would do anything to get onto the vehicles, and that could put a lot of people in danger."

General Dallon thought about the situation for a moment, "Should we stand by and do nothing and let those who don't make it die?"

Kira thought about the consequences of both situations and came to the conclusion, "I honestly believe that the greater amount of people will be saved if we send out the vehicles, but that chance serves to also losing more lives."

"You're no help!" He said to her. He suddenly came up with and explained his idea, "Unfortunately I feel if we send out the vehicles it could hurt our chances of saving the most people. Therefore it is my choice we proceed as normal and let this scenario play out on its own. Our families are safe, we are the elect, now let this world claim who it may!"

Kira was in pure shock by General Dallon's response, appalled by his response, "Sir, you can't be serious about this! That is tens of thousands dying." She sat down to help gain control of the magnitude of what was just decided.

General Dallon continued, "Let me tell you this Kira to ease your mind. You were chosen because of your skills in technology and organization. All these people were chosen because of their expertise. They are the best of the best, and that is who we have secured to save. Everyone else who happens to join us is just considered lucky." Forcefully the words impacted Kira. General Dallon left her behind and walked to the center of the room, everyone continuing to work to the best of their ability. General Dallon stared out the observation screen to see the moon continuing to fall apart, bigger asteroids began to enter into the earths atmosphere.

"Now lets see what one will do to survive!" He laughed to himself.