Moving right along.
Quatre nodded at the two guards stationed at the CP entrance, and the woman to his side returned their crisp salutes. "Dorothy, why are they fully armed in combat gear?" Quatre asked.
"I don't know, but I guess there is something going on. Judging from the smell of H-Fuel everywhere there must have been an explosion or a fire of some kind."
Quatre frowned as he held the door open for Dorothy. "An explosion? What makes you suspect that?" he asked. "Duh!" Dorothy quipped. She soon corrected herself. "Nothing, just intuition, and the pillar of black smoke, feeding the dark cloud that blocks out the sun over the entire Klouderhoven Basin!" Quatre grew confused as Dorothy walked briskly past. He turned back toward the CP parking lot, and gazed into the sky. Indeed, back in the direction of the airfield a single shaft of billowing black that reached into the heavens already clouded by its tainting flow.
Once inside he once again caught up with Dorothy. Apparently her commander instincts alone led her to the battle staff's room, for the halls were cluttered with enlisted and officers alike rushing to give updates or run tests on little disks or handing reports to their superiors, hustling and bustling to keep things in control during an obvious incident.
This time Dorothy held the door for him as they entered the sound-proof battle staff room. It was cold yet humid the 30 by 30 room, covered with sound insulating carpet, including the ceiling and walls themselves. At the very rear, the commanding generals of the base sat on their raised dais, overlooking the other staffers on the floor below and deliberating over the current frenzied state.
"What is the possible health issue with this incident Lieutenant Ensley?" The man who's tag identified him as major general Shabaz Sejjad asked one young officer. On the floor, the officer looked up from his panel. "Well sir, the smell of the H-Fuel is detectable only to a mile or two of the explosion, but the cloud above is more than enough to tell what's going on. The only possible risk of overexposure is the direct vicinity of the site. All the NEST people are adequately outfitted."
The general to the left of commander Sejjad shifted in his seat, chewing on his cigar. This stunned Quatre. Why was an officer smoking in the war room? Quatre could tell the man had been working at the base for a long time. The seats to the left of the general bore smoke stains on the ceiling very similar to the one the general he was looking at had. They started at the end with a low ranking command position and continued on, the stains growing more severe with the higher position before finally skipping a seat. The seat before reaching the space he now occupied with the worst stains of the lot.
"General Jernigan? What are your thoughts on the matter?" The smoking officer placed his cigar on the wooden ash tray. "Well, maybe ya'll need ta' call them boys at the air-port. Get the word out to one of the colonies and get support." With his piece said, the general picked up the cigar once again and returned it to is old spot in his mouth.
Commander Sejjad shook his head. "The communications squadron already has informed me of the radiation being given from the chemical reaction of the smoke is interfering on ALL long range communications on Luna. All communications between Luna and the outside world has been effectively cut. All the communications on the military bands with satellites, the colonies, earth, gone."
A hushed murmur filled the air of the war room at this, a mix of frustration and disbelief. Another young officer stood to speak; "How are we able to communicate within the city?" he asked. He was answered by a young naval officer. Presumably the naval liaison. "Apparently the hard lines and the microwaves are not affected by the fire. We don't know this because we had no idea nor did we anticipate a fire of this size, so we don't know much of the possibilities. However earlier today I took the liberty of modifying on of the rockets we use to test the weekly atmospheric conditions and overloaded it with sensory equipment. The telemetry said that it went up alright, but the weight was unbalanced and when we received the location pinger after the chute deployment charge, the rocket was way off in the basin, just off the beaten path to the old shuttle launch site LM6." The young officer began to look uncomfortable at that moment. "If we spared some men and a light recon vehicle, we could try to recover it ant retrieve the information that could help us. " He sensed that his re quest would be denied. The southern XO set down his cigar once more. "Sorry kid, we cant allocate men we don't have."
Dorothy shifted her gaze to Quatre. "This is our chance" she whispered. Quatre nodded. She turned and addressed the general. "General, lieutenant Dorothy Catalonia, I was to report to you earlier this morning. I would apologize but I see that it would't be worth much at this point. "
Before she could say anymore, the major general cut in: "Miss Catalonia, I'm afraid you will have to get in proper ALLIANCE uniform before any-" the general was now the one cut off when his XO waved his cigar about: "Come now general, I know this girl, served under her family, seen her file. A fine soldier; I'm sure we can swing her. Either way this is an emergency situation and these things are of very low priority now."
"Thank you sir" Dorothy replied as she approached the dais and handed a folder to the commander. "Our orders, sir. 'Where the hell did she pull those from' Quatre thought. "Given the situation," she continued, " Mr. Winner and I would like offer our help, as the legal representatives of the earth sphere. More specifically to go and get that rocket back."
It didn't take long for the general come to the decision. "Fine. Go ahead. Ill get on the horn to the motor pool and you can pick up an jeep and atmosphere gear. This is all very good, right general Sejjad?" The general flashed a dirty look to his left and the commander remained silent, almost humbled.
"Thank you sir" said Dorothy, hading a smirk. She picked her hat from the table and winked at Quatre as she stood and pushed in her chair.
"Lets Go!"