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February 18
SPACE Missiles & Kinetic Weapons Research Compound
Location: Classified
At first the only sign was a deafening crash, followed by what appeared to be a minor earthquake tremor. A few minutes later, one of the 15-ton 'mock-up' missiles was found to have come loose from its carriage and crashed to the floor -- crushing the body of 65-year-old lead researcher Dr. Karabishi Juishao into a mangled, lifeless heap. The medical response team was just a formality -- nobody could withstand such a massive blow and live.
Director India Rakes released a statement later in the day. She praised Juishao's long service record and seminal contributions to the advancement of missile technologies, deploring her tragic demise. It was standard PR-speak, and lacked the inspirational capacity that was really needed. As much as anything, what has held her back from further achievement is her propensity to fill the role of the negative reactionary, and that was clearly on display here. An independent review of not just this incident but security and safety procedures at all 43 compounds was ordered.
** OOC Note: A loss of 5M credits to SPACE and the forced idling of one-quarter(11) research labs for the remainder of 2079 will be enforced to simulate the cost of these measures **
Naturally, BOG had a lot to say. Not all of it made any sense. Burt Stonerock(Mercury) stuck his foot in his mouth as usual, referring to such things as 'the cost of doing business' and advocating that SPACE forge full steam ahead. Evelyn Kaczor(Halley's Comet) said similar things in a much more sensible and sensitive manner. . A number of members, both significant and less so, took the opportunistic route by decrying Rakes' 'incompetence' and calling for everything up to and on occasion even including her head. In this group there were Dee Respress(Prokne), Marion Polizzi(Faye), Errol Igoe(Sedna), and noted blowhard/ignoramus extraordinaire Russell Salvucci(Venus). Most managed to follow the wise lead of former and probable future director Alberto Eighmy(Earth), some because they lacked the courage to do anything else, some because they knew calming the public was the right thing to do. Other than lightning-rod Salvucci, most of the troublemakers are minor players. The elite corps of leadership, many nearing the ends of their careers, knew that the people would make up their own minds in a couple of years anyway if they felt major changes were required.
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