#threads: sitrep sent

[gxldensxldiers]

∗ o4﹕ a  text  sent  out  of  excitement . (Arthur?)

[ Goldie ] hey golden boy whatever you’re doing stop and look at this shit sent 12:58

[ Goldie ] <a photo is sent of a 'smiling' Merlin, sitting down on a large boulder, a green bandana replacing his usual working harness> sent 1301

[reallystellacadente]

The Red Line

This was from an ask sent by @storyknitter that Tumblr saw fit to eat. Probably mad I reblogged that “traffic down after porn ban” post. :/

Anyway, I was so happy to get this ask. I’ve never written soulmates per se before and this brought joy to my heart as it unfolded. Thanks so much! The list is here and I’ll take more -- and compile them on AO3 ... might even just write some for the hell of it. 

The breach went surprisingly well. Xhareen had only done one once, in a simulator. It wasn’t considered vital information to teach a young Sith; all they had ever been tested on was basic flight procedure for a small variety of small ships.

But breaching the mysterious Republic vessel, hanging suspiciously as it did now, behind Imperial lines around the Druckenwell shipyards, had gone well. It was everything after that went sideways, horribly.

She was the only one of the seven Sith trainees left. At least they’d taken out all of the Pubs and at least there hadn’t been any full Jedi on board. That poor bastard with his electroblade hadn’t stood a chance against an enraged Xhareen. He did go down bravely, she thought as she crawled toward the bridge.

As would she. If she had to give her life here, in the middle of this battle, for the Sith and for the Empire, so be it. Darth Vengean himself had given them the order and she would not dishonor him, or her family, by letting go of the thin thread of life she held onto.

She knew being Miraluka gave her an advantage, as it always did, a reserve of the Force to draw on that her companions lacked. Even the Red Sith were not gifted with the Force from birth like Xhareen’s people were. None of her classmates were as skilled or fierce in fighting as she was. Only two others had been given lightsabers already.

She crawled around a corner and immediately spied a glowing red line – lighting of some sort. Her only thought, her only hope, was that it would lead her to the bridge. She followed it for what felt like days, blissfully unaware of the now fully engaged battle raging in space all around the embattled planet.

The red line led her to a communications station where she punched in the only Imperial contact code she could remember; whether it was secure or not, she couldn’t recall.

Nothing.

She tried again, then managed to haul herself up into the seat at the station. She was indeed on the bridge at least.

After what felt like another day, a calm, soothing male voice of undoubtedly impeccable Imperial breeding greeted her.

“Imperial contact, give the security code or be fired upon.”

Well, at least his voice was calming.

“I, I can’t remember. I’m injured. Darth Vengean …”

She heard bustling behind her and lit her saber, fortunate that she had been allowed to bring it with her. Her team had been sent to train on a live battlefield in the Empire’s triumphant declaration of its power and guile that was this latest war to end all wars.

But the noise was coming from the comm panel, she soon realized. Whoever was threatening to blow her out of existence was issuing commands and receiving orders and …

“Please, Imperial, I am Sith. We were sent to this ship …”

This time, the words were less threatening.

“Yes, my lord. I have confirmed your identity. Please, I require a sitrep.”

“The situation is everyone is dead but me, including the Pubs. I made it to the bridge. I’m going to download whatever I can but I need you to set up the link. I ... I’m not trained to do that.”

“Luckily, my lord, I am.” Was that cockiness, or confidence? Or both? She wished she could live long enough to meet this brazen officer. She hated the toadies and sycophants she frequently encountered among the Imperial military. This one, however, this one was different. Worthy.

True to his boast, he had a comm link established within seconds. Xhareen began the data transfer.

“Dammit!” the voice said, breaking his calm.

“What, Imperial?” What could be worse than the situation they were all already in?

“As I suspected, you’re sitting on more explosives than I have ever measured in one place. It will detonate and take out a quarter of our spinward flank, leaving the command ships vulnerable. I never would have thought the Republic smart or devious enough to pull such a stunt.”

“What can I do to stop it?”

He hesitated before answering. “Nothing, I’m afraid, my lord. I’m ordering the endangered ships to regroup now.”

At least she would die knowing she’d saved the fleet. “Happy to have been of service, Imperial. What are you, a colonel or something?”

“No, my lord, merely a captain, first grade. At least for the moment.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means three things: One, your information saved the fleet from complete disaster. Two, I am sending a scout ship to pick you up. You have a 79.2% chance of escaping the blast in time. And three, I’m doing all this against the orders of my moff, so I’m certain there will be consequences.”

“No, Imperial, wait … I will get Darth Vengean himself to speak for you. You can …”

The line went dead. She never even got his name.

Ten years, eight months and 12 days later.

Xhareen strode confidently down the streets of Sobrik. She knew precisely where to go, thanks to Baras’s instructions. She was to head to Sector Seven Command and meet up with the lieutenant in charge. She wasn’t given a name; hopefully that meant Baras knew she would figure it out on her own.

She walked into the building and froze: She had never seen such a labyrinthine array of halls and doors and passages. She stopped a corporal, who bowed and said, “How may I assist you, my lord?” with all due ceremony.

“I need to find your lieutenant in charge,” she said, mustering all the command she could in her voice.

He nodded. “Yes, my lord. That’s easy. Follow the red line on any corridor and you’ll get to the command center. There, you’ll find Lt. Quinn.”

Xhareen shivered as she heard the name. Did she know it? Not that she could think of. She shook it off and followed the red line on the wall, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that this would be a most fateful encounter.

[megsblackfirewrites]

The Beginning of a Legacy: Chapter 6

Chapter 6

John watched the dropzone approach swiftly beneath them. He looked back over his shoulder at the men and women waiting for the order to push onwards into Hell. He took a deep breath before he touched his earpiece. Showtime; here went nothing. Several weeks of planning and training were about to be put to the test.

“We’re approaching the dropzone; ETA five minutes,” he said. “The omnics have hit this city hard, but their defenses are weaker than they should be. The omninium didn’t anticipate so many casualties, apparently. They’re spread thin in an effort to keep up their patrols. We’re going to use that to our advantage.”

He looked at the other dropships flying around them and inhaled. So many lives hanging by a thread. Were they ready to die? He hoped they had made their peace and were ready to give it their all. They were going to need it. There were so many innocent lives relying on them. They didn’t have the luxury of getting cold feet right before they jumped.

“I want sitreps every ten minutes,” he ordered. “I want to know who’s in charge of your unit and how many people you still have alive. If I tell you there’s been a change of plan, you listen immediately. We need to retake this city and we won’t get that by being lone cowboys. No comments from the peanut gallery, Joel.”

He heard his friend laugh behind him and a few of the more nervous soldiers laughed with him. At least they were comfortable with his SIC after all the training they’d done. They needed to be ready to follow him if John fell in battle or if he ordered them to follow the ex-gangster somewhere else.

“Boots on the ground!” he shouted as the dropships turned and lowered themselves swiftly to the ground. “Let’s do this, people! HOOAH!”

There was a bellowing echo as John leaped out of the dropship and sprinted towards the first line of leveled buildings. He ducked down behind a low wall, counting off heads as the rest of his unit caught up with him. He counted thirty and nodded; good, everyone made it. He vaulted the wall and continued onwards.

“Bastion units to the north,” Reyes shouted over the commline. “Ten units in total moving in recon mode.”

“Proceed with caution,” John ordered. “Shimada, provide coverfire when you can.”

“Understood, Captain,” Miyu replied. “Thirty, by the way.”

“Good,” John shook his head.

The other team leaders chimed in their numbers. They had only lost four people so far. Unfortunate, but better than he had anticipated. The omnics were too spread out to capitalize on how squishy their opponents were. They wouldn’t make that mistake for long.

John gave the signal and they pushed forward. An omnic spun around to fire on them, but Joel shot it in the head before it could even lift its gun. Three more omnics fell, shredded to pieces by Torbjörn’s turrets as his unit set them up behind them.

“Wilhelm,” the kid checked in. “Twenty-five.”

John grit his teeth. In the span of ten minutes, Reinhardt had lost five people. Damn it.

“Shimada. Twenty-eight.”

“Reyes. Thirty.”

“Lindholm. Twenty.”

“Wong. Twenty.”

“Morrison. Thirty.”

Two from Miyu and ten from Laura. Damn it. His riflemen were standing strong, but his scouts were getting picked off. They were moving too fast, not using cover when they should have. That was the only explanation he could think of.

“Wong, slow down,” he ordered. “Regroup if you have to. Use the buildings for cover and don’t try to take the Bastions on by yourself if you can avoid it. I need to know the lay of the city so we can get the civilians out. That’s your main priority; don’t forget that.”

They gave the confirmation and continued on. John ducked down beside a building and his unit fell in behind him. He peeked around the corner and made a signal to get Joel’s attention. He made a half sign with his hand and jerked his head towards the soldiers waiting behind him. Joel nodded and counted off fourteen others before motioning for them to follow him. They moved across the street and crept slowly forward.

John waited until they were further ahead before he followed. The sharp, rapid staccato of gunfire sounded further ahead and he picked up his pace. He heard a roar before Reinhardt in all of his armored glory rushed past him with an omnic pinned to his front. The omnic was slammed into the wall, reduced to bits and pieces as Reinhardt swung his hammer backwards with another roar.

“Holy shit,” one of his soldiers squeaked.

“Holy shit,” John agreed. “Reinhardt! Where’s your unit!”

“Nearby,” Reinhardt panted as he jogged beside Jack. “They will be fine.”

“Get back to them, soldier,” John ordered. “You’re the leader. You’re supposed to lead them, not chase after the first stray omnic that catches your attention!”

“Uh, right, sir,” Reinhardt coughed. “Sorry.”

Reinhardt hurried back towards his team as everyone called in again.

“Shimada. Twenty-seven.”

“Reyes. Thirty.”

“Wong. Twenty.”

“Lindholm. Twenty.”

“Morrison. Fifteen.”

“McCree. Fifteen.”

“Continue on,” he ordered.

They pushed forward and John could hear gunfire all around them. He ducked down behind the blown out shell of a car and winced as two of his soldiers were shot dead. He heard the whirring of one of the sniper-bots and poked his head over the remains of the car. He fired at the skinny little thing crouching in the window and it fell to the ground, smashing to pieces against the concrete.

They moved forward slowly, but burst into a sprint as the buildings on their right exploded. John swore as he ran, ducking into a building and hurrying the twelve members of his unit in behind him.

“What was that?” he demanded.

“B-building blew up under us,” Laura replied shakily. “Wong. T-ten.”

John could hear the tremor in her voice and he couldn’t blame her. Losing ten people that fast was terrifying. Knowing that they were buried under the rubble was even worse.

“Keep going, Wong. Try to join up with Wilhelm if you can—.”

“McGuire, seven!” a new voice shouted down the commlink.

“You survived?!” Wong shrieked.

“Barely. We’ll join up when we can,” Sergeant McGuire replied.

“See you then.”

John let out a sigh of relief as they pushed forward again. It was slow going, but they finally managed to get to the center of town where the survivors were waiting. The safe haven was heavily guarded, but the armed soldiers relaxed as John and his unit hurried forward.

“Morrison at extraction point,” he said.

“Right behind ya, boss,” Joel said as he and ten others jogged up. “Sent two off to join up with McGuire. They made it.”

John nodded and waited for the others.

“Shimada. Twenty-five. ETA, two minutes.”

“Reyes. Thirty. ETA, fifteen minutes.”

“Wilhelm. Thirty. ETA, five minutes.”

“Lindholm. Twenty. ETA, two minutes.”

“McGuire. Nine. ETA, five minutes.”

John frowned as updates continued trickling in. Miyu lost one more person before they arrived. Reinhardt lost two. All the engineers arrived in one piece. The scouts under Laura’s command were hit the hardest, but they were ready to continue.

“Reyes. Thirty. ETA, ten minutes.”

“Reyes. Thirty. ETA, five minutes.”

“I see them!” one of the scouts shouted. “But...sir...there aren’t thirty soldiers.”

John clenched a hand into a fist as he stepped out of the sheltered area. He could see Reyes and five other soldiers hurrying towards him, their backs bowed as they ran. Whispers buzzed behind him as he stood waiting for Reyes.

“Where are the others?” John demanded.

“Dead,” Reyes replied. “But we captured the objective, Captain.”

“When did they die?” John snarled. “You continually checked in with thirty men. This,” he pointed at the five trembling soldiers, “is not thirty! What the fuck happened, Reyes?!”

“It doesn’t matter; we captured the….”

“I don’t give a fuck about whether or not you captured the objective!” John roared and grabbed Reyes by the front of his uniform. He gave the younger man a furious shake, glaring into the terrified brown eyes. “I sent you out with thirty men under your command! I told you that this was not a death or glory mission. We were supposed to clear a path for the extraction of civilians. We are now down fifteen soldiers that I did not account for because you fucking lied to me! DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE SEVERITY OF THIS MISTAKE, REYES?!”

“But I….”

“If it were up to me,” John snarled at him, “you would be striped of your rank and sent back to L.A for this. Get your ass down to the barracks and get some rest. I want you at the front of the convoy when we receive the signal to move out.”

John shoved Reyes towards the safe haven and the Sergeant stumbled forward. He didn’t look back as he hurried down into the haven. The surviving soldiers from his unit hurried to follow him. John waited until Reyes was out of sight before he grabbed a chunk of rubble off the ground and whipped it as hard as he could out into the city.

“AAAAAH!” he roared in frustration.

“John,” Joel murmured as he stepped forward. “I’m sorry.”

“I told him,” John’s chest heaved as he stood there, “I told him to get as many people here as possible and he runs a fucking suicide mission!”

“John,” Joel’s soft brown eyes crinkled. “I….”

“I can’t retrieve their bodies,” John sobbed and curled forward. “There’s no time! Those good men are going to rot in the streets! I can’t even tell their loved ones that they were KIA because I don’t know who we’re missing!”

“We can always come back afterwards,” Joel said. “First priority is the civilians. But I think the higher ups won’t deny us the right to come back to collect our fallen.”

John rubbed at his eyes and nodded his head. “Right. Right. Get everyone ready to move out. I want to move with sunrise,” he ordered.

“On your orders, Captain,” Joel inclined his head.

They stepped back into the safe haven and started helping the civilians gather their meager belongings.            

                                                   ***

“Captain?”

John didn’t turn to regard Reyes as he approached. He didn’t acknowledge the other man until he was standing almost directly behind him.

“What is it, Sergeant?” John replied after a few moments of painful silence.

“I...would like to apologize for my actions,” Reyes said. “They were...ill-advised.”

“You led your men into a bloodbath because your ambitions clouded your judgement,” John growled. “You ignored my orders because you believed that your own were much more reasonable.”

“That….”

“You lost twenty-four men, Reyes,” John growled as he turned around. “Twenty-four. I don’t even know where you left their bodies because you didn’t let me know during check in. I gave you an order and you ignored it.”

“I did not ignore it,” Reyes snapped and pushed a hand up into his hair. “I just...I wanted to take the objective and….”

“And you sacrificed your soldiers to achieve it,” John growled. “This war isn’t going to be won by taking objectives and losing most of our men. It was foolish and stupid and you’re lucky you didn’t wipe out your entire unit!”

Reyes’ jaw snapped shut and he worked it angrily back and forth. John took a deep breath and looked away. If he continued yelling at Reyes, it wouldn’t help anything. He had to remember to breathe; Reyes was a product of his training, just like every other hardcore military man.

“You made a huge mistake,” he said slowly. “I hope you learn from it. You’ll be leading the convoy in the morning. Go get some sleep.”

“And where will you be?” Reyes demanded. “Hiding in the back?”

“Right behind you,” John replied as he turned away. “You want to know what it’s like to lead? You’ll get your first taste tomorrow.”

“I’ll try not to disappoint,” Reyes sneered.

“I know you won’t,” John said. “Go.”

“Yes, Captain,” Reyes spat before he turned and stormed off.

“Bein’ a little hard on him,” Joel sighed as he shifted against the wall after Reyes left.

“Someone needs to,” John murmured. “He has to understand that I won’t accept this behaviour.”

“He’s still young,” Joel shrugged and walked over. “He’ll figure it out.”

“I hope so,” John shook his head. “I don’t want to discharge him. He’s a good fighter; I just wish he wasn’t so set in his ways.”

Joel clapped his shoulder and gave him an affectionate shake. It was more than enough for John’s ability to accept affection at the moment.

[anvil527up]

preparedness and society after a catastrophic event. It's a bit long! I'm sure there is more I left out I guess we could call this my Hurricane Maria AAR As of the time of this writing, we are exactly one week post Maria. 2 days pre Hurricane Maria Landfall 1-The Puerto Rican water authority shut off residential water and drained the levies in preparation for the rains leaving residents with no water to use to prepare. After a large outcry, it was turned back on 12 hours pre impact allowing people to fill bath tubs and store what water they could. 2-We live about 2 hours from San Juan, a less populated part of the island. My wife is a full time S3 officer at a medium sized reserve center attached to a small Coast Guard base. We were trying to pick up some last minute luxury items to weather the storm and the Coast Guard informed full time Army that the essential items like water was for Coast Guard only and wouldn't let soldiers buy. I can understand shutting the Exchange down for retirees and non-active reservists, but to reject other full time military members is a disgrace in my eyes. Luckily for us, I'm quite a prepper and my wife is an Hurricane stalker, so we had already stocked up on all of the essentials prior to Irma and then re-stocked at the main Army base in San Juan the weekend before Maria hit. We had food and water and gas (35 gallons in cans and the genny plus both cars full). 1 Day Pre Hurricane Maria Landfall 1-All cell phone service was shut off prior to the storm impacting the island. A week later, cell phone services have still not been restored Island wide. 2-Power went down sometime in the night while we slept. We are not sure if it was shut down like the cell phones or if it was just the fragile (decrepit?) nature of the electrical grid in PR where it is a frequent event. Landfall! 1-With all communication shut down island wide prior to the impact of the hurricane, we were unaware that the path of the storm had shift and was making a B line for where we lived! (We didn't even know if it was striking as a Cat 4 or 5). We awoke at 0400 as the first hurricane force winds hit the house. We spent the next 20 hours bailing water out of the house. We were able to fill both bathtubs and was still throwing water out. It was running down the stairs and was several inches deep on the ground floor. All of our furniture, beds, chairs were soaked, but there was nothing to do for it as the storm hit us for a solid 24 hours with wind and rain. 2-We live in a nice neighborhood and rent a very nice house from a couple of Drs that got jobs in the states but did t want to sell it. So we were able to make a really good rental agreement with them. It was during this storm that it was driven home that they had cheaper out on a lot of things when they built it. A-the house has storm windows, but the owners failed to have them sealed properly. With the winds blowing, the water and rain pushed what little sealant there was out and the rain was blown into the house with very little resistance. As the storm came at us it flooded one part of the house, after it passed, it flooded the other side. I finally just gave up on the bottom floor and just focused on keeping the master bedroom where we spend most of our time from flooding too bad. B-the owners painted the inside of the house with latex paint. For anyone that has been to PR or Florida, most of the houses are made out of concrete. With the wind blowing water into the house, flooding under the doors and running down the walls, the water found a way to get under the latex paint and, in effect, flooded the walls themselves. There is water and big water bubbles all under the paint throughout the house. Once it is either stripped or they pop, water will once again be all over the house. The really bad part, after sitting it is going to be very moldy bad water that comes out. C-The balcony and roof drains had no type of covering to prevent debris from flowing into them, they were just open pipes set into the concrete. They were all clogged pretty early on and led to the first round of upstairs flooding. The first room flooded had a foam mattress that sucked up no telling how much water. I can barely move the thing even now! 3-If you have kids, entertaining them and keeping them safe and off the floors is a second chore! He's at the age he wants to be involved in all that we are doing and can only stand still watching videos and what not for so long. Post Hurricane Maria We went out about 48 hours after the storm trying to get to the base where my wife works. We were hoping that there would be a way to communicate with our families to let them know we were ok and my wife wanted to start getting accountability for her soldiers. It took us almost 2 hours to go the 6 miles to her job! The island was devastated!!! Power lines down everywhere, even the huge concrete ones! Trees uprooted! Homes collapsed! Landslides from the small mountains! 18 wheeler trailers flipped over! Fences, satellite dishes (like the huge dishes) blown free! I have never seen such devastation in such a short period of time. And I have NEVER seen such lack of preparation in my life!!! It would be common sense to thing an island that is frequently threatened by hurricanes would have plans in place for before, during and after the storm, not these ****ers! They were so ambivalent towards it because it had been over 30 years since the whole island had taken a direct hit by a storm. They normally only skirt the island and hit on side or another, so they thought that Maria would make a last minute turn and not impact the entire island. They couldn't have been more wrong!!! In addition, the lack of preparedness by the Army has me in a state of disbelief! It was 6 days before there was any communication with HQ in San Juan. 1-There was no satellite phone in the building! And we are talking about a BN sized reserve unit here! 2-There were only enough MREs and water staged for one bottle of water per day per soldier and 1 MRE (the center here is supplied out of the main base in San Juan). 3-When someone from HQ finally did show up with a sat phone, they confiscated the GSA vehicles here to take back to the main base and didn't bring any food and water for the soldiers here. Now a week later, we still have not been re-supplied by HQ. They are back fully functioning with water, power, internet and food while the soldier here are stuck with MREs. 4-There was no plan in place to get accountability of the soldiers after the storm. Granted there was no communication, but there wasn't even a message posted at the gate to give direction for those who may have showed up to check in or indicate that they were safe. 5-The General was activating units via AM radio! 6-The Coast Guard folks are a bunch of dicks! A-They were evacuating Coastie dependents, but when a soldier went to take his family to get them evacuated, they turned him away and the C130 left with over 100 empty seats!!! ****ers! There was some big coming to Jesus meeting between the CO for the Coast Guard and the Acting CO here right now and they let a few soldier family evacuate on their flights but have since stopped them after getting their people out. As of now, NORCOM has taken over but there has been no communication by the Army as to completing the evacuation of dependents from the island. B-They asked for Soldiers from my wife's unit to cook for the Coast Guard and Army, but they were wanting to charge the Soldiers $20 a day for the food while the Coasties ate free. Yea they were providing the food, but we were providing all of the cooks to prepare it all. A few of you guys remember my wife from way back in the LWRC Forum, she flipped her lid, grabbed me as her muscle and walked over to the Coast Guard station. Probably a good thing they weren't there at the time! 7-My wife is under the impression that dependents may be forced to evacuate the island due to the conditions and how it is deteriorating! So far I have resisted the attempts to try to get us to leave for a few reasons: A-I can't leave my wife here along when the Army has not set up a secure place for the soldiers on base. We live out in town and I have already seen people surveilling our neighborhood. I've been taking picture of plates of people that def don't belong and one neighbor told us last night that he woke up at midnight with someone shining a flashlight through the windows of his house. So since the Army isn't going to ensure her security, I will be here so we can watch each other's backs. We sleep light and armed and keep the house alarm battery charged and set at night. B-Our generator is heavy as hell and there is. I way my wife can get it where it needs to go by herself and I refuse to leave her in the dark and alone. She tells me she is a soldier and can take care of herself, but I explain that I'm a husband and a Marine and it's my job to take care of my family and shoot people in the face!!! 7-All in all I am very disappointed in the level of preparedness and the lack of take care of your Soldiers and families mentality that I have seen. 8-It is better to be prepared and not need it than need it and not be prepared. This is a huge issue on the island right now and the reason why so many people are already struggling a week after the event 9-It seems that we were left to deal with things on our own, unlike the aid that was sent en masse to TX and FL. Hell in FL they even evacuated all non essential military and their families, but not here General State of the Island and News 1-People are rioting at gas stations. Some stations give Military, First Responders, Drs and utilities head of the line access and last night the police had to detain people trying to go after those with front of the line privileges. These actions are forcing the owners to close the store. Police guard all the gas stations and escort fuel, food and water deliveries. Overall the state of the people on the island is deteriorating very quickly. Think Katrina on a scale of an entire island of almost 4 million. 2-Gas lines are on average 11 hours with people lining the roads the day before and sleeping in their cars. They are blocking roads and areas where utility workers are trying to work impeding progress. 3-A 1800-0600 curfew was put into effect to help combat people being on the streets 4-People are puncturing gas tanks of cars and draining the gas 5-We have reports of a soldier being kidnapped. Another center having issues with locals trying to get on the reserve center to steal supplies. 6-There is widespread looting and protests. 7-FEMA and the Red Cross still haven't made it to our side of the island and people are having to brace the drive to go get supplies. 8-There are an estimated 2000 bodies decomposing at hospitals that have no gas or generators running in the morgue 9-There was a major landslide up in the mountains with an unknown number of casualties, but estimates put the numbers between 200 and several thousand. 10-The dam for the main reservoir on our side of the island is near failure 11-Police and fire have no communications and are unable to respond to issues. 12-Electricity is estimated to be 6 months before it is back on and a year or more for the entire island 13-It is currently unknown when water will be back on 14-People are hanging signs begging for supplies since aid has not arrived here yet. Water is quickly becoming an issue all over our area. 15-Banks and ATMs are barely functioning limiting funds to $500 for account holders. People likes us with USAA are unable to draw out cash. 16-Even with a generator, we are unable to keep the fridge going because of gas being a scare commodity. 17-It is a cash only economy at this time Invaluable Items: 1-mops and buckets! 2-floor squeegee that we could push water with 3-handheld entertainment for the kiddo 4-water reserve with a pump (600 gallons). Properly rationed this will last us a couple months. Plus a Katadyn water filter for backup 5-GAS cans!!! We had over 30 gallons when it started and have still not used all of our supply 6-Generator-I would suggest a propane one. Less issues getting natural gas vs gasoline. More stable than gas and doesn't go bad. 7-The ability to wash clothes without a washer 8-Camp stove or gas griddle 9-Charcoal! We bought up a lot so we could cook on the grill. Was tons of it around so I guess people didn't consider that 10-Water storage and purification 11-Freeze dried camp food and MREs 12-Backup batteries to charge devices 13-Books!!! There is no much to do with everything shut down 14-Hatchet/hawk and/or large chopping knives/machete. With so many trees down areas needed to be cleared 15-Firearms-safety is becoming a real issue with each passing day. People are already fighting over limited supplies. Another two weeks and things will escalate further. 16-Lanterns/candles for light, though as it get more dangerous, light discipline will become important 17-matches/lighters 18-Bug Spray!!! After the storm mosquitoes are horrible!!! 19-water to flush the toilets!!! This is huge as they do not have water on base and the bathrooms are becoming a real health issue 20-AM/weather radio! 21-Extra Batteries!!!! 22-Frozen gallon bags of water to help keep the fridge 23-Bade (sp?) was very helpful as both a male and female urinal in the house. Needing no water we were wasting our resource to flush it. Just a little to clean it out at the end of the day Things I wish I had 1-battery powered fan! It gets hot as balls here at night and makes it hard to sleep. 2-a solar panel and rechargeable batteries for the lanterns and devices 3-More gas cans! 4-More cash on hand 5-More MREs and non-perishable food (I have enough food on hand to last another 4 weeks easy if rationed) 6-More ammo 7-Better AM/band radio 8-Sat phone/sat data. It was almost a week before we could let people know we were ok 9-HAM radio! 10-Wet Vac 11-Holsters for every pistol!" UPDATED 10-1-17 Coming to the end of another week, next week will be 2 weeks post storm. Just a little update for everyone. We are still doing ok with water, food and gas for the generator. We finally totally gave up on trying to keep the fridge going. Was burning a lot of gas and we can't leave the generator running at night due to a theft concerns. Have some nice neighbors who brought us some milk, water and cereal for Peanut. Were able to return the gesture when we were able to get in and buy a few things on base. Gas lines are still crazy at the stations that still have gas, many do not. We still haven't seen FEMA or the Red Cross on our side of the island. Seems that all of the aid is centered around San Juan and our side of the island and hat was hit the hardest has been forgotten. I have mostly been checking messages and such and not really looking at news and all that, but what I have seen is pretty sickening, everything being turned into political maneuvering while people go hungry and thirsty. Take care of the people first then play your games. Thanks to everyone who has sent messages checking on us or contributed to the fund that some good buddies set up for us to help with the recovery and living expenses of the world we find ourselves in at the moment. We are making it, we are survivors!

Last edited by AllaSnackbah; Yesterday at 01:57 PM.

-Snacks Crossfitter, RX Scale Vegan/Gluten Free Small L Massachusetts Libertarian Sig Snob Meme War Veteran D-Class IPSC Open Div Shooter

[gxldensxldiers]

@arcanumsolitude | continued from here!

He bowed his head slightly for a split second, his free hand hovering in front of his chin, as a rough chuckle leaves his throat, coming out disjointed through the microphone in his helmet. So she wanted to play it that way, hm? He could work with that.

"This ain't the game you think it is, Romanova. Hope you know that." he stepped forwards, placing a hand on the edge of the table behind her. Even up close like this, nothing could be seen underneath his helmet, the smooth, golden surface serving as a sort of distorted mirror showing Milena's faint reflection. "I'll give ya one last chance, after that I won't be playing nice."

[gxldensxldiers]

are you real? do you really exist? or did i dream you up? (for arthur!)

"Real and in the flesh, baby," Arthur replied without skipping a beat, locking eyes with his fellow operator as he flashed him a classic shit-eating grin. He did pause, leaning back against the edge of the table, head cocked to the side. "Then again... if you did dream me up from that strange little head of yours... That'd just mean you don't hate me nearly as much as you pretend to."

[gxldensxldiers]

Well that explained the lack of customers despite the usual rush hour. It wasn't the first time Élodie had met with clients utilizing this strategy, usually she just saw it as a show of influence- and wealth. 'Proof' they could meet her price for whatever job they needed done.

A common move, but not one that went unappreciated. Even if by the sound of it this job would be rather... unorthodox. First the job with the casino, now an abduction... Would it be too much to ask for a traditional bank robbery or museum heist, something she was actually known for and could enjoy?

"Depends on the details." she cooly replied, taking a sip of her drink before setting the cup down. "But generally speaking, yes, I will."

@gxldensxldiers x

Lockpick... really needed to start being a bit more selective with the work she was taking lately, especially these out of country jobs. It had been hard enough justifying her latest late-night excursion, with her mother and Jules only recently getting off her case trying to get her to say what she had been up to.

She didn't even know what the job was, and yet here she was in Tokyo, meeting up with some stranger out in the open to discuss the 'night shift'.

"Sure," she shrugged, choosing not to voice her concerns of the unsanitary state of the entire concept for the sake of civility. Sarcastic remarks never got as far as honeyed agreement after all. "Coffee's hot and the meows will drown out our conversation. So, about this job?"

...So direct. 

Sakura couldn't help but be irked, though it didn't show on her face. She was calm and composed in public, as always, 

"Oh, so direct~! It's fine, I bought out the entire cafe for us today." she chimed with a smile. Even some of the workers, Henri had under his thumb. "You are a master thief, correct? Will you steal anything for a high enough price?" 

She leaned forward.

"Even people?"

[gxldensxldiers]

"what are you doing?" - Iso to Deadlock

Hearing Iso's voice behind her, Iselin was quick to shut the notebook she had been writing in, using the pencil as a bookmark. "Nothing interesting, just a bit of journaling," she answered, turning to properly face him, her arm resting on the back of the sofa.

"How have you liked the book I lent you?"

[gxldensxldiers]

Tag dump

[trcvelers-chcsen]

The battlefield rung out with explosions, crackling of thunder and stasis, and the otherworldly stretching of space-time that constituted strand and void.

Apollo-3 zipped from one opponent to the other, only appearing long enough to freeze groups of combatants in stasis, and shattering them with a combination blow, before slipping back into the void.

"We've got a retreating Warlock at 230. They might be hurt."

Seraph, Apollo's Ghost, rung in their comms. The Hunter grunted in the affirmative.

"I'll take care of it," they assure their Ghost. The coils in their gauntlets began to burn a deep emerald as they reach off into the distance. "Put 'em on my HUD and I'll swing over."

"Can do. Judging from their channel strength, they may be headed back into the forest."

A blip appeared on the edge of the exo's vision as threads of reality stretch into a cord connecting them to a floating point in the air. Tugging on it sent the Gunslinger into the air, and swinging around this point, they let go, leaving the cord to disintegrate back into obscurity as they soar through the air, cloak fluttering behind them with the velocity.

A skimmer transmatted in beneath their feet from whatever pit they'd accidentally dropped it in, and releasing the device's boost, they went soaring in a streak of gold, soulless Cabal futilely missing their potshots at them.

Taking an unnecessary breath, the Guardian zipped down beneath the treeline. They could see her now... limping in their general direction her Ghost unnervingly exposed, Shadow Legion tailing behind with their stupid bucket hats.

They swear they've seen this film before. And they sure as hell didn't like the ending.

The first legionnaire would a face full of the delicious bottom of the exo's skimmer. The poor sap hurtled back as Apollo used their face to springboard backward into a backflip, and with a flourish of their knife, burst into a brilliant display of Prismatic Light.

This was immediately followed up with a midair burst of heat and flash of radiance, as they pop their Golden Gun, disintegrating three more of the hapless followers behind the first footman on their way to the ground.

"You're hurt," they stated frankly upon landing. "Give me a second, and we can get you patched up."

The Golden Gun dissipated, and a Hailfire Spike was embedded in a tree. A cyclone of frigid stasis burst forth from the device, creating a devastating barrier between them and the hordes.

"There. That should hold them for a few seconds at least."

They glance toward the other guardian, checking the Warlock for signs of wounds. One particularly gutsy Psion attempted to speed past the whirling blast of Darkness, only to be frozen solid... before promptly being roasted medium charcoal by a veritable coronal mass ejection from their Hailfire Spike.

"What's the sitrep, guardian?"

@trcvelers-chcsen liked for a starter from Lorna. || sc accepting.

A Nova Bomb shot one way, a Chaos Reach the other, an arc soul perched on her soul shooting deadly arc light down upon the enemy. The Warlock hovered in the air like an angel of death. A yell escaped her mouth as a blast from a Shadow Legion Centurion's weapon broke her shield and down she fell from the sky. She cast a healing well seconds before hitting the ground with a bone-shattering landing.

Her ghost did all she could do to help and all she could do was to stay inside her backpack and out of sight.

The enemy was closing in around her. She needed to make a tactical retreat and rethink her plan. The mission wasn't over yet, but it would be if she died permanently.

She retreated into the forest around the camp.

Her ghost floated beside her. "You jumped out of your rift before your ankle was fully healed. Let me fix it."

"There's no time. If they hit us with a Light Suppressor we're dead."

[gxldensxldiers]

"Eloquent, huh? Who do you take me for, Calisto?" she joked, kneeling down to quickly re-form her own ammunition before Horangi could get her back. “Actions speak louder than words, didn’t you know that-?”

She's not quick enough though and despite a halfhearted attempt to dodge his throw, she's hit square in the shoulder. A loud cackle breaks through the cold winter air as she finished forming her snowball and launching it towards her ally-turned-opponent.

"Cheap shot, ya just got lucky!"

"i suppose we're just going to keep doing this?" // gimme any of your COD primary muses >B)

"Doing what exactly?" Roze tilted her head, dropping the snowball she had already formed behind her back as if that completely got rid of the evidence- or the fact she was the only one around within throwing range of Horangi.

She has to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling too much, admittedly entertained by the immature stunt. "I have no idea what you're talking about, man."

[gxldensxldiers]

[ Goldie ] dw I sent it to Io and Mir too you ain't special sent 1308

As well as to his family's group chat and to anyone else in his contacts. Hell, he would've sent it to Rem too if she had phone access.

[ Goldie ] If you're so busy stop texting me back, I couldn't care less what you do Goldie sent 1312

This was way more entertaining than it should be, but who cared? Atom couldn't fool him, anybody that he truly aggravated would've blocked him a lot sooner, coworker or not. Hell, he was pretty sure Lockpick still had him blocked over his ratatouille joke.

He grins as he watches Atom's texts back come in immediately, not even getting the chance to pocket his phone or send the photos to his sister.

[ Goldie ] Why not? sent 1302

[ Goldie ] Don't like them and you still remembered his name :) sent 1303

[ Goldie ] What, you don't like updates on the team? We're all in this together, Goldie. That means you get my cute dog pics sent 1305

Fuck it, he had to send another one. Trail was practically empty at the moment.

[ Goldie ] < another photo is sent of an older German Shepherd. While Arthur himself is off camera, his arm can be seen wrapped around her shoulders> sent 1306

If he was so busy Atom could simply stop answering.

[gxldensxldiers]

Okay what the actual hell.

What were people taking her for now? Some two-bit murderer and kidnapper? If this was someone high-profile, with the sort of security only someone of her expertise could crack, she'd understand and maybe even crave the novelty of the challenge.

But still, as awful as it was compared to her usual jobs... Work was work, the bills weren't going to pay themselves.

She covered the top of her drink with her hand as one of the cafés cats strolled by, lowly purring as it rubbed its head against her shoulder.

"I can't go outside of France for this." she lowly said after a long few moments. "A couple drops in Switzerland or Italy maybe, but that's on a limited basis. How many people are you needing?"

Well that explained the lack of customers despite the usual rush hour. It wasn't the first time Élodie had met with clients utilizing this strategy, usually she just saw it as a show of influence- and wealth. 'Proof' they could meet her price for whatever job they needed done.

A common move, but not one that went unappreciated. Even if by the sound of it this job would be rather... unorthodox. First the job with the casino, now an abduction... Would it be too much to ask for a traditional bank robbery or museum heist, something she was actually known for and could enjoy?

"Depends on the details." she cooly replied, taking a sip of her drink before setting the cup down. "But generally speaking, yes, I will."

[gxldensxldiers]

He grins as he watches Atom's texts back come in immediately, not even getting the chance to pocket his phone or send the photos to his sister.

[ Goldie ] Why not? sent 1302

[ Goldie ] Don't like them and you still remembered his name :) sent 1303

[ Goldie ] What, you don't like updates on the team? We're all in this together, Goldie. That means you get my cute dog pics sent 1305

Fuck it, he had to send another one. Trail was practically empty at the moment.

[ Goldie ] < another photo is sent of an older German Shepherd. While Arthur himself is off camera, his arm can be seen wrapped around her shoulders> sent 1306

If he was so busy Atom could simply stop answering.

∗ o4﹕ a  text  sent  out  of  excitement . (Arthur?)

[ Goldie ] hey golden boy whatever you’re doing stop and look at this shit sent 12:58

[ Goldie ] <a photo is sent of a 'smiling' Merlin, sitting down on a large boulder, a green bandana replacing his usual working harness> sent 1301

[gxldensxldiers]

A smile lingered on her face as she took a few moments to brush the snow off of her jacket and the front of her pants. Ah, right. Lunch. With the opportunity to pelt Horangi with snowballs like they were a bunch of teenagers she had completely forgotten what she had left to do in the first place. Oops.

"Nothing good," she snickered, shaking her head. "Was thinking about just grabbing somethin off base. Y'know, something actually edible." she joked.

She paused for a moment, tilting her head as she thought for a moment. "Y'know, if you want you could tag along. There's this new pizza spot I've been meaning to check out."

"i suppose we're just going to keep doing this?" // gimme any of your COD primary muses >B)

"Doing what exactly?" Roze tilted her head, dropping the snowball she had already formed behind her back as if that completely got rid of the evidence- or the fact she was the only one around within throwing range of Horangi.

She has to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling too much, admittedly entertained by the immature stunt. "I have no idea what you're talking about, man."