Bureaucrates, jol, Administrateurs
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Modifications
Nolan sighs, carrying a weight that’s far beyond his years. He’s already got that look in his eyes, the one Marines used to call the thousand-yard stare. I ask if he’s going to be okay. He just shrugs. The sound of gunfire resumes. Nolan stands, handing me his half-eaten tin. “I have to get back,” is all he says. Then he walks away. I wish him well, wondering if he really will last the night. I wish them all well.
==Le nucléaire arrive à Saint-Louis==
''From the archives of The Manhattan Herald''
{{Traduction}}For the first time Wednesday, engineers powered up a brand new nuclear reactor along the Mississippi River in St. Louis, one of seven additional plants commissioned in North America since the start of the war. Construction took only a record-breaking two years, as the Earth Military Coalition threw the entire weight of its Engineering Corps behind the project, perhaps an indication of humanity’s desperation in the face of a worldwide energy crisis.
Global war has interrupted much of the world’s oil production and halted shipments from foreign countries. The U.S. has long been criticized for keeping one hand in the petroleum cookie jar, and now it seems we’re paying the price. The Earth Military Coalition has confiscated much of the nation’s oil, coal, and natural gas reserves to aid in the war effort, leaving millions without power and heat.
It’s been the policy of the EMC to supplant these commandeered fuel sources with nuclear energy. Still, even on an accelerated schedule, nuclear plants normally take about a decade to build, and a growing number of experts warn that nuclear power is not a sound solution for our current wartime needs. Despite these warnings, several new plants (including those in Denver and Orlando) have gone online since the outbreak of hostilities. Their remarkably swift construction has many wondering if the EMC anticipated this energy crisis, or perhaps even planned for it.
It’s no secret that the war isn’t going well. Despite the EMC’s deployment of their genetically-grown Bio-Marine forces and the Stratocarrier fleet, the aliens’ “Vo-Tech” gives them a battlefield advantage that cannot be overstated. Their conventional and biological weaponry is far superior to ours, and they seem to draw upon nearly inexhaustible sources of power, provided by their advanced technology.
Desperate to level the playing field, the EMC war machine is consuming resources—both natural and human—at an astronomical rate, conscripting young men and women across the country to fight for the cause. And the forecast is far from rosy, as experts predict the war will worsen in the coming year, especially if rumors are true that the Votans have been hiding their deadliest weapon. Witnesses in several countries claim to have spotted a previously unknown “seventh race” on the battlefield, though this has yet to be confirmed.
There is a glimmer of hope, however. Several weeks ago, EMC commandos raided an Indogene research laboratory in Seattle and captured the alien science team and their equipment intact. Scientists are hard at work attempting to reverse-engineer the technology for humanity’s use. No one can predict how long this process might take, though it may offer a better solution than our current nuclear band-aid. The EMC has relaxed many safety protocols in an effort to speed up construction of the new reactors. Critics are quick to point out the mistakes of the past—citing disasters at Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and Fukushima Daiichi (the latter a result of the 2011 tsunami). Even in peacetime, nuclear power requires great care. At the rate these new plants are going up, scientists predict it’s only a matter of time before we’re faced with a major disaster.
In the meantime, these stopgap measures will have to suffice, as people around the world look to their leaders for help. This past winter alone, an estimated 3 million people in North America died due to lack of proper heating. This crisis has led to a number of smaller conflicts around the world. Aside from the war between humans and Votans, human versus human and even alien versus alien skirmishes are increasingly common. Some believe we’re living in the end of days. Everywhere they look, they see war, famine, and pestilence walking among us—with death’s pale horse rounding the corner. Perhaps that’s why many are already calling this worldwide conflict “The Pale Wars.”
=Sources=