A Battle Unseen

[Elena1012]

SCRAM 
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January 13th, 5659
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Syarokhna, Vrosnok, Nadiyan Confederation
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Rada and the Inspector quickly huddled inside. She was hoping that the snowstorm would delay the inspector. She hoped wrong. All it did was make her freeze in the cold waiting for the inspector. What's worse is, no matter how it goes, everyone is stuck here. The snowstorm is hitting hard. Roads are blocked and the city is overwhelmed. Amazing. She put her coat up, and welcomed the inspector to the Syarokhna Nuclear Power Plant. She tried to keep herself optimistic and composed, but she was expecting the worst. The Inspector was reserved. She only spoke rarely. As if the inspection wasn't enough, Rada felt like she was being judged severely. Rada was stressed, just like the rest of the skeleton crew. Lydia and Magdusya were in the Control Room, others were around the plant, trying to keep things going. 

"Miss Rada, I understand that you're nervous, and trying to make an impression. It's to my understanding that you've been here for a long time." The inspector spoke. Her voice was soft, almost silky. Rada felt ashamed. The inspection had just started and now she was already making a fool of herself. The inspector continued speaking, "However, I'm willing to overlook some of the.. glaring issues here. I understand that this new administration is more.. hesitant to throw funds around. I want to work with you. Just give me something positive to report back, and I'll try to get Zarvosopol to interfere and give this plant the funding it needs."

Rada blinked for a moment. Was this.. pity? "Something positive? Like what?" She asked, curiously. "Oh, I don't know.." the Inspector said, coyly, "how about say, a SCRAM Test?" Rada thought for a moment. A SCRAM Test? That would be perfect. It would mean an instant passed inspection. Even if it's out of pity. But.. Lydia warned against running a SCRAM Test. Rada knew it too. But what's the alternative? "A.. SCRAM Test? I.. yeah, we can do that." She stopped her hesitation. She hated the pity, but it would save her job. 

She led the Inspector to the Control Room. The moment she requested to conduct a SCRAM Test, Lydia protested. Those protests were shut down quickly when the Inspector reaffirmed that she requested it. Lydia brought Rada aside for a moment, her voice barely hiding displeasure but in a hushed whisper. "Rada, what the hell? A SCRAM Test? Right now? In a blizzard? The last one we did, it was a miracle it even worked! We do this, and we risk the entire plant being shut down!" 

"I know, I know.. I just.. this is our best way out. We do this, we get funding, we'll be good as new. We've done this plenty of times before. Just one more time." Rada gave a gentle smile, trying to convince Lydia without words. Lydia sighed, and gave in. "Fine. Magdusya is working with the turbine crew to get that in top shape." Lydia walked to the Control Console, and got into position. The inspector asked curiously, "Is everything ready now?". Rada and Lydia reaffirmed. Rada's heart was beating. What if it went wrong and didn't start? She'd lose her job! Then what! Years of education down the drain! What would she even tell her mother? She got fired because of a faulty test in a run down nuclear power plant? Rada inserted the key into the Control Console, and Lydia did the same. They both turned the key. Rada took a deep breath as it happened. The emergency shutdown would begin, and the SCRAM Test had begun. 

Rada kept her eyes glued to the Console. Temperature spikes. That was fine. It was normal. Rod 1 successfully entered. Rod 2, slowly entering. Wait, slowly? She kept her composure but she was starting to get worried. It wasn't supposed to be slow. It's fine, she thought to herself. Weird things happen all the time. She couldn't cancel the test now anyways. Not with the Inspector here. Diagnostics went ballistic. One of the cooling loops failed. That.. that never happened before. Rada was starting to get genuinely worried. The reactor shouldn't be responding this way. At this rate, the reactor would enter a positive void coefficient. The coolant would evaporate and the reactor would become too reactive. The Console showed temperature and pressure rising drastically. This wasn't good.

"Lydia, what's going on?" She barked the order, and Lydia turned around, her face was worried. "The pressure, it's riding too fast, we need to do an override, get the overpressure valve opened." She quickly turned around and tried to get the overpressure valve opened from the console. Rada was worried. Both for her career and the reactor. The Inspector remained quiet as more alarms went off. The 2nd control rod stopped moving. It wasn't fully inserted. Shit. Rada started to panic inside. This wasn't fine. Temperature and pressure readings were skyrocketing. She began fiddling with the Console, trying to do something, anything to shut the entire reactor down before-

Boom. The Control Room shuddered. The power went out. Emergency lights went on. The entire room was covered in a red hue. "Lydia, talk to me, what the hell just happened." Rada was trying her best to keep her voice from being shaky. She knew damn well that something exploded. Lydia spoke, her voice shaky and horrified. "There- there was an explosion.. in the turbine hall. I don't- I don't know what happened to everyone there." Rada froze. Oh god. This wasn't supposed to happen. The odorless Control Room suddenly had a smell. And her heart sank. Metallic tang. They were all exposed to radiation. Lydia runs out of the room, stammering and before Rada can even say anything, Lydia bolts. The Inspectors face was worried. "What.. what happened?" The fear in her voice was undeniable. The Control Room phone began ringing and Rada stumbled towards it, almost falling over and answered it. Coughing was heard on the other side. "What the fuck just happened, we- we got someone here, fuck, she's a goner, we're exposed here, I don't- I don't know what to do." Rada hung the phone up. She stumbled back and fell into the swivel chair. This was the worst thing to possibly happen. "Inspector.. you.. you need to get out of here and call for help. Just run. Call for help." Rada didn't even turn around. She was horrified and defeated. The Inspector didn't argue back, and simply nodded her head and quickly left the room. Rada knew they were all dead women walking. If they were lucky, the Inspector would get help in time. Then the realization set in. The snowstorm. Rada's eyes started to get wet. The snowstorm meant no one could easily get out. She looked at the Console, rubbing her eyes. Manual containment was fully offline. Lydia was somewhere. Magdusya was dead. Radiation was spreading rapidly across the facility and possibly even outside to Syarokhna. She put her arms down, not even bothering to try to do anything with the console. She was defeated. This week was the worst it could ever be. She just looked at the Control Panel as the Control Room Phone began to ring again. There was nothing she could do.