Not with a Bang Start and Ongoing

[voidtreckermods]

"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!

Comments

[deferences]

And Sizhui watches intently, grinning wide, laughing softly whenever they switch hands during their adorable little dance. Briefly, his attention darts to the others bobbing their way between himself and Tidus, but it's brought back rather quickly to the ones in his hand, seeing as it takes focus to make sure he doesn't accidentally jostle them or lose his balance while crouching.

His gaze does eventually turn back to Tidus since he doesn't want to seem rude, after all. “There's so much technological advancement compared to where I'm from, it seems easier to stay with what I know. I'm used to animals because back home, in a little hideaway near a mountain, we kept rabbits.” A thoughtful hum, he purses his lips then wrinkles his nose, lets another smile overtake his features when he considers the positives of them arriving. “It is good we showed up when we did then or else the planet might not have lasted much longer. You are right, however, I am also curious about how they were able to make contact.”

Also: how will they do so if they ever need help again?

[blitzcheer]

"Rabbits, huh?" There comes a hum before it, acknowledging what Sizhui speaks, but after a pause, Tidus can't help but swing that way back. Especially with the way he describes it! "In a hideaway. What, that the safest to keep them things? They're pretty small..."

It's a thoughtful remark, Tidus thinking back on what he knows about the creatures. He thinks he's seen one on the train, actually.

"Your world does have that cultivation business going on..."

Another thought, as if that explains why somebody might have a hideaway of rabbits. He may have a certain picture of such a world - whether or not it's anywhere close to the truth debatable.

[deferences]

“Mmhmm,” Sizhui drawls in return, reaffirming his earlier statement yet also inadvertently acknowledging Tidus's following comment, too. “They are quite small compared to some animals, yes, but they all live there because they thrive in groups and we aren't technically supposed to have pets.” Technically, so if they're roaming free, that means it's completely okay, though. “It's also more open and there's lots of grass for them to eat.”

Should Tidus mention the ones on the train, it wouldn't take long for them to narrow it down, meaning they are most likely Little Radish and Baby Carrot. (New names courtesy of him, thanks very much!)

“Do you think cultivating rabbits is part of it?” They do have quite a few, to be frank, though that might also have something to do with uncontrolled breeding. He can't help the joke, however, and in spite of himself, Sizhui's biting his cheek, pinching his lips in an attempt at not smiling again.

Being honest, whatever Tidus's version of their world is, he'd like to imagine it isn't too far off from the truth.

so sorry about the time i took to get back!

[blitzcheer]

There's a blink, a small "huh?" at cultivating rabbits, but Tidus gets a joke when he hears one, or easily takes that way with a laugh, his mouth grin with teeth after.

"Nonono- actually, I don't know a lot about the world you're from, I guess. Or if you're from the same one as the guy I talked to? Xue Yang. But I remember hearing a lot about sects and... different groups?" That's what a sect is, right. "--And people using the undead to fight."

There's the smallest show of sympathy on his face from saying that, as he motions to himself. "Spira, where I came from - we're kinda like that too. Uh, well, we weren't usin' the dead to fight... but they were always around. Energy and their spirits coming back as fiends. People lived the best they could, doing whatever to keep livestock and so on safe. They had a bigger problem than each other to be fighting, but."

He shrugs. Now that he thinks about it, it might be a little strange, but even so-

"I'm used to hearing people having to live or do things a certain way just to survive. And have good things too." A smaller smile. "Like keeping pets of rabbits safe and outta the way of trouble."

oh gosh, no worries at all!! i'm a bit slow myself atm as you can see... haha

[deferences]

Alright, Sizhui can't help grinning as well this time. It was a pretty decent joke in his opinion, so it's nice to see that Tidus thinks the same.

Xue Yang. Oh no, another name on the not-so-good list, even though he's been doing his best to not let that bother him as much as it probably should. From what he knows, Xue Yang's been behaving (for the most part?) and hasn't murdered anyone lately (that he knows of!!!), so he hasn't been keeping too close an eye on him. He shakes his head as if that will eject any terrible thoughts that linger then his focus is back on Tidus once more. “We are from the same world, yes, and what he's told you is likely correct. Although, we don't all use the dead to fight. A lot of us use magic to fight the dead.”

But seeing the commiseration on Tidus's face makes him soften somewhat, however. He never thought there would be other people who might understand what happens in his world, despite it being a bit different in some sense, yet the ‘bigger problems rather than fighting one another’ is absolutely true.

“I'm sorry you've had to go through such things, but I am also grateful that you understand.” While his smile doesn't exactly return, his expression does faintly lift, and if he were close enough, he would've reached to reassuringly touch Tidus's shoulder. “Especially if it means you know why we try and enjoy the little things, like our rabbit herds. We also have dogs and cats and various farm animals, so... variety, I suppose?”