[Away Mission:] Day 3, Alemar III (Final battle)

[ten_fwd_npcs]

Something strange begins to happen underground. Those pretty, glistering crystals that twinkle from the walls and ceilings start to move, sinking down into the rock, and disappearing from all sight. In each cave and cavern, every arching ceiling and cramped tunnel, they all vanish.

The main cave where the visitors were brought during the tour feels darker now. It has weathered the trauma of the last three days better than some places, but that's all about to change.


[ooc: And welcome to the kickoff of our final leg of the Alemar III plot! Day 3 has officially begun, which means all team posts moving forward should reflect that. Below, this post is split into two sections: the first is for any teams or individuals who want to establish themselves as being in the main cave for the final action of the plot; the second is for our teams of fighters and all who wish to assist them. Bear in mind that the historians and empaths won't step in to reveal what's going on until the next group post; this is primarily for the last battle and gathering all the fractured teams back together. If you're not sure where your group is, check in with your plotting e-mails or the plotting post; if you don't want to join the main group until the fighting stops, the next post will also have a place for your characters to enter and reconnect with friends. If there are any questions, leave them in the plotting post and a mod will get back to you asap!]

Comments

[dreams_dont_die]

Harper's alive.

He's been telling himself that for days, but it's good to hear the proof, to really know rather than just to assert. The comms link isn't great; it's fuzzy with static and Dylan cups a hand by his ear to try to cut out some of the noise from the caves.

Harper's voice is dropping in and out, but he picks up enough of it to get Harper's meaning, and knows his engineer well enough to make a guess that there's a lot more being said than is entirely relevant. Rambling's always been Harper's style.

Still, he's safe, he hasn't been caught in the cave-ins, and the comms are working again.

That's all good news, but with the state of the comms, a shorter, to the point message probably has more chance of getting through.

"Harper, you're breaking up. I've been caught in a cave-in with some of the others, but I'm okay. How are things up there? Have you heard from anyone else?"

[deus_ex_harper]

It may be a case of rethinking about who'd be left at the end of the world with Dylan and the cockroaches. Harper may just somehow scrape through it all.

"We're okay, well okay is a relative term, but hey we've been through so much worse though, boss. Not heard from anyone word from anyone but you.."

There was a pause.

"They're coming down." He actually kept that a short message.

[dreams_dont_die]

It's generally not the easiest thing to get through to Harper. 'You're breaking up' could be considered a hint to try to make things a little more concise, but Harper didn't get that message.

Not that it's much of a surprise. Still, he gets the message this time, too. Harper might never have gotten the hang of reporting the way Dylan might like, but at least the information's there this time. Even in between the static.

He has to give a dry smile into the air of the cave.

Yeah. They've been through worse. All of his crew.

"There's a small group of us. We're in the main caves, where we came out of the elevators. We're okay, but there's no food or water down here."

[deus_ex_harper]

It was one time. Dylan had to know it wasn't going to last.

"There's a few of us up here. Most of us are okay. You know all the times you and Beka told me off for keeping food on the Maru, finally paid off. I mean I gave most of it to Captain Rogers, boss, but you know how it is."

Dylan might just have missed out on the most interesting part of the message. That the engineer had given most of the food away and not eaten it himself and that he'd actually just called someone Captain that wasn't Beka or being sarcastic.

[dreams_dont_die]

The comms link seems like it's getting worse; he hardly heard anything this time. He doesn't reply to Harper at first, paused, one hand still resting by his ear.

Harper's said something about food, which makes it sound like they've been less badly off than the people down here. That's good too, because though none of them are too badly off down here without food, it would still have been better to have some. Especially for Dylan, with his metabolism.

"Just stay safe. Keep me up to date if anything happens." There's no point trying to get much more out of Harper; names would be lost in the fuzz of static, as is anything but the most basic of information.

Still. They've made contact, and they know one important thing now: there are others out there, and they're sending help.

"Dylan out."