Log:Natural Disaster: After Shocks
An earthquake draws disaster relief and volunteers to rescue those trapped and aid the managing of the injured.
OOC Date: January 2, 2021
Location: Bakura
Participants: Vhe Tenara as GM, Nerys Greystorm, Qutha Buvu Pah, Ion Irana, Freli, Katya, Aejin, B'haav Adasta, Zandra naMuriel, Lofty
Salis D'aar still stands, but not as proudly as it once did. The smoke rising from the ruined structures and half broken building create a dystopian backdrop to the chaos and sounds from the injured and desperate. Native crews are already working to free the trapped from the rubble as after shocks are creating danger for everyone involved. There are small centers set up for relief, quick tents that are put into place to help house the injured. Even these are moving at a strange and chaotic structured mess. Triage is funneling in at disparate locations keeping the medical staff lost at some points and probably losing track of patients even after they come in.
Buildings are being carefully pulled open and lifted in chunks to try to set them aside to free a man beneath the rubble that is visible.
"We need help over here!" Cries an emergency services member who is leading an elderly woman carefully towards the tents. Small shuttles are touched down in wherever there is clear area to get the injured out. Currently the situation appears to be a clusterkrif and Vhe sets the Cloudburst down, a small shuttle as another shuttle lifts off. The Ysanna with her colorful scarf wrapped about her hair steps out and into the dying light of the late day as the world transitions into evening.
Nerys had arrived as soon as it had been possible to arrange transport for a doctor, some reporters, because people needed to know what was happening here. Also, they were good, strong hands, and a doctor. Not the same doctor that once crewed the Tai, but a good doctor and all. Once the ship was on the ground, she moved to join whatever rescue operations were underway. Keen eyes scanned the surround, taking the measure of the situation, before she was heading for a darkened fissure in the ground, "We've got someone trapped here!" She didn't wait for assistance, which would, as it always did in such times, come or not come, she simply headed in the direction of the hand she could just see grasping for purchase on the edge of the breach. The way to handle chaos was to fight it back one at a time.
"We do not fear the Dark, for fear feeds the Shadows and make them longer and thicker. Light must be carried to the Shadow to purge it. Light shall balance and set our minds to ease..." resting in a hunkered crouch at the ramp to the Cloudburst - left behind while Vhe moves first, Qutha Pah takes short breaths, each one a little longer than the previous as he recites an old adage to himself. He has a wrist-blaster on, of all things, but the barrel is retracted and only the tactical beam on the bracer is active, stabbing into the shadows before he stands up, a 'skirt' of bright glow rods hanging from his belt turning on to cast light before him and allow him to see at his feet while the beam on his arm sweeps the field.
"Call out if you can! Bang rhythm on metal or stone if you cannot! Make sound so that we can find you!" turning towards the redheaded woman stating having found survivors before he hesitates. Throat bobbing. The Dark feeds on terror. He must be the torch, going forth to purge it...
"I'm coming ma'am! I'll help as I can!" spying a kinked water line as he rushes and going on his instincts - reaching out with hand and mind, willing the hose to shift, but coming up short of breath.
"This fire is going to escalate! We need to clear this line too!"
Ion and Freli can be seen walking down a broken and twisted commercial street. Each wears a loose fitting 'PRESS' vest in high visibility yellow with reflective silver striping. A hover-cam orbits above Freli while a shoulder mounted mini-vid unit is attached to a discrete chest rig Ion wears beneath his hi-viz vest.
The scene is chaos, and Ion looks to Freli, 'where the kriff do we start' in his eyes. An elderly man walking nearby, hoarsely calling out and appearing dazed draws his attention. "Let's not stray far from one another," he says to his Balosaran partner, then points at the man and begins quick-stepping in his direction. "Are you alright?" he asks, reaching the dazed gentleman. All the while that camera, seeing and recording everything. A quick glance back to check on Freli's position, whether she joins him or investigates a different point of interest.
Freli hurried off the ship that help transport her here. She had arranged the scarf that covered her hair, to allow her palps to extend freely, the antennae swaying and shivering as she strained to seek out survivors. In her hip she wore her satchel, containing medkit and some other gear. She glances fir to Ion as he heads off to help an elderly man.
Freli heard Nerys, the captain she arrived with call for help, and started in the direction. However, she spots a small child alone, and off to the side. "I'm headed this way." Her only word to ion as she's already moving towards the child. "I need a doctor here!" She calls over her shoulder even before reaching the child. Once at the little girl her smile is warm and gentle, voice calm as the hover cam boba behind her. "Hey, looks like you've got an Owie. My name's Freli, can I take a look?" She asks gently, as her med kit is pulled out, and she begins a scan, just in case there is no better suited healer about.
Katya hated space travel - but hearing the need, had been willing to jump aboard an unfamiliar ship and make passage to the beleaguered city, gritting her teeth and strapping herself into a seat for the ride. She was glad to have her feet on solid ground, and after asking a man in a brightly colored vest for directions, trots towards a medical tent. "You!" she commands a man abruptly. "No leaning on the tent poles - you'll destabalize it. See you can find someone to help you hammer in some anchoring lines - we can't afford to have this tent come down!" She gives the man a commanding stare she- well, basically //never// uses, before continuing into the tent to find near chaos. She finds a young human man holding a bag of triage tags, and looking around in confusion, and she takes him by the elbow, steering him to the entrance of the tent. "We need you out here. No one comes in without seeing you. Green tag for minor injuries. Orange tag for serious injuries that will need intervention but are not immediately life threatening. Red tag for urgent cases. You got that?" She asks the man - who nods. "Good man." Patting him on the shoulder, she makes her back back into the tent to try to sort out the chaos taking place inside.
Chaos, mayhem, flame, and ruin. They all reign here for the time being. Such things always pass in due time, but in the heat of those moments it is as though the world is closing around the mind. The pulse quickens. Then the pulse races. The mind can go many directions, but the mind that pushes aside personal feelings is often the calmest. Then someone utters a pray with their hand on your shoulder and suddenly? Suddenly everything crashes in; you've family to worry about, you've got a baby on the way, you've got to make sure to make it home because people you care about depend on you, you've got a meeting with the bois later, and more. Your life is important! For Aejin however, he remains calm and collected for the moment. Focused on his goals, stun net launcher gripped in one hand - a just-in-case safety measure, some people do crazy things in the midst of their frantic bid to survive - and the golden armored Mandalorian treads along after the bulk of many other forms seeking to offer their aid. It is then that Aejin's free hand rises up and he gestures toward a tall tower, already beginning to look as though it were quivering on its foundation, <"That tower looks unstable. Want me to go up and have a look around?">, he asks of everyone and yet no one in particular.
B'haav Adasta - the quirky, hat-wearing psychologist of Nar Shaddaa - spots little and less as he guides the Hunting Pharple lower over Salis D'aar, scanning to get a view of things. He'd overshot the starport by more than a little, or you could say that if he didn't have a plan. The repulsors are kicking up more than a little dust and shaking some things loose as he flies slowly over this concentrated swathe of tectonic destruction. Everywhere he looks, he can spot popup medical tents, shuttles zipping around the Rigger to land and ferry away medical emergencies. Everywhere, chaos. And he's adding to it, for the moment, as he spots an open patch of street near enough to a pair of shuttles to like make their pilots curse, or change their jumpsuits. B'haav flips the intercom, turning on the speakers to broadcast out to the street below as the repulsors quiet to an offline state.
<<"Medical personnel, the Rigger is for anyone who wants to use it as a dedicated staging and triage location. If nothing else, use it as a landmark to direct inbound shuttles.">> Brusque? Perhaps. But time is of the essence and there are people who need help. He drops the cargo ramp from the cockpit and is up in a moment, running through the ship as he calls instructions to his loader droids.
"Anyone! Anyone who needs your help with medicine or moving patients, you help them. If nobody asks for you, go help lift heavy things off of people. Don't go further than 100 meters from the ship, in case you're needed." He's sprinting out the cargo ramp before it's fully lowered, wearing a cream-colored suit and matching derby hat that was never meant for anything but a smooth day of freight-running. He looks around for anyone in need of help, but is only now getting his bearings. He looks out for some sort of coordinator, but is having a hard time picking any system of command out with his adrenaline pumping.
Zandra comes off the Cloudburst in behind the other two, a tight smile crossing her face. She glances around thoughtfully, and takes a moment to center herself, staying calm. It's a mess, obviously, but there's help here; that's what she's here for. She looks to see where Vhe is, and Qutha. Then her gaze goes from place to place, as she steps away from the shuttle. "This place definitely needs our assistance," she murmurs. Her grey eyed gaze pauses as she sees medical aid over there, a building in sections there, and then she focuses on a couple of rescue workers who seem to be struggling. As she watches, the machine they are using to pick up loose rubble from an area of interest crackles electricity, sparks, and then it slowly goes back to work, but it's obviously not working quite as well as it was previously, and it's still wavering. Zan tilts her head a bit, concentrating, reaching out to the Force, and using her telekinesis to help out. Preferably without the two workers noticing, if she can manage it.
Chaos still reigns but slowly there is a measure of order being restored as Katya rushes over to the main medical tent. The man jumps to his feet and gets to moving, working on getting some lines to help anchor the tent. B'haav with the empty Rigger now set up for further aid is near Katya and the work she is doing. Katya receives a middle aged woman with head trauma who reaches out. "Help me." She remarks, looking like she might fall over at any time.
B'haav is amidst the screaming chaos and the cries of the injured. A medic helping a few children along see his ship. "This is perfect. Can you help me guide them in." The little ones are so dazed that one even lifts his hand to grab at B'haavs. Its an automatic thing, perhaps a need for comfort and touch. But now the Balosar has a little soul attached to his hand.
IN the crevice of the street that opened up with the tremors there is a figure wedged in the midst of it all. "Please, please .." there is the weak sound of something having trouble. That hand lifts and flails as the only sign of the person captured inside.
The elder man next to Ion makes motions backwards down the street from which he came. "Daughter...pregnant...can not move.." he pants out. He definitely has a wound that is making it hard to breathe and his hand is shaking a little. Shock is setting in.
Freli's little girl with her broken arm is starting to cry again, screaming for her mother at the top of her lungs in the face of the friendly balosar. Tears stream down her face, cutting through the dust painging her skin.
Aejin is given a look by the volunteers holding the hose that Qutha has tried to help unkink. His notification of it being in such a state has some of them working to undo the problem by hand, the water getting a bit more pressure. "If, you can?" The volunteer looks the mandalorian over, the jetpack and then up at the building which is being eaten up by flames.
Zan's quick movement saves the machine from dropping the rubble as the technician moves to begin fixing it. A shorted line and fuse is replaced so that while Zan holds the piece of foundation aloft until the machine can jerk and set the piece aside. The man beneath the rubble groans as he drifts in and out of consciousness.
Chaos drives more chaos and the aftershock of such a major event hits their area. The buildings creak and sway, rubble falls anew and most keep their feet. Children scream and its now a waiting game for the next unscheduled tremor. One of the tent poles of the main medical tent starts to tip and creaks, falling towards the unsuspecting Katya.
Nerys kept her feet, only just, as the tremor nearly send //her// into the crevice along with the man she could now see trapped there. She made good use of the momentum though, as she swung her backpack around, removing a climbing harness, nimble fingers reworking the tethers to be able to lean in and wrap them around the man so that she could anchor him with her body, as she wound the lead rope around herself, and use it to pull him out. "I've got you, just hold still. I'll get you out." As she heard the calls for medical, she projected her voice through the vocorder of her helmet, "The Birena Tai is in port! She has a full medical bay on board as well as supplies!" Might as well use the ship for what she had been designed to do.
Turning to the speaking armored figure of Aejin with a distinct look of surprise, Qutha gawps. Blinks and then gawps again. "Could you lift this? It needs to be pointed at the base of the flame... Extra hands and all that, sir?" looking towards where Nerys is, "I need to try and aid that woman. Please help them?" motioning to the hose crew before he looks to them himself. There is so much danger all about, the darkness, the shadows and the screams. The Zelosian takes a moment, chest puffing as he fills it with air and releases in a singular smooth breath before his voice comes again, a little calmer. Just a touch.
"Calm friends. Work calm and you shall work better. We will get through this." moving then towards Nerys, "Direct me and I will help, ma'am!" reaching out still - unable to get a grasp of things, brow knitting and sweat forming on his brow.
The elderly gentleman is clearly in distress, both mental and physical, as he points down the street at where, apparently, his pregnant daughter is trapped. Before setting out to search, Ion urges the man to sit, if necessary a little bit away from whatever structure they are nearest. "I'm going to find your daughter," the Pantoran says, bent into a crouch to engage him at eye level. He then rises and yells for assistance, unsure if anyone's free enough to respond but taking the chance, "Stretcher! We need a stretcher here!" A wave of hands, perhaps aided by the bright yellow and reflective tape of that hi-viz vest.
Then he's off down the street, a quick side-long glance to Freli, not too far and assisting an injured little girl. "Freli," he calls out, "I'm searching in this direction." Then calls into rubble. "Hello? Are you trapped? I'm looking for a pregnant woman, call out or bang something if you can hear me."
Freli some how manages to keep to her feet when the aftershock strikes. As the screaming child jumps into her arms, the frail Balosar struggles a moment at the sudden unexpected weight. Still, she makes no show of her surprise, instead grinning warmly at the screaming child. "Hey there. I got you." She says soothingly. She's lost track of Ion at this point, but her first priority is taking care of the girl, and possibly trying to get that arm set. She Adjusts her hold, making sur that arm is supported and not jostled.
She looks around and spots Bee as others usher lost children his way. "Bee! Thank the stars!" She starts in the direction of the other Balosar, grinning with relief "Bee!" She calls as she struggles his way. At that point she hears Ion, and glances after the Pantoran as follows the elder man.
"Ma'am - let's find you a place to sit down," Katya encourages the woman, leading her towards the side of the tent - just as the pole begins to fall. She only spots the movement at the last second - and quickly injects herself between the woman and the falling object, one hand going up and over her head to protect herself. The pole impacts on her arm, prompting a wince from the togrutan doctor at what will no doubt be an ugly bruise. "We need to secure these poles!" She shouts towards the man she'd left one pole-duty, as now a portion of the tent begins to collapse inwards.
"Alright, ma'am. Sit right here." After a brief scan with her medical scanner she remarks, "I can give you a dose of medicine to prevent further swelling - and some medication to manage the pain - but then I have to move on to more urgent cases. You're going to be alright, ma'am. Do you have any allergies?" She is already preparing her hyprospray as she talks and - assuming the woman confirms the lack of allergies - injects the medications.
A gloved hand rises up to show a palm toward Qutha Buvu Pah before Aejin's vocoder clicks to life, <"I will assist there in a moment, as I'm able. I need to get up there,"> the golden armored Mandalorian gestures with a fist and lone finger extended to point toward the upper floors of the burning tower. Then his visor lowers back down from the trajectory of his pointing finger, back to Qutha, and his helmet lowers as the vocoder switches active once more, <"Once I've done a search up there, making sure no one is trapped? I will return here">. That is when the vocoder clicks off and without awaiting argument Aejin takes a few steps aside, ensuring that he had a clear space. He glances around himself, checking his back-blast or that anyone is standing too close.
The jetpack hisses for a split second before the flames begin to spout from the nozzles and the Mandalorian with the golden armor soars into the sky as a veritable streak of shining gold and bloody fire. He circles the tower, angling and banking, rolling and twisting in order to peer instead to the best of his ability. A flick of his tongue begins to swap through the vision modes of his helmet's mask, seeking to penetrate the smoke in order to determine whether there are any within the tower in need of assistance.
It seems that Aejin's spotted something because without warning or consideration, he twists in the air and with another burst from his jetpack begins to jet straight toward the tower and a window broken out by either the heat of the flames or the earthquake itself. It would seem that the Mandalorian is determined to go through that window and pursue some sort of mission.
Zan holds the rubble on the machine solidly as the two rescuers fix the machine. Her purple hair is visible, her hood falling back off her head, as she moves forward a bit. "Stars above, this is a horrid mess." She looks over where the two rescuers are and then over at the poor guy, half crushed and moving in and out of consciousness. As the aftershock rumbles, Zan sidesteps, almost a blur, as she moves so fast. Nobody noticed that, surely. She takes a breath, makes a decision, and then concentrates. At first nothing happens, and then slowly, the bigger piece of rubble that is holding that poor being stuck there begins to shift and then it rises up into the air. Zan holds it for a moment, gathering her strength and then she moves it to the side. It lands with a fairly loud THUD beside the rest of the rubble that was being moved. "That's better," Zan says with a nod and a smile.
The pole that clipped Katya hovers a moment, still leaning and collapsing a portion fo the tent. Vhe's hand is outstretched, narrowing her gaze as she rights it slowl, the bottom of it working itself back into the small pop up holder that is far too flimsy. The man that Katya instructed to put up reinforced lines stares at it, hesitates but then just gets to work as Vhe stands there waiting for things to get settled.
Nerys and Qutha now working in tandem to get the strapped man free of the crevice are met with a weakened and yet still panicked man. "Please..Its hard to breathe.." he weezes. Together they successfully get Nerys' harness around his form as best they can given how he's wedged in the open crevice. Now the only thing to do will be to draw him out as carefully as possible. Hearing the call that another ship is free some medical personnel begin to direct people towards the starport.
Ion's initial search for the daugher of the elder man that is currently being approached by a medic due to Ion's call. But the pantoran reeives something for his instructions to the woman he can not see. There is a soft tink. Pause. Tink. The sound of something hitting a metal sign. Vaguely ahead he can see the feet of the woman pinned under the sign on her side, one shoe lost.
Freli's little one wrapped with one arm aorund her clings to the female balosar. But it is B'haav words that calm her and she hestiates in letting go of Freli, shaking until she sees a familiar face. One of the older kids ia sibling. "Quint!" she lets go of Freli and rushes towards him, crying still but no longer latched on for dear life.
Katya's patient calms in the face of someone under control and nods. The panicked woman still seems lost in the mix but is compliant as a medic brings up a wounded individual on a stretcher. "We need a doctor!" is called out. "We have a stomach wound here!"
Aejin moves in on the building with his quick and decisive choice breaks through what is left of the window with a shattering sound that carries. What he finds is a young male in his twenties likely unconscious from smoke inhalation. He lays unmoving but Aejin's HUD picks up that he is definitely live but suddenly the building begins to creeeeaaak and sway as the water from the hose below hits full blast and causes what remaining stability there is to start to give.
B'haav is a genius with children. The ones unhurt become focused on the hats including Freli's little one named Geri. She beams and smiles, glancing to Freli and as she reaches up to try to take a hat and cries out in pain. But the rest of the children are starting to ask questions. "What is THAT one for? What magic does IT do?!"
Zandra moves the piece of rubble aside and now its smaller pieces that have layered upon the poor man. One of the medical personnel stops to look at her. "Thank you." Its said for in that panicked moment any and all help is needed. They move in around the trapped figure giving Zan a moment to breathe as another life can be plucked free of the catastrophe.
As Qutha came close enough, Nerys, who could not jump to her feet, did try to reach out to attempt to steady the man, and prevent him from ending up also down a hole. "Hold on." She kept an arm out in front of him, reaching with her free hand for a headlamp she kept in one of her backpack's pockets, handing it over, "This will help." And ten it was all hands to the wheel, as they worked to get him secured, being aided by a few bystanders who rushed over, the team, now, working to remove the wedged man from the fissure into which he had fallen. "We're almost there!"
The Force was not with him this day, but he may be trying. Not doing. Lessons learned on Deveron and from others running through his head as the Zelosian struggles to aid Nerys get the man freed from danger. A huff and a rolling line coming down his temple to be lost in the tangle of his beard. Gemstone green eyes move to the trapped, the others, then to Nerys as she commands the aids.
"Don't worry. We'll have you..." don't worry. Listen to yourself farm-boy. Use your hands maybe, they've always served well. Can't grow if you don't work with what you have. And now he's talking to himself. Great. Qutha Pah steps back slightly to give better able people the room they need to get to work while he centers himself.
Someone once said if you can gather the sum of yourself up in one place, at one time, you can achieve something glorious. As it stands it may take as much, by his own summation, to finally be of use. A shift in his step and his hands running back to pull his hair out of his eyes and behind his head to re-tie it in a repetitious motion meant to center him before he reaches out a hand and breathes.
Stone in hands shake, shifting powdered debris off while the people working to remove the block of stone find their burden lessons while the orchardist from Zelos II lets out a ragged breath, hand lifting while turning to raise his palm skywards. It's not some grand show of power or even something to be spoken over by anyone other than Qutha. But the stone lifts and the people working under Nerys's direction have their burden eased, to free a man from being crushed.
Ion's search makes it clear just how devastating the original quake had been. Some buildings stand, some have become shells, others rubble. The street itself, a wide thoroughfare meant for heavy vehicle traffic, that life-blood of commerce, is ripped and torn, jagged duracrete edges in ruptures and furrows.
At the terminus of one such furrow, a heavy traffic sign has fallen, barely clipping the leg of a fallen Bakoran woman. Young, and very pregnant, her leg is caught under the weight of a dead lamp. Ion settles at her side and gives her an encouraging little smile. "Your father sent me here. He's alright."
Azure hands settling onto metal, the Pantoran manages an imperfect grip, but makes best effort to lift... with a grunt he puts a bit more back into it - never a good idea, but this is an emergency and he responds as such - which manages to force the fallen sign up, just a hint. Perhaps enough to lessen the pressure upon the young woman's leg but seemingly not yet enough to free her. She tries to exert her own pressure, but she's young, and not strong, and pregnant, and Ion shakes his head. "Stop stop stop," he urges, "you don't have the right angle." Still straining, he grunts as he raises the sign just a hint higher. But it's still not enough.
Freli almost collapses, both with relief and because the girl is out of her arms. She sags slightly, before she quickly recovers. Bee's way with kids brings a warm, glowing smile to her face, and flash of full dimpledge. "I didn't know you were coming either Bee." Seeing that the Medic is otherwise occupied, Freli sees to Geri's arm herself. "Hey, Geri this might hurt just a little bit! But it will be over in two shakes of a Taun taun's tail, I promise!" She uses a hypo spry from her med pac for pain and and then sets the arm. She makes sure the cream color's hat is set firmly on the girl's head. "No, I'm not a doctor, I am just a special help. I only know a teensy tiny little bit, just enough to help brave girls like you. You should definitely because a doctor. I do have a really good friend named Katya, and she's a doctor" She confided to Geri. "Maybe later I will get Doc Kat to come look at you. She's a Togruta, and really pretty but she has these funny cones o her head and cooollooreful head tails! How does that sound?" She mimes the montrails and lekku, burfore adding. "I am going to look for your mom right now, ok?"
Freli stands and looks around for her fellow Balosar. "Hey Bee, I gotta go find Ion, and Geri's mom, but I will be back." The diminutive redhead turns towards the ramp, ready to head back into the frey. Her gloating holo cam remains bobbing behind her.
"Alright. Just wait here, ma'am, someone will be by to check on you again." Pulling out one of the tags Katya'd liberated off the human man earlier, she puts an orange tag around the woman's neck. "And keep that where folks can see it. It tells the nurses to keep checking on you - alright?"
Pushing herself to her feet, she approaches the medic. "I'm a doctor," she says simply, using her medical scanner to assess the patient, while glancing hastily around for someone to put the individual. "There - on that table." She frowns as she studies the reading. "He's losing a lot of blood - if we don't repair the bleeding... I'll need you to suction," she orders the medic as she pulls on gloves, a look of concentration on her features. "Give him some pain medication," she orders the second medic who brought him in. Careful incisions open the abdominal cavity wide enough as she uses the medical scan to guide her search. "There. Alright - apply pressure here to prevent the bleeding." Once the medics finger is in place, she begins carefully stitching down blood vessels back together once more.
The crash of glass explodes with a cacophany of sound, that same glass tinkling down the side of the tower from above in small shards as the Mandalorian in the golden armor slashes through the air with a roar of his jetpack. Helmet first through the window the Rattataki goes, the jetpack cutting out to allow for him to dive and roll forward into the structure. There is no time to delay and thus he does not. A flick of his tongue ensures that the environmental seals of his helmet and armor are in place, another flick of his tongue across another button ensures that his headlamp in all its blazing glory illuminates the world around him, a tap at his left vambrace makes certain that the internal cooling of his suit is cranked up to balls-stay-dry levels, and finally Aejin begins to move forward.
Each new step through a screen of fire and smoke, ash and cinder, has Aejin moving deeper and deeper into the structure until he finally comes to a halt. The vocoder clicks to life as he announces to the downed individual, <"You there!>" he calls out over the crackle and roar of flame, the hiss of steam, and the crash of a structure becoming increasingly unstable. <"Can you hear me?"> the voice calls out, cool and calm for the moment. A glance is given to the flames, then back to the victim even as Aejin begins to move forward and kneel at their side. Life signs or not, Aejin's hands reach out to shift the human - or humanoid, it's smokey, okay? - to their side. The issue made just a little more a burden given the unconscious nature of the victim. There's a nod, more out of habit than anything, before Aejin seems to make up his mind. A hand moves to grab and arm, while the other moves to grab near the waist of the unconscious form. A jerk, a pull, and a lift - with his knees - and Aejin's able to hoist the young man up and onto a shoulder with a grunt from the exertion and sheer dead weight of an unconscious body.
He doesn't attempt to run, but simply marches inexorably through the smoke and flames, his helmet bowed as he navigates his way back the way he had come down through the window moments ago. The body of the man shifted as he moves, taking him from his shoulder to a more stable cradling against his frame. One leg looped beneath legs, while the other supports the torso of the man. There's nearly a missed step as Aejin pauses, his boot lifted and prepared to inevitably trip had he not recalled his steps.
That is when the tower begins to shift with a distinct, irritated groan beneath its own weight and compromised structure. That is enough to put a little more determination in Aejin's step, his foot rising up to take that single step within his path that would have otherwise tripped him, sent himself, and his short-term acquisition sprawling. A few more steps are taken as the smoke billows, darkness encompassing everything before his visor. Flames lick at his feet and legs, coiling about them as though insatiable lovers pleading for their partner to return to bed. The Mandalorian in the golden armor trudges onward, however.
That is until the light of day is finally visible, which results in Aejin angling toward it with his cradled victim. A step up, another step up, and finally a brief flare of his jetpack's nozzles permits him to hop up and onto the window's frame. He steadies himself with one armored shoulder securely planted against the frame, which offers only a modicum of stability in a building which has contented itself with collapse.
His arms shift, moving his human-sized package about for a moment, Aejin clearly making entirely certain that his grip on the person was in fact secure. He faces the outdoors, smoke billowing around himself and into the oxygen rich air beyond. He stands ready to leap away from the structure and his jetpack to ignite to carry him away.
A system test of the jetpack results in a warning regarding the emission system and thus Aejin resorts to a backup plan, as every good Mandalorian should always have - at minimum - five of them. A step is taken from the window from and the Mandalorian in the golden armor begins to plummet like a blade toward the ground with his package in his arms. It is with a stroking of his tongue that a control within his helmet is activated, which in turn signals to the gravity belt worn around his waste that it was time to wake up and do its duty.
The activation of the gravity belt brings a gradual slow to the fall and thus permits Aejin to float from the tower, his unconscious victim cradled loving in his golden arms, his helmet held high as the Mandalorian floats through the sky like a savior angel back to the people who will surely cry out for his mercy.
Or probably not. He's just one guy doing a thing among many other people doing things.
B'haav's gritty tenor voice calls out through the din, trying to act as a beacon. "Anyone who needs help, or is looking to help, you can come to the Pharple - the big ship! Hard to miss!" He doesn't immediately stray too far away, trying to make sure that people can find and make use of the facility he has flown in. He doesn't stray too far and occasionally turns back to gesture or call out encouragement to the children as more survivors are filtering in. He looks to Freli and sees her setting the small one's arm. It's a bit of a shock, but he's glad. She's likely been in chaotic scenes like this before, considering her background in reporting before she came to base herself on the Smuggler's Moon. As he scans the street though, he spots a glint of something flowing across the duracrete, and it shimmers with color, unlike water which sparkles white in the light. As Freli reports that she's heading back out, B'haav points at the flow. "Stay clear of that, friend!"
"Stay on the ship!" The call is over his shoulder to the children as he runs out to attract the attention of nearby emergency crews while the flow of fuel is making its way closer to where - unbeknownst to B'haav - Ion is working to free a pregnant woman.
"Hey! You, there," he calls, gaining the attention of several men near a loader and several barrels of particulate that look to be sand or something else dense and fine. "Cover that spill before it goes somewhere! QUICK!" The psychologist does not get too close, waiting only for the response of their movement before he's wheeling back to the ship. He doesn't want to leave too long lest the small ones try to take their magic hats on tour.
"You are welcome," she calls to the rescuer who acknowledged her help. "I am glad I can help." Zandra now has a moment to breathe, the rubble safely on the ground. She is still holding the Force, and she can feel the tingle at the back of her neck, that little alert that something isn't right. She shivers a bit, looking around and not at all clear where this sense is coming from. "Something is about to - something somewhere is spilling out, and broken somewhere," she says. She looks for the other Jedi to see if they can confirm, even though they are busy. "Hey, I get the feeling that something is maybe leaking?" she calls out to that same guy, hopefully. "Is there something being stored that might be dangerous if it leaks?" She can ask, because she doesn't know where. There's a lot going on, and Zan tries to figure out what it is, searching for - signs of life. There's still that sense of danger niggling at her though, even as she identifies a life sign that is fading. Far too quickly. "That's not good," she mutters, as she heads that way, finding a young woman passed out in the rubble. "Hey, are you okay?" she calls as she nears, even though she knows she's not likely getting an answer.
Lofty the Talz had taken a break from captaining STAR TOURS charters and answered the call, using his yacht to bring relief supplies to Bakura. His Gabdorin deckhand Milquetweed is driving their flatbed hovertruck with crates full of produce - crates of jewel-fruit, manta pears, nikkle nuts, oi-oi berries, Jybbuk-fruit, pallies, pika, Roonan lemons, scry-mint, shuura fruit, rillrrnn seeds, sunberries, purple meiloorun melons, blue dabaroos, joganfruits, muja fruit, sour hubba gourds, sweet Ithorian ioaa, sihan peaches, snowgrapes, and thorn pears for the starving vegetarians of Bakura. And a few cases of some unpopular-but-rare FizzyGlug flavors, like Boaboo Fungus Fizz FizzyGlug, for the children. The massive white alien - who resembles an ice wampa in some respects - is riding shotgun and signals Milquetweed to slow down, then hops out of the hovertruck with a THUD. He has spotted Ion (a slim blue-skinned humanoid) trying to get a sign off a poor Bakuran. The Talz lends his significant strength and helps pull the debris off the poor pregnant woman. She is free! "Lofty help you," he warbles through his snoot.
Vhe is helping to guide people to the Cloudburst and organizing triage as the rest are distributing their skills around the troubles. The flow of people is starting to become more organized but the chaos is felt again when another after shock ravages the area, pieces of still standing buildings toppling and falling as the crevice the man was just in that Nerys and Qutha helped out shifts and grows smaller as the ground moves the wrong way. Narrowly did he escape with their help. Medics sworm to help with the man now that he is free and Nerys' harness is removed and left next to her. THe man is calling his thanks to them as the stretcher is lifted and he is taken away.
The woman that has jut been freed of the signage by Ion and Lofty is struggling to roll to her knees, wincing as she is bleeding slowly from several places. There is a medic team happening by and they stop to check. "Everyone all right here?" But that is as far as it goes before the ground gives and shakes. Ion is thrown to the side and down into a fissure - which was a basement at some point.
Geri waves at Freli with her good hand as she leaves and that is the unfortunate moment the female balosar seeks to find others to help. For at that moment the ground gives, shakes and a piece of a building that is half decimated falls, angling right for her.
Katya manages to keep her footing, thankfully so as she tends her patient. Those assisting her help hold the man and table in place as they listen to her commands. The tent? It holds because of those lines she instructed to be put in place.
Aejin finds air and falls, falls and lands with a soft splash into something that is rather opalesque like and is beginning to bubble up from a rupture in the street. The man is unconscious on his shoulder but instantly Aejin can smell the fuel.
B'haav saw it first and points it out, the emergency crews do not catch on right away but some begin to see it. "FUEL!" they cry. Instantly people are moving for the supplies brought in for just a thing. Crates of sand to be poured over. But first they have to get it open. The fuel is spreading, towards tents, towards ships as cries go out from leaders of the local contigents.
Zandra notices as well and some major in the armed forces of Bakura answeirng the relief call sees it. "BEGIN EVACUATION! ONTO SHIPS NOW! THOSE ABLE TO MOVE HEAD FOR THE STARPORT! THOSE WHO CAN NOT BOARD SHIPS!"
Lofty tosses that sign aside with Ion but just in time for the aftershock as it spills the Pantoran into the opening. The medics grab the pregnant woman and with the calls to evactuate they begin to move her back towards the starport. They are closest to it.
The fire is not fully contained and that spilling fuel is putting everyone in immediate danger.
Nerys, who was only too happy to hand the man off, struggled to her feet. She was not going to be one of the people mad dashing for the ships. There were still too many people who were trapped. And she was a Greystorm, gods darnit. She didn't run. She found a way. Nerys Greystorm always found a way. And so she ran, towards the fuel and towards the crates, adjusting her vocorder to project her voice as high as it could go. "Knights!" It didn't matter what their real titles were, they were Knights now, even if Nerys was //still// careful not to call them out by name. "The sand! Spread it over the fuel and the flames!" Nerys reached into her backpack, pulling her bowcaster from the the front where she always kept it, taking a spread-legged stance to brace herself, "Clear the crates!" And then Nerys fired, a series of rapid bolts exploding the crates and letting loose the silica within. That was the benefit to charged bolts. They had actual weight behind them.
Following Nerys's movement still, the shot report is enough to make him jerk when he sees the cloud of sand erupt. Seeing what she is doing, Qutha's mind zeros in on a plan that raises his other hand with the first still up and again gesturing in tune with his thoughts.
An idea forming and the sand twisting into itself mid-air while more is dusted out over the fuel that is running while more is humped up to form a border and contain the flow with a little luck.
He almost calls out to correct the term - but it's not the time or place.
Ion thinks he may be making some progress, his hands finding better purchase on the plasteel covering of the traffic control light, the pole upon which it's attached still crushing against the pregnant young Bakuran's leg. With a savage grunt and lift it rises an inch further, and then it is literally yanked out of the Pantoran's hands as Lofty's massive, furry strength makes itself known.
As the young woman is ushered into the waiting arms of a med team, Ion turns to thank the Talz when a significant aftershock hits. Just as "Thank" leaves his mouth, there's a massive crack, as the fissure that had downed the sign expands, and moves, with lightning speed. The ground directly beneath Ion tilts and then opens up, revealing an extended basement into which he is suddenly falling.
It's not the landing that catches him, not at first. The jagged edges of alloy rebar poles swipe at him, one jutting further than the rest spearing into a falling thigh and catching, halting Ion's fall just long enough to twist and rip at flesh as his weight pulls him free again. Now inverted, with a jagged and very serious leg wound freely trailing blood, he impacts the ground shoulder first.
For a long moment he's still. But that moment ends.
"Alpha sixteen down," he groans, coming to after a handful of seconds of loss of consciousnes. A hand reaches for his issue stim, the combat pouch at his leg empty. Not empty. Not there. A moment of confusion as he feels for his sidearm. Not there. There's panic in his eyes, as he shifts that golden gaze upwards. He's exposed, injured, and out of position. Where is he.
Bakura.
Blink.
"Kriff," he mutters, the reality of the moment setting in hard against his shock. "Freli," he says, not loud enough for anyone at all to hear. But something hears, or would, if it has ears.
A drip. And another. And then a sound like puddling liquid. He knows that smell, and his eyes widen as he sees fuel descending and pooling in front of him in an ever increasing cascade.
Freli starts down the ramp. At just that moment the ground heaves beneath her once more. This time the diminutive Balosar fails to keep to her feet. As her legs fold beneath her, a piece of crumbling building decide to shift and strikes the petite young woman, literally adding injury, to insult. Freli briefly cries out in pain, but then sets about assessing her situation. The ruble hit the heavy muscle of her thigh. Slim finger poke about briefly, making sure nothing seems broken. She then tentatively rises to her feet. A shift of stance, making certain her leg bore her weight. There! So far so good.
Evacuate? Katya frowns, as she continues stitching the bleeding blood vessel. "I almost have it," she murmurs. "There. Let up the pressure?" She checks the area for leaks or any bleeding around the sight she had repaired, and scans the man with her hand held scanner again. "Okay. I think he's stable. Keep squeezing in the fluids, to get his blood pressure back up." She begins quickly covering the open wound with clean gauze - no time to stitch it closed. "Alright. If you can walk I need to you start moving to the starport where ships are waiting to evacuate you to medical facilities. You two, with this man," she gestures to the man she'd just stabalized. "Nurses, medics, start helping the immobile onto the gurneys and repulsorchairs. Let's try to stay in small groups so no one gets left behind. You," she points to the man she had assigned to triage duty. "Lead the way." She works at getting the patients into groups - make sure experienced medical staff are with the most seriously wounded patients, as they begin to move.
Oh no, fuel. Aejin seems to take notice of that and promptly begins to try to vacate that area. Because fuel and fire is bad. Aejin takes himself and his victim as far away toward safety, as he can manage. Ideally toward others capable of rendering aid. The problem is that he pulls something, which slows his progress.
"EVERYONE ABOARD THE PHARPLE! GET ON THE BIG SHIP!" B'haav uses some of his Huttese training to push his voice to stentorian levels as the call to evacuate starts, but he immediately cuts off as he watches a building begin to crumble far too close to the Pharple for comfort. But in the moment before the rubble collides, he sees one more thing. Not a thing. A person. A Balosar. A Balosar wearing a high-vis press vest. B'haav is screaming again, but this time in the small comm that he wears in his ear while flying his freighter.
"J1N, out the ramp, check on that reporter, make sure she's alright! 4N7, get to the nearest comm station, activate the broadcast, put your speaker by it and go in passthrough mode!" He gives the droid a very short window to get in position and begins broadcasting through the speakers as he sees Freli extricating herself from the rubble, luckily, with minimal trouble. At least that's one thing he doesn't have to worry about.
<<"EVERYONE, IN AN ORDERLY FASHION, PROCEED TO THE NEAREST EVAC SHIP! PLENTY OF ROOM ON THE PHARPLE! REMAIN CALM AND EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE! End. Okay, 4N7, it's getting rough out here, go to the front and have the R2 start prepping for takeoff. We need to be out of here about a minute ago... Wait. 4N7, STOP BROADCASTING! Krif-">> Well... That didn't go as well as it could have. The psychologist in the cream-colored silk suit sprints for his ship. Everyone else is.
As the shouting and panic starts, Zan realizes what she's sensing. Fuel. Kriff! She hears the shout for Knights, and turns to look, but seeing that Vhe and Qutha have it under control, she turns instead to lift the poor woman in the rubble up, using telekinesis to gently lift her out, hopefully without injuring her further. She then starts towards the nearest ship, carefully cradling her rescued young lady in midair as she moves. Because of course, unconscious beings float through the air all the time. She steps around the fuel, now definitely aware of what the issue is: fuel and fire is a BAD combination. She quickly floats said lady over to the nearest medical assistance, glancing around now to see where she can be most of use.
Lofty vaguely hears a Balosar shouting about a pharple. The large Talz is concerned with Ion in the basement, though. He muscles his way through but cannot completely fit in the small opening. Ion has to crawl and climb up nearer the entrance. Then, Lofty reaches in a long white-furred arm to grab Ion's hand. He uses all of his Talz strength to drag the blue Pantoran out of the rubble. "Something smell like fuel," Lofty says to Ion. Nothing gets past his sensitive snoot. Meanwhile Milquetweed the Gabdorin is trying to turn around the hover truck. Maybe he can fit more refugees in the back of that thing and drive them to an evacuation point.
[Lofty]
Lofty vaguely hears a Balosar shouting about a pharple. The large Talz is concerned with Ion in the basement, though. He muscles his way through but cannot completely fit in the small opening. Ion has to crawl and climb up nearer the entrance. Then, Lofty reaches in a long white-furred arm to grab Ion's hand. He uses all of his Talz strength to drag the blue Pantoran out of the rubble. "Something smell like fuel," Lofty says to Ion. Nothing gets past his sensitive snoot. Meanwhile Milquetweed the Gabdorin is trying to turn around the hover truck. Maybe he can fit more refugees in the back of that thing and drive them to an evacuation point.
The chaos erupts again as Nerys' quick thinking allows for the worst of the fuel to continue on its path. Vhe and Qutha follow the explorer's instructions. The Ysanna turns and sweeps her hands forward to shower the bubbling fuel line with the sand that was unceremoniously opened. Qutha helps to spread it and sop up a good portion of it, the bubbling fuel having something to escape into. Vhe glances to Qutha, giving him a nod before she starts to help motion people onto the Cloudburst. Most are heading for the Pharple however.
Ion's fall is a horrible one and fuel is leaking further underground and some has managed to find its way to his new resting spot. Just as he is coming through the large hand of the Talz named Lofty reaches in to extract him from his current resting place, still injured and splattered in fuel.
Freli is up on her feet and its by sheer luck the thing did not kill her. Geri is on the ship crying out for her. People are rushing onto the ship and the little girl is at the ramp and then running towards her as she makes it free, dodging through the larger figures towards the Balosar.
Katya has her people in order. Inheriting the position by sheer will the medical staff begins towards the Pharple so that they can all work together on the patients while the local enforcement is ushering people along as well, towards the starport and then towards the ships. The flaming building is being put out but it starts to tip.
The cries go out just as Aejin passes by others in pursuit of one of the ships. He's passed by but beginning to close the distance to the Cloudburst - the closest ship to him. "HERE!" Calls Vhe as she motions him.
B'haav is not noticed, a few give him a look but herd mentality is in gear for some of the peopl enot being directed though his motion towards his own ship spurs people on - certainly not in an orderly fashion but there is Freli and now Geri as the girl is reaching up to tug on them both to come.
Zandra's last minute find of the woman is definitely a blessing of the Force. Guiding the woman across the rubble to help. Surprise shows on a few of the faces as she lands on an unused stretcher that was about to be abandoned. The questions are there but there is no time.
The burning building Aejin had been in begins to creak and sway, the fire dropping close to some of the free fuel that had been gathering near Lofty and Ion's position.
Nerys had done all that she could do. She could not see where the fuel was coming from, and even if she could get to it, there was far too much of it already on the field. "let's go!" She gestures to the man she didn't know by name (Qutha) and then she took off, trying to help herd people as best she could. There was a couple lagging behind, and she urged them ahead, "I've got her, get to the 2400!" The Tai was hard to miss. Especially with the lights flaring on it. Belate did know how to put on a spectacle. Nerys made for the female of the couple, mostly carrying her as they made their escape. "If you haven't got a ride, this is it!" Happily, the Tai had plenty room for bodies. pack 'em in, sardine style.
Qutha Buvu Pah
Time to move, and move quickly. Fuel has been delayed, the Zelosian farmer is picking up his legs with the others moving for evacuation. Even those who don't appreciate it.
"NO! NO! Don't! No. I can handle myself" the old woman battering at his head and shoulder is advanced in age and her jog is akin to his casual walking gait. He's trying to speed her along, to get her clear and it raises all of those questions of why some people fight help, even when they need it.
"Ma'am... I ne-" CRACK "NO! I can handle myself!" her handbag rebounding from Qutha's cheek. "Ma'am... you're goi-" WHAP "NO." "Ma'am... -PLEASE-" even as an open handed slap turns his head, Qutha begins to move forward, the older woman lifted so that not even tip toes can touch ground, or the ship ramp, as they move. Again, and again, her hand comes down on his face and at one point fingers hook into his hair to tug and shake. "Ma'am." "NO! I CAN HANDLE MYSELF." She can't. But points for being a stubborn old bird that is carefully placed within the ship, still slapping and smacking the poor man, even as he turns to the edge of the door to hold out his hand to help others up the ramp as they come. SMACK. SMACK. SMACK.
"There is no emotion, there is peace...." she's afraid, rightfully so... Best to ignore it for now.
Settled into the bed of the hovertruck as it begins its short journey to the spaceport, Ion's leg is stretched out before him, the rebar hole that speared his thigh and was then yanked brutally free seeping blood onto the truckbed. The Pantoran does the best he can in applying pressure. He looks a little glassy eyed, though whether from the shock of the injury or blood loss is hard to determine. Ion does look up to the Talz, who very clearly saved his life, given the flames that are now beginning to rise behind them. "Thank you," he says, voice a hint strained, alongside an appreciative if slightly pained smile. Looking back down to his injury, obviously serious, he simply adds, "Just a flesh wound."
Freli has taken personal stock, and as her grey eyes focus she realizes the situation unravels quickly around her. People start pouring onto the ship. She reaches for Geri, while lifting her voice to try and control the shuffle and stampede. "Please every one remain calm, we'll have you all to safety shortly." The female Balosar looks towards the oncoming chaos. She spots B'haav, and as Geri pulls at her, her grey eyes move over the flood of people. Ion. Where's Ion.
"Bee, no Wait. Ion!" She tries to stay at the ramp, calling out into the oncoming traffic. "Ion!!" As Geri tries to pull her back up the ramp, it takes Bee physically interceding to keep her from dashing back out into the evacuation. In the wrong direction.
As Katya gets people out of the tent and they can begin to see the encroaching flames and the smell of the spilled fuel - panic begins to set in. "Please, everyone stay calm!" she calls towards the people now under her command. "Stay together, and-" But the sound of a structure giving way and and collapsing drowns out her words - and honestly, she's having a little trouble staying calm herself. She mutters under her breath in Togruta, and after checking the tent one last time to make sure no one was left behind, begins retreating towards the ship.
Her eyes continue scanning the retreating crowds of people, trying to make sure none of her patients are accidentally left behind - or anyone else, for that matter. She watches repulsorlift craft go by with- Ion? He looked pale. Oh dear...
Hobbling along on his tweaked muscle, Aejin shifts his cargo over to his shoulder. He gives a slow stroller a confident pat on the back, <"Let's move,"> he instructs helpfully. If politeness doesn't work, then he'll just drag them along with his other cargo back to the Cloudburst
B'haav's fancy shoes are clicking up the ramp at a blazing pace as he sprints up and into the Hunting Pharple. He gets there just in time to meet his J9 drone, which earns the droid a terse, "Too slow. Faster next time. Lives are on the line." He is about to move on when he catches Freli nearly barreling past him.
'Ion!!'
Someone is still out there. He looks behind him, where the fuel is still seeping, and nearly nobody is still moving. Everyone who can move is moving. Everyone who isn't... Won't be.
"Freli... They're going to be fine. Or they won't. You running out there is only going to guarantee that you won't be. Nobody was working solo, everyone I saw was working in teams. Whoever it is... They'll be fine. If we don't find them at the starport or on comms, I'll come back here with you and keep looking. But we need to get these people out. I need you to help me keep those we have safe." His gravelly voice is surprisingly calm, considering the circumstances. "I want you to be safe." And then he takes his arms off of her. The choice is hers, but he has to believe that she will listen to reason. He looks away though.
Those steely eyes look through the cargo bay to all of the people milling about loose. Every now and then, he spies the top of a familiar hat, but everything is loose and chaotic. He moves to the side of the ramp and palms his comm channel, speaking into the microphone as he looks over the cargo bay.
<"Attention to all passengers of the Pharple. This is your captain speaking and we'll be taking off shortly. For your safety, I need everyone to move into cargo storage slots and take a seated position. Those who can't, please take spots on the bucket seats or the crew cots. Magic hats, make sure everyone about you is being safe. We'll be taking off very shortly, please be orderly so we can all get through this together.">
As the crowd begins to part, moving towards the empty cargo pods, space opens in the cargo bay, prompting more fleeing people to move up the ramp and follow the crowd to safe seated positions. B'haav looks to the J9 unit. "Nobody gets off. Help people get on. Point them to the open spots for seating. I'm sorry I snapped." With that, he's off again, jogging quickly through the cargo bay, patting more than a few little heads as he does. He smiles when he spots the grey hat above the same little face he left it with. But he never stops moving towards the cockpit.
There's what looks like a teenager or young adult shepherding a younger child that Zan spots. Her breath exits in a hiss of concern. She promptly reaches out again, using the force to give the teenager a boost with that small child. It's probably really startling when the child suddenly gets really light. The teenager looks alarmed as he makes sure the child is still there, giving Zan enough time to catch up with him. "C'mon," Zan says, "Let's go. Quickly now - things are probably going to go boom, but that ship right there has room for us." She guides them along with her to the Cloudburst. "Vhe, Vhe, do you need a pilot?" she is calling out as they make it to the ramp and start boarding.
Lofty starts running toward the hover truck once the danger becomes more evident. "Run!" He grabs Ion again and nearly hurls the little blue man into the bed of the transport truck. A crate of snowgrapes and thorn pears fall off the back of the bed and go tumbling into the street, some of them rolling, some of them crushed underfoot. The large Talz gets up into the hover truck's flatbed and lifts a few civilian Bakurans up into it, women and children first, then says to Ion Irana, "We find doctor at starport maybe." Milquetweed, the Gabdorin driver of the truck, hits the accelerator and they go VROOOOM toward the starport.
"Yes, take the seat, I am closing buttoning us up!" Vhe says to Zan and waits until the last is on and hits the keypad for the ramp as it closes. "Go!"
The site was littered with people both whole and injured and is quickly losing any sense of life. The rubble and the frothing fuel along with the fire to be the last thing - one hopes. THey had not searched the rubble entirely but their efforts had not been without triumph. As the volunteers aid and press the slower ones onto the ships they fill up quickly while somewhere further in the city the call for a pipeline to be turned off was alreayd being worked on. The frothing stops, the bubbling up slows but as the ships start to lift off the ground and various vehicles speed away from the area to a safet distance to gather at the starport there is the creaking groan of the tower once more.
The transports begin to clear the area when the inevitable fall and crumbling of the tower takes place. It spews fire and dust rises as smoke billows up. It takes but a few seconds more before the fire hits the fuel.
A breath.
The fuel lights in a beautiful bloom. But as it spreads it finds other fuel that is not as pleasant. There comes a shuddering moment before the loud BOOM that shakes the ground and crumbles more structures. The sudden cloud and pressure rocks the ships and makes it difficult for the pilots as well as those inside. Gravity is in effect and being thrown around inside of a moving ship is never pleasant.
Those on the ground will feel the Force of it behind them, some losing control as the brilliance of the explosrion lights up the area in the dimming light of the early evening.
Nerys left the loading to Belate, the BB-droid rolling around, showing people where to go, the Jim, the J9 directing everyone with verbal cues. Those who were the most badly injured were directed to the medical bay along with whomever among the rescued had medical experience. Everyone was told to strap down or just to hold on. Thankfully, the Tai had been nicely hollowed out and there was plenty of room to fit as may people as they could get as the timer ticked down. As for Nerys, she made a mad dash for the starboard cockpit, slamming herself into the seat as she ran through the power up sequence, Belate having already had the ship waiting and ready to go. All that was left was the hatch, and as soon as the alert came that it was closed, Nerys rocketed away from the launch pad, the sublights nearly screaming as she pushed them to maximum, trying to get clear of the impending explosion, making for the atmsophere if she had to. There was no telling how much was going to go up and how strong the concussive wave might be. She preferred to play it safe. Only was she was sure that she was clear, did she call up air traffic control to find a place to ferry the rescued civilians.
Finding himself slamming into a seat as the ship takes off, Qutha's expression is pained, looking to the hatchway. How many didn't make it? How many more could have been saved... if. Coulda', woulda'... A ragged breath out, the Zelosian lets his head fall back in his seat, gingerly lifting his hand to touch at the forming bruises.
A huff.
Qutha's eyes drift back open to find a soft, wrinkled, face turned to him - scowling and he instinctively flinches away. "Coulda did it myself." "As you wish." ducking again, there is a small stretch were seconds become hours. But he isn't struck. She's not even there when he opens his eyes again, and Qutha just looks to the hatchways again, mournful expression gripping him.
The hovertruck is already jostling its occupants given the obstacle avoidance necessary to avoid running into jutting, broken duracrete. This results in no end to Ion's little winces and gasps. Facing rearward, he suddenly sees a blossoming fireball, truly epic in dimension, along with smaller follow-on explosions, and then...
/KABOOOM/
The truck is shoved, along with its occupants, in a violent spasm of near loss of control. Fortunately Milquetweed is an excellent driver, and is able to keep the vehicle from crashing or overturning. Ion, however, isn't quite as capable of keeping himself from being bounced harshly against Lofty, against the civilians near his leg, and worst of all, against the side of the truckbed itself. His breath escapes him as his injured leg smacks against metal, a look of pain plastered across his azure features. The glassy luster to his eyes intensifies, as he looks near to passing out.
Freli had to believe the logic to Bee's words. Pale, not that was saying much, and wide eyes, Freli let Geri pull her to one of the seats in the cargo hold. She tries to offer reassuring smiles to those around her. Ion was going to be fine. Ion got out safely on another ship. These were the mantras that repeated themselves in her mind. Then, the fuel ignited. Freli jumped to her feet, running to a view port. Despite Bee's expert flying, the shockwave sent Freli to her knees. Unable to find any sense of balance at all, the diminutive woman fell hard against an inside bulk head and sat down hard on her backside. Ion. She pushed herself up in some semblance of a seated position on the floor, face buried in the crook of her arm until they landed.
As the blast rings out, and the shock wave threatens to throw everyone off their feet, Katya tries to shield her patient as best she can - positioning herself between what she thinks is the source of the blast and tightening her trip on the gurney. "Keep moving - there. There!" She tries to follow in the wake of hovertruck Ion had been on - worried about the man's condition. He was, after all, her new neighbor. It wouldn't be a very jolly housewarming party if she couldn't set him to rights again... "No - THAT way!" she insists to the man helping her with the gurney, running as fast as she can - and then up the ramp and onto the ship. "Let's get this gurney locked down," she commands urgently - as she begins magna-sealing it to the deck plating.
Did all her patients get out? Had she left any behind? She wasn't entirely certain - but she hoped not.
When the takeoff becomes rocky, Aejin activates the maglocks built into his boots. Once his pair of human cargo is safely in place, Aejin moves off to settle himself down in a seat. Mission accomplished.
B'haav Adasta, palps bare to the climate-controlled air of the Hunting Pharple, sprints through the corridor to the cockpit as soon as he is out of sight of the occupants of the cargo bay. No need to project calm when the world is on the verge of exploding and nobody's watching you. He throws himself past the R2 unit and into the captain's chair, rapidly flipping switches and powering up the repulsors as the ship comes online. He activates the flight com to check in with his J9 unit. <"J1N, I can give you five seconds to motivate some folks onto the ramp, but it's going to be closing with them coming up it. If they start sliding towards you, I need you to catch them and hold them steady. Anyone still coming?"> He waits, finally hearing one long chirp from the drone: No.
B'haav flips the switch for the cargo ramp, hydraulics lifting the large durasteel plate into place to seal the Pharple against the elements. And - hopefully - explosions. Before the ramp was fully closed, the repulsors were pushing the Rigger off of the ground, B'haav practicing a very light touch as he lifts the Rigger straight up between buildings that he is very close to brushing with the bulk of the light freighter. As soon as he is clear on one side, he pulls the ship deftly in that direction, accelerating up, forward and away from the street over rooftops. A moment later, the explosion sends a shockwave through the air that tosses the back end of the rigger higher into the air and giving anyone not properly lashed in and sat down a very unpleasant ride in the cargo bay. J9 manages to grab one flying child with a bowler hat on, who had been running to a Balosar who had been thrown from her view at the window. The child lands safely, heading for the woman with the PRESS vest, not fully aware how rough that landing could have been.
A few minutes in the air... That's all it feels like. Enough time for the adrenaline to start to ebb away. Of course, for those who don't know if someone they don't see was left behind, it probably felt more like an eternity.
Zan races up the ramp, and over to the pilot's seat, slamming herself in, and belting automatically. She flashes fingers across the boards, as she gets it ready, waits for Vhe's go, and then launches the shuttle. There's that flash of pressure as fire whooshes and buildings topple but Zan manages to keep the shuttle in the air, and uncrisped, bringing it over to the star port or wherever the safe spot is to land with a calm unflappable skill and confidence of an ace pilot.
Lofty hangs on to the truck bed's railing as his Gabdorin deckhand really puts the pedal to the durasteel. ZOOOOM! A few cans of Boaboo Fungus Fizz FizzyGlug go rolling off the truck bed that is full of refugees and Ion and they explode on impact with the ground. FWOOSH. Of course that is nothing compared to the explosion that comes next! THUUUUUUUUUM is the sound of the sudden explosion, rocking the hovertruck, causing a crate of purple meiloorun melons to go tumbling onto the road with a SPLAT. Purple everywhere. Eventually they get to the starport where Lofty's ship is waiting.
All the ships get out of the blast zone as the fuel that was exposed burns and the yet unknown catalyst for the explosion finishes its dramatic overture. The ships come in for a landing, evened out by their pilots as the civilians, crews and volunteers are tossed about and finally begin to regain their places. THe starport is packed with ships but they find room for the incoming and there amidst it all is a secure medical facility and ample amounts of people to help. The area was reinforced for ships and has held together rather well despite the earthquake and its resulting after shocks.
Vhe opens up the back of the Cloudburst after giving Zan a greatful look. "I think I might need piloting lessons," she remarks. Then she is turning, helping those who need it and nodding to Aejin. "Thank you."
As people disembark some split up family members are brought together and cry. Geri slides over to Freli and stays near her even after they land. Masterful work and piloting has done what it can and the explosion was mostly contained meaning the area can be returned to in a few hours to keep looking for those lost.
FOr now though those who aided the Bakuran's are thanked by those who have enough sense to do so and medical personnel are boarding the ships to help the injured and scattered disembark.
