NationStates Jolt Archive

Twelve Colonies of Kobol.

The Luxury liner cruised at a gentle pace of a mere fraction of lightspeed. The passengers desiring instead to enjoy the view of the decimation that was wrought on the system only a few months before.

Wreckage was everywhere, wreckage of Cylon Basestars and colonial battlestars, civilian liners that were consumed in the conflict, but for the most, the starsystem was now empty.

“Ladies and gentleman, we are five minutes from Caprica, if you would please strap on your seat belts and refrain from using the onboard toilets we will be landing shortly.” The voice fell away from the cabin as Charles drained the last of his brandy. The flight had been a rather relaxed one from Earth, one of the few times he had truly enjoyed the benefits of business travelling. His eyes caught the waitress as she walked past collecting in any unused glasses from the delegation.

“Sir.” A young voice asked as a hologram flickered into existence. “It is my assessment that the colonials will not act favourably to my presence. I suggest that in order to preserve my hardware and value that I be left and allow my superiors to complete the delegation.”

Charles lifted his glass up to the artificial light, spinning it slightly so the light would glisten against the wall. “We would rather your presence for the first phase.” The order lingered there for a moment. “It is doubtful that you will be harmed, and if you are, we will salvage your programme from the back up module.” The small hologram disappeared back into the projectors from whence it came as the first bump of re-entry jolted charles into putting his glass down.

The clouds of Caprica were unusual, not the normal white that was to be expected of all Alpha classed worlds, instead they were a dirty brown still infected from the Cylon attack that had only recently devastated the planet. The ruins of Caprica quickly came into view, with burned out sky scrapers towering above the wasted city, and flaming rubble still burning in the far off distance. The view disappeared as the liner passed into the relative shelter of the space port.

“We have safely landed at Capricas new refurbished space port ladies and gentleman. The temperature is twelve degrees outside, and it is raining. If you have not taken any medication for the high content of radiation in the atmosphere, then we can provide you some for a small fee.

Charles stood up, as he and the Corporate delegates made their way off the liner to meet their hosts.

As the thirteenth colonies’ cooperate officials exited their ship, the true sigh of devastation could be seen. Here at the capitol of the colonies, little of anything survived. The old streets were littered with makeshift brown tents. They could see many excavation tools, bulldozers, cranes, men and women trying to clear the rubble as best they could.

There was too few people, too few functional machines to complete such a complex task of clearing the rubble. One could only imagine how long it would take for them to actually rebuild the city, decades, centuries, it was anyone’s guess. The air was filled with dust, and the skies were a hazy yellow, as the planet, like all of the Twelve Colonies of Kobal had descended into nuclear winter. As they looked up into the sky, the sun, the life giving star in the sky was barely visible through the clouds that lingered above bringing more death to those below.

The air stunk from large funeral pyres, from the dead that had fallen in the streets. Despite the best medical care available from the Balroggans, the make shift hospitals were too few, too understaffed, and too under supplied to deal with the massive medical treatments required to sustain the entire population.

The delegation waited for a moment, before a small raptor landed before them. As the door opened, two military officials exited. They wore grey colonial uniforms, with golden sashes. One appeared to be a man in his late forties, the other far younger, as if he had just graduated from the Picon Military Academy.

The men walked towards the party. “I am Colonel Xanders, this is my aid, Lieutenant Sacks. It is a pleasure to meet you.” the old Colonel replied as he held his hand out to the men. “I must say I am quite surprised to hear of Earth sending a delegation to our colonies, considering that we have not had any contact with your colony in over four thousand years.”

Charles walked towards the greeting party and extended his right hand to colonel Sanders. “Charles Rashin. Pleasure to meet you.” The executive said trying to shout above the noise of the space port. “Lieutenant Sacks.” Charles nodded on behalf of his party. “As a representative of the Umbrella Corporation it is a privilege to be here.”

Lieutenant Sacks returned the pleasantries and ushered the party towards a helicopter that lay on a pad just a few paces away. Walking with Sacks Charles entered into friendly conversation in an attempt to discover more about the reality of the situation on Caprica.

“I see the damage is quite extensive Lieutenant.” Charles stated the obvious.

“The Cylon attack devastated most of the planet and much of the population. As you can see.” Sanders looked up to the sky. “The legacy of the attack is still lingering.” Sacks pointed up to the brown sky still filled with dust and dirt from the multiple detonations. “We estimate it at least a three years before the atmosphere is cleaned.”

Charles buttoned up his jacket up as the wind grew. “The weather has become unpredictable Mr Rashin thanks to the Cylons. “I must say I am quite surprised to hear of Earth sending a delegation to our colonies, considering that we have not had any contact with your colony in over four thousand years.”

Charles smiled as he heard Sacks mention the legends that the colonies so easily surrendered to. “The corporation is not a representative of Earth as such sir, we do however represent over sixty seven million employees, and we’re currently hiring at a rate of five million additional personnel per week in the Milky Way.” Rashin let the linger to impress and prove a point trying to avoid as much about earth as possible.

The party halted before two large helicopters before taking off. “Usually we would transport you and your staff by raptor, however all military equipment is currently in strategic use.” Charles heard Sanders as he looked out over the ruins of Caprica in disbelief.

Smoke still rose from the ashes of the city as small pocket fires continued to burn. Gas pockets could be seen randomly igniting from the broken pipes that still spewed methane out into the atmosphere. “What is the status of the clean up operation so far?”

Sanders pointed towards a large camp on the horizon. “We have marshalled the civilian population into work teams to begin basic clean up operations for the military. Currently the priority for the colonies is to re-establish our military capacity in case the Cylons attempt to retaliate.”

“So the civilian reconstruction?”

“Is low priority for the time being.” Sanders pointed towards a large twelve angled building in the distance. “That used to be the centre of colonial government for the colonies, once the military is seen to, that will be the civilians first task.”

“I notice that the barracks are in reasonable condition.”

“As we said, the military is first priority sir.” Sanders repeated.

“Then perhaps we can help you with that…….”

Colonel Xanders continued to look out of the cockpit window, as the helicopter began to descend on the newly reconstructed military base. The Helicopter vibrated and shook, as the winds picked up, pushing the radioactive dust and debris against the outer body of the helicopter.

"It might be a little bit of a rough landing, but when we are on the ground, we can talk further."

The helicopter slowly descended on the refurbished tarmac. With a sudden jolt, the helicopter touched down. Colonel Xanders looked to the delegation. “Keep your head low as you depart, unless you want a hair cut.” he yelled into the speaker system.

The delegation left the helicopter, and began to walk, with full military escort into the base.

Colonel Xanders walked briskly, leading them inside the main office of the new base. “As you can see we have diverted all resources to the military project. Not only with the threat of the cylons, but with the peace talks with Coredia broken down, it has become the priority of the Admiral of the fleet to divert all materials to maintain both the ground forces, and the fleet. Over two months ago, the population of the Colonies was roughly twelve billion.

Colonel Xanders continued, as the delegation walked down a long white hallway. “After the attack from the Coredian bomb, and the Cylon insurrection that they sparked, the total population is now little more than Nine hundred and sixty three million, and more are dying every day.” He said as he opened an oak door, that lead to a beautiful conference room.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, if you would, please have a seat.”he continued.

“As you can see, we are in desperate need of food and medical supplies. Radiation poisonings is the main cause of casualties today, along with lack of food or clean water. To make matters worse, there are not enough resources to keep everyone alive, and to maintain a defensible position against another Cylon, or Coredian incursion at the colonies.”

Colonel Xanders paused for a moment. “If I am to understand your memo correctly, you are a corporation that seeks to invest in the reconstruction of the Colonies. Do you have a copy of your business portfolio, and recent investment histories, for the Admiralty to look over, as well as a long term business plan. The Admiralty, as well as the newly reformed Quorum are quite anal about details, especially in light of the recent disaster.”