middleofsomewhere | 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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Nita goes back to parting weeds - something she can do with her hands.]

One of her Pokemon - Princess, if you've seen him around-

[But then, most probably have at this point.]

Knows the move Sleep. It's supposed to give a few hours' undisturbed rest. I don't know if that means no dreams or not, but if you want to be able to stay asleep, without it being too long...

[ Now it makes sense why Nita would bring that up. He's seen the Pokemon around - he thinks, anyway, since sometimes it's hard to tell what's one and what isn't - so he has a vague idea. ]

Ah.. So, did you ever ask Eva for that then?

[ Because he's not too sure how to feel about that. He's kind of leaning towards not liking the idea, but he figures he might as well ask this first. ]

[Nita shakes her head. ~~Caught.~~]

I haven't, no. Not exactly someone who licenses third parties for that sort of thing, myself...

[So she can understand if Inigo is, too.]

But better to know it exists than to not, y'know?

Uh-huh. [ He won't fully call her out on the hypocrisy, considering she's not exactly making a heavy push for him to do it when she isn't doing it herself..

But with the concern that always lives within Inigo's heart for the people he cares about, he can't help but at the very least still say: ]

Maybe you should consider it, even if it's just once. If you're really sleeping that bad. [ Worse than him, by the sound of it. ] I don't mind staying with you while you sleep, if that'd make you more comfortable with it.

[ Just so she has someone trusted watching her. ]

[And Nita looks up, a relieved smile coming to her face.]

That- that would help a lot actually. Thank you, Inigo.

[That, and getting more balanced sleep would help a lot of her friends relax themselves, if Inigo was an accurate measure.

She certainly counts him as one.]

[ He shakes his head. ]

No thanks necessary. It's not even that big of a thing to do! [ Inigo may be an overworker on missions, but once they're back on the train they don't have as big of an immediate goal to completely take over his mind. He can easily spend some time sitting by her while she sleeps, no problem. ]

And if it will be better for you, then I mind it even less. Your happiness is important, Nita.

[Despite her hands developing grass stains, Nita still stops what she's doing to come give him a half-hug.]

And yours is to me. So let's whip this station back into working shape, huh?

[Then maybe their own anxieties will back off for an hour or two...]

Got it.

[ Of course Inigo accepts the half-hug (come on, when is he ever going to reject a hug, especially from a good friend!), lingering in it for just a moment or two before he does move out of it.

Since Nita is right. They have to work as hard as they can! That's why they came out here in the first place, right?

So Inigo gives her a smile before continuing to work, maybe even a tad faster than before with this newfound resolve. ]

Not with a Bang Start and Ongoing

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assuming this is a wrap!