[TERRA] Moving Forward

[Orwell]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Corpses like these line the beach heads of Senegal.

 

DAKAR, SENEGAL - Sergeant Preston Koch stuck his hands deep into the muck clinging to the coastline around Dakar. In the distance, civilian and military craft descended in between the massive skyscrapers left behind from the invasion. "I've got a hold of it. Step back a little." Knee deep in the sinking tide, we were happy to oblige. Troopers with Moritas at the ready from the coast watched us. Sergeant Koch pulled up a waterlogged corpse of a Neon; its skin was tumorous and covered in lesions and it slipped right off the bone as he hefted it up for the camera. The smell was sickening. "Ah, that tends to happen. Makes the cleanup more difficult, as you can imagine. We get about fifty or more of these, every day." 

 

Sergeant Koch and his men from the 101st Moritas have been recently assigned to the West African Theater. Here in Senegal's capitol, civilization has begun to take root once again as more and more Terrans return to the list of cities that have been 'cleared' by SICON. Sergeant Koch's commanding officer Cpt. Daniel Adebo is in charge of purging the waterways and sewers of Neons, both alive and dead. 

 

"A few weeks ago we were doing similar cleanup jobs on the Nile. Even saw the Pyramids. Of all the things to survive, it's those bloody tombs. Can you believe they're still standing?"

 

We spoke with Captain Adebo, a Terran himself by means of Lagos, Nigeria.

 

"Everything has to be replaced, essentially. The water treatment systems we had in place before the war won't be adequate as long as we still have aliens- alive or dead- floating around. People are subsisting on bottles until we make the call that it's safe."

 

 

Mobile Infantry march through a sandstorm near Benghazi, Libya.

Nearby, the reconstruction of an array of five superhighways leading into Dakar commences.

 

"Supposedly, they're not running into as many difficulties with Lake Chad in N'Guigmi, so we're keeping our fingers crossed that everything works out so we don't have to keep on importing clean water from off-world. If we can get it through utilizing repaired infrastructure, even better."

 

Dakar was chosen by SICON to be targeted for resettlement largely for the relative lack of damage sustained during the Fall of Terra. Many of its immigrants are from all over the world, but mostly displaced people from Africa returning from Sanctuary and Karrus. This is not to say that Dakar is not without its problems. In addition to to a tainted water supply, several gas lines and refineries were destroyed; massive amounts of chemicals were spilled onto the land and left to fester for two years resulting in an ecological crisis for the coast of Senegal, which could potentially be carried by the sea to affect the Gulf of Guinea.

 

"We've been working with a lot of NGO's and Federal contractors to contain what we can, but... The conservative estimates are at least eight years before things are back to normal in Dakar. Every day we find more things that have been somehow affected by the Neons, which increases our workload. Right now, it's one step at a time."

 

Outside the ruins of the Cathedrale du Souvenir Africain de Dakar, the signs of adaption were underway. Fried fufu, Vietnamese stir fry, and empanadas were being marketed by the cosmopolitan denizens of Dakar. The city was bustling with workers in reflective jackets, directing construction equipment and re-paving roads. Migrants from Niger were plucking on electric guitars, singing the songs of the Taureg.

 

"The civil war put me out of work, you know? Used to run a construction firm on Samson, but we were forced to evacuate. The Federation reached out to me afterwards, promised me work- and boy, did they deliver. I've always wanted to see Earth, but I just wish it hadn't been like this."

 

Vakar Meyers is 52 years old, coming from a long line of fisherman from the shores of Samson. Once Earth began to be reconquered, his entire firm was contracted out by SICON to help with reconstruction on crucial components of infrastructure in cities like Dakar.

 

"They're lucky here, really. A lot of the bigger cities that I've seen have been completely leveled. Practically wiped off the map."

 

Indeed, many urban mega centers like Amsterdam are nearly unrecognizable; the destruction of the massive dykes and seawalls surrounding the city from the open sea and the River Amstel have resulted in most of the city being underwater.

 

 

A caravan of settlers and supplies going from Constanţa to Babadag, Romania. The UCF-CV121 Tours looms above.

 

With many peoples' homes having been destroyed, returning Terrans are sometimes left with no place else to go. Resettlement efforts are underway across the planet to account for displaced persons, but many of them are becoming overwhelmed. Captain Adebo spoke about some of the problems in Dakar.

 

"We've got people from all over the African interior in Dakar. Not only that, but we have people from Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Americas as well. Even more so, we have had an influx of colonials who are interested in either resettling, or who are sympathetic to the cause and want to lend a helping hand. In short, we have too many people and not enough infrastructure to ensure that every single person is getting what they need."

 

Outside, horns blared as more trucks loaded with construction supplies and goods rolled down the recently cleaned Boulevard du President Habib Bourguiba; rubble and dead Neons flanking the sides of the road. The atmosphere in Dakar is dripping with ambition; the people seem to be eager to take the steps necessary to fashion a new home out of the destruction. Dakar's story is only one of many reflecting the conditions and troubles of resettlement efforts all over Terra.

 

 

 

THE TIME TO REBUILD IS NOW

EVERYONE MUST DO THEIR PART

THINK YOU'VE GOT WHAT IT TAKES TO LEND A HAND?

CONTACT YOUR LOCAL ENLISTMENT CENTER AND

ASK ABOUT RELIEF EFFORTS FOR TERRA

AND THE SOL SYSTEM

 

WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE?