voidtreckermods: (voidtrain)
VoidTrecker Express Mods ([personal profile] voidtreckermods) wrote in [community profile] middleofsomewhere2020-11-13 04:28 am
Entry tags:

Not with a Bang Start and Ongoing

"Good Morning passengers. Today is day seven of the month of Imagination." The voice echoes through the train as passengers wake up in their beds. Not long afterwards their SCA’s glow with the colour of the void and a holographic image will appear.

Preperation

They have about an hour to prepare, a little less than usual but perhaps expected, given the urgency of the task.

The cupboards in the dressing room are open to reveal rows of tents, in all four team colours as well as some basic camp cooking equipment. They are in bags that should be easy enough to carry.

"Shortly arriving on System #6416. All passengers get ready to disembark. Next stop world 6416. Exit from void in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one." The train rocks and lurches, bright colours of the void filling the space and then fading as they fly downwards towards a very green landscape.

Arrival and Initial Task

The train lands in a clearing, curving round in an attempt to fit. Once everyone who wishes to disembark has done it flies back into the air, vanishing from sight.

The air is heavy and humid, though it is not currently raining. The clearing is open to the sky and looking up will reveal a worrying sight. The sky is an angry red colour, colours shifting as if the clouds themselves were on fire. It's an unnerving sight.

Their SCA's show three points, one Orange, One purple and one that is half blue and half red. The three control centres. Each are a few hours treck through the jungle and it certainly feels like there is no time to waste.

Those that don't want to treck through the forest can start setting up camp, though the darkening sky might be a little distracting. As time goes on flecks of fire drift down, though they extinguish before hitting the forest floor.

Orange are to travel to the north, Purple to the south and Blue and Red must travel together to the west. Each route takes them through thick and unrelenting jungle. Flying is difficult here unless you can get up past the canopy layer, which means vision of the ground is severely hampered.

The control stations themselves are half buried in vines and require cutting into. If voidtreckers are unlucky they will meet their first security robots here, firing on the intruders. They might even meet their first giant Armadillos, the creatures are curious and may wish to investigate. They are not helpful or constructive to trying to power up the stations and prevent the destruction of the planet.

The control stations are simple enough to operate, but there's quite a lot that needs to be done in way of repairs and clearing. It will take a team effort to get it in working enough order to activate the shield.

The shield itself, when it is activated, is mostly invisible but there is a loud humming sound. The meteor, which has gotten more visible throughout the five hours, hits the shield and splinters, fire enveloping the whole sky. It is visibly terrifying, but no fire falls to earth, no rocks get through, the planet is safe.

Ongoing

Once the planet is safe the voidtreckers deserve a rest. But once the next morning dawns it is time to start with their next tasks, to make sure that this planet stays safe from future threats.

Red

The robots at the control stations are not the only malfunctioning security robots around. They roam the jungle, or are more often stranded in the jungle, powering up only when faced with a new threat.

Some are benign, terraforming machines whose only crime is using up precious power. These need to be dismantled so that power can be saved for the shield system. Others are security robots that will attack the intruders to the planet.

Though the machines are scattered they are often obvious, emitting warning alarms or flashing lights. Their SCA's will show some areas where there are larger clusters but machines can be found anywhere.

Purple

Their SCA's are filled with hundreds of purple dots, each a solar stations that needs cleared and brought back online. It's not the most glamourous job, the stations are deep in the jungle, the treck is difficult and most of the work needed is weed clearing.

But once the weeds have been cut away they will need to patch up the station, doing basic maintenance to get it back online. In some cases wires need to be patched back together but it shouldn't take any great feats of engineering to get the stations up and running.

They may run into some of the security automatons, needing to fight their way into the stations before they can begin the clean up operations.

Orange

Like the red team their SCA will show areas where there are clusters of the small insectoid automatons that need to be rescued and restored. However they can be found anywhere throughout the jungle, they are not too suited for the terrain outside of the stations and so they have gotten tangled in vines. They can be found powered down, stranded and in dire need of maintenance.

Tools and spare parts can be found in many of the solar stations that purple team have been locating. Actually repairing the robots takes some engineering knowledge but once they are restored they will go about their tasks in the stations. They will need help getting to the further flung stations as well as the main control centres.

They are very basic in design and follow pre programmed instructions rather than being able to hear and listen to orders. But once in the correct place they are very effective at their job.

Blue

Once the shield is up there is a faint humming that can be heard throughout the jungle if they listen closely and find it among the sound of rain and insects. But once they hear it, it is obvious where it is louder and more prominent.

Their SCA will pin point some of the larger control boxes but there are truthfully too many to show on a map. Not all of them have attracted Violet Pandas, but many of them have.

They are curious creatures, both of the power boxes and the voidtreckers. They are protective of each other but not so much of territory and therefore it is not difficult to move them on. Keeping them away is another matter, the power humming is interesting and they will unearth wires and chew through them. It doesn't seem to do them much harm, there is clearly safety stops in the system for such eventualities. It does however cut power off to entire solar stations and require a lot of patch work.

Good luck voidtreckers!
theturksway: (118.)

[personal profile] theturksway 2020-11-27 04:20 am (UTC)(link)
Reno opened his mouth like he might say something--then shut it without saying anything at all. Nope, he didn't really want to say they could just get rid of the weeds. That would require work. Menial work. Stuff he didn't want to do.

He'd take keeping watch out here over that.

"No problem," he said with another little fake salute thrown her direction. He started to fake march around the area as if on patrol, keeping an eye out. How long that would last though was up for debate. (Spoiler: not that long.)
unfavorableinstigation: Nita Callahan kneeling in the woods, drawing a glowing blue diagram on the ground while reading from a book. (Drawing a Spell Diagram)

[personal profile] unfavorableinstigation 2020-11-27 03:12 pm (UTC)(link)
What a way to be in agreement! ... Sort of.

Nita's time inside the station was, as Reno might have imagined, not fun. But she'd brought some spare metal, and with a few diligent wizardries had the worst of the rusted and decayed parts replaced.

This, however, did take time. And, naturally, they weren't left alone for the whole time it took.

A cluster of repair droids, low to the ground but rumbling quite loudly, made their way into the semi-clearing.

Were they malfunctioning? It was hard to tell.
theturksway: (114.)

[personal profile] theturksway 2020-11-29 09:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Reno got bored enough to start picking at some flowers growing up the side of one tree like a vine. He picked a petal off one at a time until the flower was left without any at all. He began to move on to the next flower when the noise became noticable.

"You know, I thought I might get some company. Didn't want to get my hopes up though. What took you so long?" he talked to the robots as they approached as if they might respond. Which, of course, they didn't and Reno didn't look disappointed. He didn't really expect a response after all.

"All right! Let's see what we have here."

They weren't obviously malfunctioning unless one counted the awful racket they were making just trying to plod along through the jungle. But so far he hadn't run into any robots doing their damn job properly so he approached as if he were expecting a fight to break out. Which, honestly, just meant walking up to them as if nothing was amiss. It was hard to tell the difference between Reno's truly relaxed state and his pretend relaxed state while actually handling business.

He held out his baton and went to poke one of the robots, a small spark forming on the tip of the rod. He was ready to dodge if anything happened.
unfavorableinstigation: Foresty background (Forest)

[personal profile] unfavorableinstigation 2020-11-29 10:20 pm (UTC)(link)
There came a long sequence of beeping.

A few sets of robotic antennae twitched-

And then one of the robots, the one in the middle, fell right to pieces. None of the others moved.

A false alarm, of all things - though if Reno wanted to do anything with the scrap, or the survivors, he very well could.

(Meanwhile, there came a low series of clunking noises from within the station, coupled with the sound of grumbling.)
theturksway: (069.)

[personal profile] theturksway 2020-12-02 07:02 pm (UTC)(link)
He tensed as they twitched.

The robot in the middle fell apart despite the fact that he hadn't even touched that one.

He let out a disappointed sigh and relaxed.

"Well you guys are no fun," he groused.

Reno fell into a lazy crouch next to the stationary robots, arms resting on his knees. He stared boredly at them for a moment.

"Hey, come 'ere." He said as he reached out to grab one of them. He began to examine it, turning it over in his hands and poking at various parts of it to see how it reacted.

[personal profile] unfavorableinstigation 2020-12-02 08:44 pm (UTC)(link)
"There we go; feeling better?"

Nita's voice faintly came out of the hole, having apparently had good progress.

Not so lucky were the droids outside, however. They all began beeping at Reno, though their limbs could do little to harm him. The one he was holding, however, had the best vantage point.

Hopefully he wasn't pointing anything at his face!
theturksway: (060.)

[personal profile] theturksway 2020-12-03 04:21 am (UTC)(link)
Reno's head turned slightly at the sound of Nita's voice but he recognized that it was too faint and she wasn't yet outside. She did have a weird habit of talking to random objects so... he ignored it. He turned back to the bot in his hands.

"Hey, hey!"

He held the robot further away from him. "None of that now." A quick motion and the Electro-Mag Rod was in his hand again. He zapped the robot in his hand to stun it.

He offered to do the same to the ones on the ground. "You want some to, yo? Quit that."

...great. Now he was talking to random objects.
unfavorableinstigation: Foresty background (Forest)

Up to you if pandas make an appearance (though Nita'll also fix the station soon, most likely).

[personal profile] unfavorableinstigation 2020-12-03 04:18 pm (UTC)(link)
The robot in his hand buzzed, possibly angry - or just malfunctioning even more, at this point. It had been stunned, however, so there would be no poking from it again for a while.

Whether the rest of the crowd had any opinions on Reno conversing with them wasn't clear, but they were making noise. Not approaching further, but certainly a hullabaloo was in process.

... Perhaps if he wanted to avoid them attracting pandas, he should get them to stop soon.
theturksway: (045.)

[personal profile] theturksway 2020-12-03 05:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Reno didn't even think of pandas honestly. He'd been avoiding them like some sort of fluffy plague even though they were extremely adorable and coolly colored. He had a reputation to keep, he didn't need to be distracted by cute animals and seen coddling such a thing. It was bad enough Carbuncle was starting to get under his skin.

But! Reno didn't like all the noise anyway. Not to mention he couldn't tell if they were malfunctioning or getting ready to attack--or both in the form of a malfunctioning suicide explosion. Either way, he decided they weren't worth the trouble and a few quick strikes shut them down permanently. He left the pile of rubble at his feet and walked away.

The robot in his hand? He started to fiddle with it some more, taking it slowly apart. Was it cruel? He didn't think about it. It was just a machine after all. But short of ripping out its power supply he had no idea how to turn it off. He'd find that eventually though and soon the robot was as lifeless as the others.
unfavorableinstigation: Nita Callahan kneeling in the woods, drawing a glowing blue diagram on the ground while reading from a book. (Drawing a Spell Diagram)

[personal profile] unfavorableinstigation 2020-12-03 11:03 pm (UTC)(link)
It was probably a good thing Nita couldn't hear - not because she'd oppose, but because it'd make repairing the solar station harder.

It would only be a few minutes' more waiting, now, before the station came buzzing properly to life.

Then, because why use the hole now?, Nita knocked on the actual door from the inside.

"I think we can just burn these weeds, now," she called.

"They'll make good fertilizer!"

Well, she was in a good mood!
theturksway: (085.)

[personal profile] theturksway 2020-12-10 05:06 am (UTC)(link)
Reno looked up as the station whirled to life. A few pieces from the robot ended up in his pockets while the rest fell down to the ground as he dropped it like a rock.

"On it! Stay clear!"

Although maybe her magic had an easier way to ignite the weeds, Reno was used to getting things done when presented to him. So he simply went about it without fuss.

He had to trek to the other side first but he was quick about it. The rest was a matter of using his rod to create a spark and start a fire. It would have been much easier to do with a fire materia but his element was forever lightning. At least it was viable without having to rub two sticks together like a caveman.

Once he had a flame, he set to clearing out the weeds.
unfavorableinstigation: Nita looking directly at the viewer, mouth slightly open, as if she's in the middle of an important or unamused expression. (Focused)

[personal profile] unfavorableinstigation 2020-12-10 06:57 pm (UTC)(link)
The fire would work quickly enough on these weeds - it may have been her mood, but they had overstayed their welcome - and with a massive heave of effort, the doors would part.

Between them stood Nita, shoulders braced and looking a fair bit dinged up, but not as if anything had tried to shoot at her for once.

"That's it for here," she said, trying to mask both the exasperation and light exhaustion in her voice. All wizardries still have their price, and it'd still cost her energy to conduct the repairs.

"On to the next job?"
theturksway: (119.)

[personal profile] theturksway 2020-12-21 05:29 am (UTC)(link)
Reno took on his customary stance as he smirked at her. "Yeah, let's keep it up."

Hey, he could get used to this. It was like having a rookie partner again to send in to do all the dirty work. Granted, he would have preferred a bit more action like earlier. But maybe he'd get his chance in a bit. Surely they'd run into something fun along the way eventually.

"To the next job." And off they went.