Around 16:00 on January 24nd, a heavy cargo delivery was launched from the Kordoss Cargo Railgun (KCR), veered off course, and hit the Kordoss space elevator. This caused great devastation, disabling the space elevator immediately, and setting the Herbert Hoover Station slowly adrift.
Subsequently, many parts of the space elevator cable came raining down upon the surface of Kordoss. As objects were falling from the sky, the general meteor alarm went off, and everyone headed for the shelters. As the first debris hitting the surface came from not that high up, the shelters were sufficient. But more debris was coming from higher up, carrying far more kinetic energy. As such, the general evacuation order was given for all regions on the planet within 500 kilometers of the equator.
Unfortunately, many were not able to get away from the equator or into space fast enough. Many of the shelters seemed to have suffered from unexpected equipment malfunctions, with failing communicators, bad door-locking mechanisms, and several other equipment malfunctions found by rescue workers. As of right now, several hundred corpses have been retrieved and are awaiting identification, and tens of thousands of people are still unaccounted for.
One of the reasons for the devastation is a very high failure rate in the safety systems of the space elevator. This certified six-sigma safety system (CSSSS) has seen a roughly 10% failure rate. So far, no explanation for this extremely high failure rate has been forthcoming.
On the bright side, representatives from both the miner’s workers union and UAC have called for cooperation in these hard times, and have made a joint statement about the recent pre-elevator riots and problems on Kordoss. They have concluded that there must be some other party responsible, but the representative of the miners, Evan Chandra (taken over after the recent unfortunate demise of Janey Hoffa), has let it be known that UAC does not seem to be behind the problems leading up to the demonstrations.
Investigations into what or who did lead to this situation are ongoing. The space elevator problems can only be called highly suspicious in their timing in light of this political news.
Rescue operations are ongoing, and most hospitals are filled to the brink. All atmosphere capable crafts in the area are busy ferrying people from shelters to the poles, and many examples of camaraderie and friendship are seen throughout the planet as people on Kordoss come together in this time of crisis. We will, of course, keep you informed of any more news.
