There'll be trouble when the kidz come out

[lucetimods]

Who: All remaining draftees
What: Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!
When: The 29th to 31st
Where: Vaskoth
Summary: Please read here for event information
Rating: B for BRRAAAIIIINSSSS

On the 29th, the Malnosso announce over the radios that the power cap will be lifted to a full 100%. Carol broadcasts a message.

On the 30th, the Malnosso declare Vaskoth completely lost. Those with radio access will discover that the enclosure is to be bombed.

On the 31st, survivors will have one last chance to evacuate or try to find the cure. 3PM is do or die.

Comments

[geniustheveil]

This isn't like anything back home.

[She has a fleeting thought of youma as she says this; but those were constructs, creations, and magically manipulated humans. It wasn't precisely an infection.]

[thefinaljedi]

There's...something like this at home. It's not the same though.

[Luke shudders, remembering boogieman stories from his childhood]

We call them Rakghouls.

[geniustheveil]

Anything like this would only be a story. [Some low-grade horror flick or, occasionally, a really well-done one.]

[thefinaljedi]

Clint Barton told me the same. Apparently entertainment is a lot different on Earth than in the Galaxy. Rakghouls are...well...they're...bad news.

[geniustheveil]

Is there a power in your world that can purify them? That can defeat them?

[thefinaljedi]

I...[Luke's voice catches and he turns away] have no idea. Rakghoul outbreaks are stories used to scare Rim World settlers. It's something people use to scare kids. I have no idea. I just...I don't know.

[To Luke Rakghouls are childhood boogiemen, not even as clearly understood as Sand People. He'd probably be a lot more jittery if it hadn't been for friends around.]

[geniustheveil]

[It seems like more than scaring kids, if it also produces that reaction in Luke, a grown man and a warrior.]

Where do they come from?

[thefinaljedi]

A virus, but nobody's sure where. All we really know is that if it turns up, it's generally the end of that colony.

[He leaves unstated the comparison between this one and the Rakghoul plague]

[geniustheveil]

[The comparison is apt, and she draws it immediately in her own thoughts.]

We could use anything you remember about how it can be stopped.

[thefinaljedi]

That's just it, Ami-chan.

[Luke's voice is strained and he looks down sadly, cybernetic fist clenched]

There hasn't been a widespread Rakghoul outbreak that wasn't dealt with by anything short of turning the planet to glass from orbit in centuries. The few times it's cropped up on Core worlds, it was contained by the military, and whole sectors were killed.

[geniustheveil]

[That-]

We can't do that!

[They don't even have the means necessary. And even if they did... she couldn't possibly let something like that go ahead, with so many people...]

[thefinaljedi]

I wouldn't let that happen, you know that.

[Luke's voice is tired, strained]

That was Imperial Military policy, and Republic policy before that. But the Rakghoul virus is different than this. It's airborne, and it spreads like wildfire. This, at least, is easier to work with.

[What he doesn't say is that it's incurable, because...he just can't]

[geniustheveil]

[Maybe a bit of Usagi finally rubbed off on her, because Ami just can't accept that it would be completely uncurable.

And the deaths are wrong.]

Are you saying you believe that this will be the same?

[thefinaljedi]

[Luke gives her a long, hard look and shakes his head]

I don't think so. It's something we can work with. You know I don't believe that killing people is right, if there is any other solution.

The Rakghoul Virus is...different. Even if it were curable, it physically transforms the body irreversibly.

[geniustheveil]

We'll find another solution. [And while she's been scared, and a part of her is thinking of herself, she'd say the same even if it hadn't touched her at all. It's not right for these people to be killed when they're the victims.]

[thefinaljedi]

We will. I'm not giving up.

[Luke gently squeezes her hand, feeling the burning heat of it beneath his palm]

We've got to save as many lives as we can.

[geniustheveil]

Usagi-chan would say no one has to be lost.

For her sake, I want to make that as true as possible.

[thefinaljedi]

In this case, we've already lost friends, but no more will be if I have anything to say about it.

[geniustheveil]

I also don't want their loss to be meaningless. [There's at least something salvaged, if the effort to save others can be driven forward.]

[thefinaljedi]

Me either. We'll come up with an answer. We have to.

[geniustheveil]

We should also be prepared, for if we don't.

[She may hate it, she may feel fearful when she thinks of those possibilities, but she also has to face it.]

[thefinaljedi]

It's not an eventuality I'm unprepared for. Don't worry, I'll stay with you no matter what happens.

[Luke's voice is grim, but his eyes are determined]

[geniustheveil]

[Something shadows Ami's briefly. Even if it's the worst, Luke?]

I understand if you can't, when the time comes.

[thefinaljedi]

I'm here until the cure happens, or the Malnosso end it. I won't leave you here alone.

[Period. Luke says this with an air of finality.]

[geniustheveil]

Don't stay if it's danger for yourself. There's no sense in that.