The Cardinal Directive: Mission Log #37

The search begins

[Start of Season 2]
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>> Now Playing Mission Log #37

The camera flicks on to the sight of the gaping maw of the mines staring back at the gathering rescue mission party.

Everyone has made it — shuffling about in the pre-dawn hours as indicated only by watches and other equipment. The blacked-out skies above still rage with dust and dirt, no relenting in sight. Running the biodome’s habitat generators at all times is too taxing during the storm season — they’re turned off at night and resume operation in the midday, just enough to keep the dome livable.

Each exhale from human and draconid alike produces a small cloud of freezing breath in the morning cold as they shiver and run through one last check of everyone’s supplies. Everyone’s wearing their suits, though their helmets are clipped onto their saddles at the moment.

Wendy and Sloan have stepped aside, engaging each other in a conversation that’s not quite heated but certainly carries a low-spoken tension to it — one that permeates the surrounding area enough that there’s a large berth around them while the others wait.

Solena has long since finished checking and rechecking her gear. As she mills about Oreo, though, she spots something she wasn’t expecting — enough to give her pause.