Baked Alaska
From DariaWiki
Set in the Daylight shared-worlds setting created by The Angst Guy, Baked Alaska is a fic in the Legion of Lawndale Heroes-oriented alternate reality (categorized in the Daria Multiverse as 'D-1111'). The fic chronicles the events that revolve around Julia Carlyle's flight to Alaska to get aerial footage of the disaster caused by the Alaska Pipeline exploding (as part of her new duties as a commissioned First Lieutenant in the U.S. Marshals Service. Upon her arrival in space seventy miles above the state, Julia sees the catastrophic fire (and smoke/debris cloud created in its wake), which has spread across the middle and eastern parts of Alaska (in the week following Zero Hour. At the time of Julia's arrival, the fire had completely covered the mid- and eastern parts of Alaska as it began to burn on Canadian soil; the resultant cloud of smoke and debris had covered northern Canada, beginning to drift south towards the U.S./Canada border.
(In the fic, it is theorized that the cloud could cover a great part of the Earth itself; however, as seen in The Hope Mission, efforts have been made (by as-yet unrevealed elements) to rid the atmosphere of the cloud and similar ones covering the globe.)
Julia receives a distress signal on the Legion flight ring she owns; responding, she meets a crowd of about one hundred people on Grace Island, who were there for the dedication of a Legion summer camping facility. Among the individuals there are Langston Chambers, Hank Stewart, and gubernatorial candidate Sarah Palin, who is in attendance with her four children, all of whom are National Legion members.
Also in attendance are several members of USCGC Centralia, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter also in attendance for the event (a high-profile event); an emergency distress call was received, upon which the Captain of the Centralia, ordered Commander Mallory Dean (the ship's Executive Officer and a graduate of the United States Academy of Extranormal Studies) and several crewmen to remain behind to represent the Coast Guard at the ceremony. Upon meeting Dean and Langston, Julia informs them and the others of the extent of damage caused during Zero Hour, including the fact that nearly four billion people have died - between two hundred and fifty to two hundred and seventy million Americans alone. She tells them also that Australia has seen the least damage, while North America and Europe have taken the worst - and that a number of cities are still intact around the world; in North America, the city of Toronto, Ontario is intact (because of the Canadian Government's Department H and their generation of protective electromagnetic forcefields created by James Hudson), and Las Vegas, Nevada.
It was revealed in 'Reporting From Echo Base' that the The Elite splinter group Arcana was responsible for preventing the destruction of Las Vegas. Having prior knowledge of the upcoming disaster (and with the majority of their assets already in the United States), Arcana forces rapidly relocated all forces save those with the ability to survive the disaster, and the few they simply could not contact for varying reasons. (They did, however, leave (in predetermined places able to survive any disaster), notice of what was to happen, along with limited supplies and the means to escape to Las Vegas.) Danny Wittforth (one of the surviving Guardsmen on Grace Island and a meta who has shadow powers) is one of these Arcana operatives.
Julia leaves, promising help within hours for the survivors and deputizing Langston as a Special Deputy U.S. Marshal, giving her a badge and a PFT Weapon as a duty sidearm. After she leaves, Wittforth (who was also a former cadet in Julia's year at USAES, but was expelled for 'conduct unbecoming') makes plans to cause as much havoc as he can (once rescued) in the remaining U.S. facilities he is taken to, before heading to Las Vegas (which he surmised has been taken over and protected by Arcana.
