Last Dispatch: Part 5

This story was made using the solo RPG Last Dispatch, by Symbolic City.

Yoli crouched down behind the bulkhead, listening to the gunfire echo down the thin hallways. The fighting was getting closer.

Taking a deep breath, Yoli turned their attention back to their hand-comp. The dispatch was simple enough — there wasn’t much to say — but as with every report, it was the details and context that mattered the most.

It had been a hellish month, filled with shouting, threats, and ultimately violence. The peace-talks had failed, with a coalition of Xenoethicists resisting all efforts to reach an accord. A series of trades and excuses had left everyone feeling betrayed, and at last a joint force of scientists and Homestation Defense had taken over the transit system from the station to the planet.

The Gleaners protested, of course, but no one cared about them much anymore. No, everyone paid attention to the Lifeboat Corp, who saw Homestation Defense’s seizure of planetary transit as a significant escalation. They retaliated in kind.

Even now, Chief Henne’s declaration was still running on the network, repeating every quarter hour. It was a performance filled with both regret and determination; a caution to the entire station and a promise to do the hard thing. Yoli had seen such performances before, and they always led to the same place.

Yoli put the finishing touches on their dispatch moments before an alert popped up on their comp; Chief Henne had uploaded a new statement.

Here it came. Yoli’s hand moved slowly, as if through sand, to play the video and hear the dreadful news.

“My fellow citizens of Tethys Megastation,” her voice was clear and steady, but her eyes blank, as if she was reading a book from a long way away. “It is a dark day for our beloved home. Our community is trying to tear itself apart in the most brutal of manners. Now, I have said many times that I am not a politician, a soldier, a businessperson, or a priest. I don’t pretend to know what has caused this violence to infect our home, but I will end it.”

Yoli’s fingertips began to tingle as they listened: “You all know that Homestation Defense has taken control of planetary transit, and therefore has incontestable control over this station’s food supply. In return, we of the Lifeboat Corp have cautioned against hasty or excessive action.”

Chief Henne paused to take a drink of water and clear her throat. Suddenly, she looked very tired.

“In my previous statement, I reminded you all that the Lifeboat Corp holds the lives of all in this station in our hands. I had hoped to inspire by example, to remind you all that we care only about the survival of our station’s people, so you could live without fear of political gamesmanship threatening your very lives. What I said before to inspire, I am afraid I must now say to threaten. As of the first transmission of this statement on the interstation network, the Lifeboat Corp is claiming full authoritative control over Tethys Megastation. We control the air you breathe, the water you drink, and the air pressure that keeps you alive.”

Yoli’s mouth was dry as Chief Henne took a deep breath. “My heart breaks that I must do this, but there is no escaping the facts. Petty power-mongering threatens the stability of our home. While I had hoped cooler heads would prevail, it seems now that a strong hand is our only option.”

She leaned forward, bringing the tips of her fingers down on her desk. “This fighting will end. It will end before one rotation. It will end without further deaths or injuries. It will end…” she swallowed again, “…or I will order the Lifeboat Corp to cut off life support from the sectors where fighting is ongoing.”

She folded her hands again. “This is not a threat I make easily, nor lightly. While we of the Lifeboat Corp have prided ourselves on our neutrality in station affairs, the situation has gotten so out of hand that there is nothing more to be done. I am also demanding that the members of Homestation Defense withdraw from the Tethys transit station and surrender their weapons to the nearest Lifeboat Corp engineer.”

“If you are skeptical of my threat, you need only to observe the station alert system. Five minutes before this statement was first uploaded, the Lifeboat Corp evacuated and killed the life-support in the warehouse sectors on decks seven and eight. These sectors will remain open for one hour before we will return life-support to the warehouses. I beg you, please take this demonstration as evidence of my sincerity. Peace and order will return to Tethys; if not by the peaceful compromise by Homestation Defense, then by my own.”

Yoli closed the video and flipped over to the station alerts. Sure enough, there were life-support warnings and open-to-space alerts on decks seven and eight. Checking had been a reflex — confirming the facts given by a source. They had known Chief Henne was capable. She was beloved by her subordinates, and the recent fighting had surely been more than enough to shock plenty of engineers into embracing such a radical solution.

Yoli flipped to their notes and started typing as quickly as they could. Already the sounds of nearby fighting were stopping. Yoli needed to finish their report as quickly as possible, so they could start writing their next report.

It was a second sense: they knew what their next report would be; it was unlikely that everyone in the Lifeboat Corp was on board with Chief Henne’s plans. It was impossible that the entirety of Homestation Defense would surrender. The lines that divided the people of Tethys Megastation, thin already, were going to snap soon.