Whumptober 2020 Day 27: Okay Who Had Natural Disaster On Their 2020 Bingo Card?—Earthquake/Extreme Weather/Power Outage
Word Count: 1006
Author: Katie/Ally (aquietwritingcorner/realitybreakgirl)
Rating: T
Characters: Briggs. It's a collective story, really.
Summary: One time Briggs nearly froze over, and no one who survived it would ever forget.
Notes: Yes, I know, the knowledge of the tunnel, Olivier being at Briggs, Miles being at Briggs, and Buccaneer being alive can't be things that all happen at once, especially not with the timeline within this story. I took some creative liberty. Sue me.

Frozen Over

They would later learn that it was an earthquake that caused the whole problem. But when it happened, they had no idea why, and it was, of course, under less then ideal circumstances. Briggs, while not the coldest place on the face of the planet, was still in a very cold climate. Winters were harsh, and winter storms were harsher. The fort itself had plenty of safeguards against the harsh winters, but unfortunately many of those relied on electricity to work. There were still other forms of energy at the fort—General Armstrong wanted to make sure that the fort could be self-sufficient if needed, at least for a while—but electricity was the cleanest and easiest way to provide for their needs.

It also, apparently, was vulnerable to earthquakes.

A loss of power in the winter wasn't that unusual. Power lines strung in the air would freeze and snap, and powerlines laid on the ground would be pushed out of place by rockslides or avalanches. A team would be sent out to go make what repairs they could until the official crews from the power station at the Atlas Dam could come through. But this time? This time was different.

A fierce winter storm had blown up, one that was so strong that outside patrols were deemed too dangerous. The cold, even with the layers of protection the fort had, seeped through and permeated the giant wall. It was truly a storm for the history books, one that even those who had family from Drachma would later say they had never seen the like of before. Extra layers were ordered for all soldiers, and extra blankets were given out. Soldiers like Buccaneer and those with automail or prosthetics had to take extra precautions.

And then the power went out.

Normally they would, make do, send out a team to repair or scout it and all in all it would only be a few hours. But this storm had been howling for days, and it showed no signs of slowing down. They would have to dig their way out of the fort by the time this was over-assuming they survived. With the cold already permeating the outer edge of the fort, General Armstrong ordered everyone to move deeper in, to the more interior areas. They moved further in and further down, closer to the lower levels that were usually warm. Unfortunately, one of the reasons that it was usually warm was because of all of the machinery that was running. Without the electricity, most of it couldn't run, and the heat that was normally produced was severely cut.

Emergency procedures were put into place. Personal were banned from going outside of certain areas. Only the most essential of the essential were allowed out of them. Power substitutes were already put into play in the hopes of producing more heat. The men that did exit the designated areas reported ice on the inner walls, snow seeping in around outer doors, and a bone-chilling cold like they had never felt before. Buccaneer and anyone else with automail or a prosthetic were banned from leaving the designated areas all together.

And the cold kept encroaching.

The fuel to keep the fort even partially running began to run out. There was no way to leave the fort. The storm was still howling outside. General Armstrong and her staff began to discuss other means to survive. There was still the tunnel under the fort, the one dug by the homunculus, Sloth. It was underground, which would be warmer. It was big enough that it could house all of the men. And, if need be, they could follow it around to another exit as an escape route.

They started putting men down there the next day.

Eventually, they had abandoned the fort all together, save one—General Armstrong. She refused to abandon the fort, on the chance that either Drachma came for it, or someone came to investigate. She sent Buccaneer and Miles down with the men, and then it was just her and her slowly freezing fort. Two more days passed before the storm finally slowed and stopped. It took one more day before the Briggs men were able to dig enough of an escape tunnel to see that the storm had stopped. Any that went outside were in shock to see that their fort was almost completely buried in snow drifts.

Two teams were immediately dispatched. One was dispatched to the outside, to start digging out the fort from that side. The other side made their way back into the fort itself, to try to set things to rights in there—and to find their general. General Armstrong was found inside, her instincts once again correct. There were a half-dozen dead Drachman soldiers around her, although she, herself, was alive, but half frozen and injured. Without the power restored, she was taken to Doc's temporary set up in the tunnel to be treated for hypothermia and to have her sword gently thawed from her hand.

It took them two weeks to dig the fort out of all of the snow. It was another week before power was restored. It was at least one more week before the fort was completely thawed out and they were able to move back in. The area had been hit hard by the storm, although of all of the installations, Briggs had managed to survive the best. The General had been on bedrest for a week and barred by Doc from going outside until she was convinced that the other woman was completely healed up. A Briggs team went with a team from Northern Command to find the power break and found signs of an earthquake having broken the power lines.

Eventually, things got back to normal. The power was restored, the heat was turned back on, and General Armstrong was up and about. But no one at Briggs ever forgot about that winter, and how close they had come to freezing to death.