Logistics Update: Grounds forces have secured the landing site. The cradle is completed. Sicily is touching down.
I have broadcast a warning to all of the locals warning of seismic shock.
At 1000m Sicily will cut thrust and lower on C-D engines alone. Chell is already safely stowed in an inertia-resistant impact chamber.
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Millions of tons of spaceship come to a halt 1 kilometer from the ground. Sicily's uninspired geometric shape is a stark contrast to the natural vista around it. While some parts of the landscape are currently on fire due to the fusion flames keeping Sicily aloft, it is still a beautiful grassy plain with some rolling hills and scattered trees. Sicily hangs above it all, a massive prolate spheroid with smooth bronze-gray hullmetal plating and small outcrops for sensors and access bays. 72 'small' fusion flames hold the massive ship aloft, each thruster itself the size of a 30 story building. The combined thermal output of this array has set fire to much of the local grassland for miles around.
Beneath Sicily, a massive skeletal cradle has been assembled from local materials and a veritable army of automated drones are swarming around making further preparations. The cradle is designed to cushion Sicily's descent and evenly distribute the eventual forces applied to the planet's surface. Beneath the cradle is a 100m thick layer of armored concrete.
The drones are busy constructing support facilities and additional manufacturing capability.
As Sicily reaches exactly 1km from the surface, all of the fusion flames cut out and the C-D engines switch to full power, gently lowering the Sicily into the cradle.
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Sicily is grounded.
Now we may turn our attention to more mundane tasks of governance.
Ground units are fabricating registration stations. We will send them to the groups which have verbally surrendered or professed loyalty first.
Once our footing planetside is secure, we will move on to examining the jump vessel we have left in orbit. Don't worry, it's not going anywhere.
((More soon, wanted to get a quick update out))