[Voice, locked to residents] --EMERGENCY--EMERGENCY--EMERGENCY--EMERGENCY--

[malnosso]

[At 2:15AM, the journals suddenly blare out an alarm, followed by this message.]

EMERGENCY. EMERGENCY. This is an emergency.

The following occupants of the Luceti enclosure must report to the teleporters in twenty minutes. You are required as reinforcements in Region 13. Bring all necessary armaments with you. You will be teleported directly into combat.

Anyone who fails to comply will be forcibly escorted to the teleporters by droids.

This is not a drill. I repeat: this is not a drill. You have twenty minutes.

[The message repeats twice more, the alarm continuing until the twenty minutes has elapsed. No questions will be answered.]

Comments

[accepted]

It's nothing. [...] If you're worried then it's fine, I am too.

[Which is an odd thing for him to say, especially given his track record of claiming he'll be fine or some such variant prior to every other draft he's been on. Maybe it's finally sunk in that no matter how much he prepares there's going to be something out there he isn't ready for. The thought leaves him feeling apprehensive, perhaps not visibly so but enough that he can't deny that right now he's on edge.]

[frost_jewel]

I am worried. This is so unusual and sudden that I can't help it.

[They both know she worries anyway. Even if things are routine.]

You'll be careful, won't you?

[accepted]

Yeah, I will be.

["I always am" he thinks, though he doesn't say it. For as careful as he tries to be on these things there's going to be something that catches him off guard.]

And I know you'll be careful. But if things get too much for you then I'll come and help you.

[He might not be able to have the confidence to say he'll definitely be careful and everything will be fine for himself this time around. What he can say though is that he'll always have an eye out for his friends and that he'll protect them however he can.]

[frost_jewel]

I'll feel much safer knowing that, and I'll return the favor if you get into trouble.

[Mia doesn't like to think about Vaskoth in any way at all ever, but it's a nice rock-bottom yardstick. This is bound to be better than that...]

[accepted]

That's good, thanks. Maybe we can both worry a little less now.

[It isn't something he particularly wants to think about either, even if being called onto another draft has helped dredge up the memories of it a little. But surely, nothing can be as bad as what happened then.]