NationStates Jolt Archive

(OOC: EWT decided to leave NS. Before his departure he told ND and myself to have this planet join the UC. This is just a continuation of his wish, before he left NS.)

White Diamond:

Two weeks ago:

Her room was dark, as the annoying sound of buzzing chimed in her ears. “Oh lords.” she exclaimed, as she pulled her soft white pillow over her ears, trying to drown out the call. The call to work, the call to start a new day.

It was the last thing she wanted, as the Colonial in Exile, squeezed her pillow tighter over her ears. “Frak.” she yelled out as she reached across the pitch dark room, her hand searching out without the aid of sight towards the cause of her disturbance, the noise that woke her from her peaceful slumber.

Finally she felt it, cold and plastic. She picked it up, and tossed it to the floor. As it impacted, it suddenly broke as it hit the hard wood floors, with a loud crack.

Skylar looked up and gently over the bed. “Shit. Third one this month.” she said as she shoved her head back into the pillow. Grrr....

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Two hours later:

Not a bird sung, not a car beeped, as Skylar walked out of her apartment building. It was most unusual, as she walked out of her front door. Usually every morning, a friendly neighbor was also leaving. Exactly at 08:30, on the dot.

Woodians were always so precise. Each morning, he flashed her a smile, with the same coffee, Black with two spoonfuls of sugar. Each morning he would say, “How are you today ma’am.” in the most respectful manner that Woodians often showed the Colonial Remnant whom came to adopt White Diamond as their home.

Today though, he wasn’t there. There were no kids playing in the hall, no sounds of joy and laughter that often filled the apartment.

Skylar just shrugged it off. Maybe he had to work early, or maybe it was some national day of morning, or worse, maybe some corruption piece broke on the news, and he like every other Woodian was praying to the porcelain throne for the corruption to end. Such nice, but queer folk they are.

She walked down the hall, and reached out and pressed the elevator to go down. It was eeriely silent, being in the hall of such a busy apartment building by herself. Strange, was all she could think as the elevator doors opened.

The doors slowly slid open, as again, it was empty. The old man who smelled of pure tobacco, whom she often bumed a smoke from wasn’t there, nor the old bitch who had that annoying ass dog. No one.

Still she shrugged it off, until she got outside. The sun was shining, but there wasn’t a sound. The streets were clear, each car parked perfectly in it’s spot. No children were running, nor the old bum screaming about how the Masaki’s were the devil. No one was around.

Skylar looked around, not knowing what to do. No it wasn’t possible for everyone to disappear was it? Nah must be her imagination.

Buzz, buzz. Her phone began to vibrate in her purse. She felt better as the call came in. This wasn’t some horrible nightmare where she was the only one left...

“Hello.” she answered as she pulled her purse up to her shoulder.

“Oh hey Dannie. What are you talking about? What do you mean? No that is impossible everyone on the planet couldn’t have vanished.” she said as she began to get nervous. She walked into a local electronics store and turned on the news. It was true. Every Woodian Vanished.... White Diamond only had as it’s occupants... the Colonial Remnant.

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Present day:

Chaos ruled the streets, as the Colonials began to gather together in the city. All trace of the people were gone. No blood, no battles, no notes, nothing. Apartments were searched, and in some cases dinner was still left on the table. Televisions were left on, some phones off the hook It was like they were suddenly snatched in a fit by some vengeful god who wanted to erase them from history. Only their city and technology remained.

At the traffic control station it was much worse. The great fleets of the Woodian navy were gone, although the stations still remained. The defenses were left intact, but without the people to crew them, soon they would fall into decaying orbit. Worse yet... what if someone attacked.

Finally one brave soul, Mr. Leery, one of the space traffic controllers made up his mind. He had to do it, they needed help. People were missing and soon the planet would fall apart. He pressed a few buttons on the holonet, and brought up the United Colonies directory.

He sighed, as he didn’t know how the United Colonies, the place where they were in self imposed Exile would handle the news, but he didn’t know who else to turn.



To the Quorum of Thirteen
CC: Admiral of the United Colonial Fleet

Subject: Woodian’s vanished

To any concerned:

Two weeks ago, a horrible event happened on White Diamond. Amongst your civil war, and the ill fated invasion of Tenetia, The Woodians vanished from the site of the universe it would seem. We who are left, are all from what was known as the Colonial Remnant. There is no sign or discourse as to their sudden departure.

We here are too few in number to maintain the infrastructure alone. The Colonial people of White Diamond officially ask for your forgiveness in the events of the Third Colonial Civil war, Amnesty, and wish to be added to the list of territories, to be populated at post haste. We are all that is left...

Survivors of White Diamond Holocaust

De Bruyn got the message, and then his eyes widened. It was enough to have to deal with a Mutiny by Tauron--no good DOrnalian called the Civil War a "civil war," it implied the Tauronese were another nation for some reason in their eyes--and to deal with the inevitable reply that would likely be forthcoming from MacIntyre, his ex-boss, over Nomura's fate. Now, this.....

Lyndie looked at it, and laughed. "Figured God would get the Woodians....those uitlanders were among the worst of you lot--attempting to do everything they could to micromanage mammon as a way to save their souls, when they should have relented and accepted the mercy of a God that was lucky to tolerate them. It seems He was no longer pleased."

De Bruyn raised an eyebrow and said, "Not now, Lyndie. Such things are inappropriate, and we need to focus on doing something about this."

He then quietly replied to the White Diamond Holocaust Survivors--

"To all Survivors--

This is Admiral Christiaan Balthazar De Bruyn, head of the United Colonial Fleet. I have authorized a unit from Earth to come make contact with you and ascertain status."

He then closed up the console, and then had a ship dispatched to White Diamond....before long, the survivors below would get a HoloNet and FM Radio transmission, broadcasted from a Mao Zedong Mark IIIa Pocket Battleship in orbit.

"Attention all survivors, this is the New Dornalian People's Navy ship New South Wales. We are here to ascertain current status of survivors and to render medical assistance, and are dispatching Marine landing parties to make contact, over."

Mr. Leery watched over the draid.... er sensor status, as the old natives to the planet called their detection systems, to see almost as soon as the call went out a Pocket Mao New South Wales appear. He scanned the vessel, registry confirmed, Earth, the thirteenth colony of Kobol had come.

It was understandable, since most of the battlestars were locked in the engagements of the civil war, or as the Dornies put it, the Mutiny. He looked across the planet, to realize though there was one problem, that damn infernal Woodian shield being maintained at 10% power.

Pushing a few coms buttons he sent the reply.

Attention Colonial Mao. This is White Diamond Actual. Thank you for coming as quickly as you did. We are trying to lower the planetary shield, to allow transports. Thank you for your patience. Before you land your troops though, we the Colonial Remnant of the Third Civil war would like confirmation of amnesty. Have we been granted a pardon?

Twenty minutes later, the planetary shield dropped, and the Dornies were clear to land where ever they wanted. The main city on the planet was huge, easily able to house about a billion people. With only Roughly six to seven million people left in the city, it was pretty vacant.

Twenty minutes later, the planetary shield dropped, and the Dornies were clear to land where ever they wanted. The main city on the planet was huge, easily able to house about a billion people. With only Roughly six to seven million people left in the city, it was pretty vacant.

With that, the Marines from the New South Wales teleported onto the surface, and began to fan out. Placing markers in now empty city parks, before long, Haywood and Goldman transports would be seen flying to the surface, opening to reveal bellies full of crates marked "Rations" and "Supplies, Medical" and "Supplies, Electrical/Mechanical."

Before long, the Marines got into jeeps, and began driving up and down what used to be Great Woody City. One man remarked, "Fuck, this reminds me of home."

"Where'd ya live, sparky?"

Sparky said, "Luxembourgia, Hammertongs."

"Shit. How's that?"

Sparky replied, "Shit. I hated that damn hive city. Why the fuck anyone would voluntarily want to live in as small a space as possible, I'll never know. I was just glad to get into a space with open air once I got transferred to Los Angeles."

"No kidding. I couldn't imagine living in these Cupboards," his squadmate shot back.

"I can" said another.

"Fuck you from?"

THe man replied, "NYC. Brooklyn especially. Not as tall or as clean, but living in the tight odds and ends of the city gives you a sense of how to think."

"Suppose so."

As this occurred, the Marines took turns shouting, "Hello! Anyone there!?"

White Diamond:

The city streets were empty, not a bird sung, nor a cricket chirped as the Dornie marines walked down the empty streets. Air was clean and fresh, as a slight warm breeze over came the marine detachments. Professionals one and all, they walked down the roads, their rifles high. No one was around, no clutter from cars that had their drivers suddenly snatched, no sign of life at all.

The only noise to be heard was from the over head transports, doing scans of the planet. Aside from that, and the signs of vegetation, like the trees planet on the side walk, there was no one… nothing…

A small his of static opened over the coms, as one of the operators spoke into it. His accent was thick, much like the English accent, but to those in the know, he was a Caprican. “Division 14, this is New South Wales. Life signs detected, three clicks from your position, appears to be human… over.”

White Diamond:

The city streets were empty, not a bird sung, nor a cricket chirped as the Dornie marines walked down the empty streets. Air was clean and fresh, as a slight warm breeze over came the marine detachments. Professionals one and all, they walked down the roads, their rifles high. No one was around, no clutter from cars that had their drivers suddenly snatched, no sign of life at all.

The only noise to be heard was from the over head transports, doing scans of the planet. Aside from that, and the signs of vegetation, like the trees planet on the side walk, there was no one… nothing…

A small his of static opened over the coms, as one of the operators spoke into it. His accent was thick, much like the English accent, but to those in the know, he was a Caprican. “Division 14, this is New South Wales. Life signs detected, three clicks from your position, appears to be human… over.”

"Roger, New South Wales. Over and out."

Sparky then motioned to his comrades, and said, "Guys, NSW reports there's a human contact three klicks down the road."

The New Yorker replied, "About time. Drive!"

The jeep kicked itself into gear and sped forth along the tight confines of GWC. Sparky already cursed the former City Fathers for building such a tiny city, with hairpin turns such that he had to drive on the sidewalks on times. Finally, Sparky's motion sensors detected something up ahead in what clearly used to be a minimart. Pulling into the small parking lot, once meant for speederbikes and hover-vehicles, he doubleparked in one of the few spots for terrestrial autos and got out.

Stepping into the minimart, Sparky motioned for the squad to follow him as he shouted, "HELLO! HELLO! Someone here? This is Private Erlenbach, of the New Dornalian Marines. Is there anyone here in need of urgent medical help!?"

As the marines jumped out, slowly a door to a shop opened. A small child, a little girl no more than five years old, holding a bag of 100% organic transfat free chips slowly emerged. The marines were a shock to her as she shrieked loudly. Soon the door burst open, as a man in his mid forties came out in the scene. He quickly swept up his daughter, and held her tight. “It is alright, Adrea.” he said as he stroked her hair and walked over to the marines.

“It is good to see someone…” he said as he tried to talk over his crying daughter. He carried an Tauronese accent, as he held his daughter tight. “It is ok, dear.” he spoke again. ‘These men are here to help.” He looked at the marines. “You are here to help aren’t you? You aren’t here to arrest us or anything?” he asked as he looked at the United Colonial insignia on their arm bands.

As the marines jumped out, slowly a door to a shop opened. A small child, a little girl no more than five years old, holding a bag of 100% organic transfat free chips slowly emerged. The marines were a shock to her as she shrieked loudly. Soon the door burst open, as a man in his mid forties came out in the scene. He quickly swept up his daughter, and held her tight. “It is alright, Adrea.” he said as he stroked her hair and walked over to the marines.

“It is good to see someone…” he said as he tried to talk over his crying daughter. He carried an Tauronese accent, as he held his daughter tight. “It is ok, dear.” he spoke again. ‘These men are here to help.” He looked at the marines. “You are here to help aren’t you? You aren’t here to arrest us or anything?” he asked as he looked at the United Colonial insignia on their arm bands.

Sparky replied, kneeling to the level of the girl, "No sir. We're just here to make sure you're all right. Command heard some funny things had happened, so we needed to check in on what was going on."

The others nodded in assent.

Sparky then asked, "You folks need medicine? Food? Just ask, we'll see what we can do." As he spoke, Sparky pulled the classic Dornalian Grunt's way to make friends with kids. He pulled out a chocolate bar, in full view of the little girl.

The little girl glanced up for a moment, as her green eyes locked onto the candy bar. The marine seemed so nice as he smiled at her, and unwrapped the Hershey’s chocolate bar in front of her. She reached her hand out to it, so small and innocent as she wrapped her hand around the milk chocolate. She then pulled it back to her.

Her father looked down at the little girl. “Adrea, what do you say?” he asked her in a definite tone of voice. Her little voice, of the sweet innocent child simply said, “THANK Youu.”

“That is better.” he said, as he placed his hand on her brown hair, and gently patted her. Her father then reached his hand out to the marine who gave his daughter the candy. “Name is Travin West.” he said. “And no, we are good. We are not injured, but your reports of something funny are a bit off.” he said as he looked around the vacant area.

“I wouldn’t call almost every person on this planet vanishing in the blink of an eye funny. We woke up about two weeks ago, you know just after Noruma nearly through the Colonies into war with the empire during the Tauronese incursion, we went to sleep. It wasn’t anything new, just more bad news across the galaxy. Hell it seems like there is never any good news, but hell at least that witch Cain is dead right?” he asked the marine.

Then he looked down to his daughter, whose face was now covered in chocolate, as she ate it. Her hands were covered in the brown candy, as he smiled. “We woke up the next day to take her to school, and boom no one was here.”

He then looked up to the tree near the mini mall. “Hell we can’t even find a sign of any animal life. Every living soul is gone, except us Colonials. We began to scout out the cities, and we found doors were unlocked, televisions were still on, phones off the hook, and the strangest thing of all, Cash register drawers were still open. Don’t know if you knew about the woodians or not, but there is no way in hell they would leave their money out in the open for dust to settle on.”

“Look, as far as we can tell, no Colonial had vanished when the Woodians did. There are a little over six million of us from the original exodus, plus some births. The only ones of us to have vanished were the ones born with a Woodian parent. All pure blood Colonials are still here. I don’t have a clue what is going on, but I am very glad to see you. Most of us are now holding in a few of the hotels in the downtown district. Safety in numbers ya know. I can take you to them.”

Sparky raised an eyebrow at the old man's statement. Okay, so he evidently misinterpreted the fact he meant the word "funny" as "funny wierd," not "funny ha-ha," to quote an old Beverly Cleary kids' book. Still, it was obvious that this was as strange a story as one could hear, and as the girl gobbled the chocolate, it dawned that there'd have to be a lot more chocolate bars to a lot more kids coming soon.

"Whaddya think, Thompson?"

The New Yorker replied, "No way a buncha people just disappeared like that. Uh uh."

"Dunno. Wierder things have happened." said another.

"Like what?"

"I was there for the Angelic Wars."

Thompson said, "Oh."

Sparky then got up and said, "Boys, escort Mr. West and his daughter to the jeep. We're going for a ride." As his men went to start the auto, he motioned to West and his daughter, saying, "Well, come along now. We got room for two more, and I'm sure the kid will appreciate a jeep."

When the parties got inside, the jeep would zoom out of the lot, and onto the tight roads once more....

The streets were tight, further proof of the Woodian love of technology and efficiency, yet ignoring the basic concepts of common sense to build wider roads, instead of focusing on repulsar lift cars. The jeep bounced around, as it hit the curbs, and turned down narrow streets, that left only about half an inch of room on either side.

Adrea was having the time of her life, hyped up on sugar, and the excitement of riding on a real military jeep got to her as she giggled loudly. Her father just reached his arm around her, holding onto her to make sure she didn’t fall out.

“Turn here.” Mr. West said as he pointed to a sharp turn. There was little room for error, but luckily the driver was from New York. Man knew how to drive in crazy traffic, with road systems that didn’t make much sense.

The passengers veered to the right, as he pulled a sharp turn. Soon though they came to the place.

The hotel was stunning, a true testament to art and beauty, as it reached towards the heavens. It’s walls were white, as a fresh breeze came from the open interior. As the marines left the jeep, their was a feint sound of an indoor water fall cascading in a near by out door pool.

The Woodians always seemed to try to make an impression on new comers to their planet, so their hotel was top of the line. Marble floors, with precise hand carved stone pilliars adorned the entrance. A soft and lush red carpet was laid out, as the marines began to enter.

Inside it was the definition of beauty, as the rays of the sun caught the paint on the wall, showing off a virtual rainbow of Colors.

A small hologram popped up, “Greetings, to the Redford, the greatest hotel, in the Great Woodian City. I am V.I.R.A., and I will be your virtual guide.” the hologram said, as the Tauronese man walked past her. “Ignore her.” he said as he walked towards the main lobby.

As the man told the Marines, it was true, all Colonials, were here, not a single woodian. Each of them were in surprisingly excellent health, but they were very confused as to what had happened. Mr. West shouted, “Hey, The UC is here. They are here to help, and figure out what went wrong.” he said introducing the marines to the populace.

Sparky held his hand up, and then his commanding officer walked forward. Surveying the crowd, the squad leader ordered, "Sparky, get on the comms to New South Wales and any surrounding teams, tell them we've made contact and that they look to be in healthy condition. Bring some food and medicine just in case though."

Sparky nodded as he went to his duties, and then the Sergeant spoke.

"Okay, everybody....this is Sergeant Montgomery, of the People's Navy Marine Corps, Earth Detachment United Colonies. We're here to make sure you ladies and gentlemen are alright."

He then walked about, and then asked the people in the lobby, "Okay, somebody start. One at a time, tell me exactly why we're not being chased by Woodians eager to tell us how to make our budgets and ticket us for using a motorcar in their city."

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Sparky's message soon hit the airwaves, and before long, three other Marine teams began converging on the hotel...

Time and time again the same story, a fascinating tale of mystery and intrigue was told, with surprising similarity. Each time, it was a normal day, the person or persons was going about their normal life here on the old Woodian planet, each time they went to sleep, to awake the next morning and everyone was gone.

It was a mystery, even as the Dornie teams took individuals aside and spoke to them in private. Each story was consistent, each one was true, and each time the person followed up with, “What will happen to us now?”

Whatever happened, what ever happened to the original inhabitants, didn’t seem to be affecting the Colonial Remnant, or the Dornies, only those of Woodian birth.