NationStates Jolt Archive


New Wrinkles

Zvarinograd
14-07-2004, 09:56
Spycimir, Flagship of the First Fleet,
Ilgiz Shipyards

Fevroniia Mikhailovskaia lifted her safety goggles to her forehead as she entered the ship's normally unmanned power control room. Sweat trickled down her forehead and dust outlined where the goggles had covered her eyes, giving her a masked appearance, but she was smiling broadly. "That flaky cooling duct is sealed. That's the last of it," she said to Bogdan, the junior tech who sat in front of the master computer console. Bogdan was a small, cerebral-looking man, whose hands showed little sign of physical work, yet it was clear that Ellen was the one in charge here.

"Sure thing, Boss," he said. "Want me to bring the plant online?"

"Bring the plant up, 10 percent power till we work the bugs out, but let me connect it to the broadcast unit."

Bogdan raised an eyebrow, but began the power-up checklist.

Fevroniia walked over to the observation window and looked out at the magneto hydrodynamic drives that had been in testing for the last 30 hours. A rumble went through the floor under her feet as they began to spin. She walked back to the console and put her gloved hand on the master connect switch. All the rest of the plant’s switches and relays were computer controlled, but this was the manual cut-off, a mechanical switch connected to the master relay.

"This is what I live for, Bogdan. Everyone has to have a purpose in life, and this is mine. This is my baby. I've shepherded it all the way through setup. I made the final adjustments, and now, I get to throw the final switch." She grinned at him. "Sorry, but rank has its privileges."

"We've got positive flow through the system. All indicators are green." He looked at her, his expression unreadable.

"You think I'm a little crazy, Bogdan? Maybe so, but this switch is power. Hear it? Feel it? The people hunger for it, as much as they hunger for food or thirst for water. They need it, and I'm the one who gets to give it to them. I think it was Archimedes who said give me a lever and a place to stand, and I'll move the world. Well, I don't have a lever, but I have this switch, and that's close enough for me." And with that, Fevroniia Mikhailovskaia moved the world.

#-#-#

Valkonezh General Hospital, Valkonezh

He nodded, and his eyes darted toward the Medical Center entrance, as though he was afraid he'd miss something. She tilted her head curiously. "You came because of him?"

He nodded. "That's why they're all here, I guess. They say they're taking him to the memorial park today. I had to come."

"I thought I'd be the only one. It just seemed ... You never miss them till they're gone, you know? He's the last elder, the last person who came from Russia. That's got to count for something."

"It'll keep us all alive, when the time comes. I was always afraid of that, of being immersed into a world of conflict defending what would eventually shatter." He looked at her. "That's what being a hero is all about, inspiring us to do what we have to do." She thought about it, wondered what she'd have done in his place, and hoped that, when the time came, she'd have the courage to do what had to be done, no matter how difficult.

"The liberals won the elections, didn't they?"

She squirmed uncomfortably in the chair, "I heard the elections was influenced by the Knootians. Let's not talk about that, and just pray that the Lev Aleksandrov administration could untangle the mess the insurrection had caused."

"Amen to that."

OOC:
Elections, aftermath of the insurrection, start of some roleplay on Mars.
Zvarinograd
16-07-2004, 03:40
Novaya Valkonezh Residential Unit,
Cimmeria (Zvarinograd Mars)

"Establish real time communication with the virtual network, visual if possible."

First Councilor Lev Aleksandrov broke away from his desk and glanced at the view port, watching a huge vehicle picking daintily at a structure with it's multiple arms. It was only since a short time ago that they had started the bulk of the construction of the colonies. With the main structures finally completed and manned. He'd been worried that it would have been delayed, with the previous attack on Snegurochka.

There was a communications chirp, and a voice came from his desk's computer, not monotonous as others may imagine, but warm and friendly, with the traditional slavic accent that you might find from every citizen of the country. He recognized it as one of the computers from the command center. It had talked to them during their tour last quarter.

"Sir, Spycimir and the merchantile fleet will arrive shortly, should we tell them to hold before the warehouses are constructed?"

Lev shook his head. "No, relocate the operations to the local storage facilities on laboratories for the time being. Tell the Spycimir to power down all weapons, they're on the clear. Lev out." There had been a brief clicking sound, and he turned away to sit on his chair again. He peered at the darkred box on his desk. The technicians called the artificial intelligence, Ryzhko ('red hair'), and for the past few days he'd been wondering why. He shrugged and left the thought alone.

"Ryzhko, open real time communications with the Sunset virtual government network. Visual, if possible."
Sunset
16-07-2004, 05:55
After a moment the virtual avatar of a diplomatic envoy flickered into existance in the room. She was dressed in a simple creme and brown jumpsuit with what appeared to be body armor on over the top as well as a heavy pistol of some kind at the waist. Pulling a tablet out of thin air she looked at it for a second before adopting a casual pose.

"First Councilor Lev Aleksandrov? Name's Zue. What can I do you for?"